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A Study of the Spiritual Sonnets of Henry Constable

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A Study of the Spiritual Sonnets of Henry Constable Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Master's Theses Theses and Dissertations 1953 A Study of the Spiritual Sonnets of Henry Constable Mary Melora Mauritz Loyola University Chicago Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_theses Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Mauritz, Mary Melora, "A Study of the Spiritual Sonnets of Henry Constable" (1953). Master's Theses. 1145. https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_theses/1145 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 1953 Mary Melora Mauritz .. A STUDY OF THE SPIRITUAL SONN:E.'TS OF HENRY CONSTABLE bJ Sister Mary Melora Mauritz A Theaia Submitted to tne Faculty of the Graduate School of Loyola Un1versIt1 in PartIal FulfIllment ot the Requirement. tor the Degree of Master ot Art. February 19S.3 .. TABLE OF COi'.nrENTS Chapter Page I. HENRY CONSTABLE. THE POET, 1562-1613 • • • • • • • • • 1 A. Early life • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 2 1. Birth and ancestry • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 2 2. Education • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • B. Life Abroad • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • tt 1. Bet'ore conversion • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 4 Atter conve~sion 2. • • • • • " • • " • • • • • • • c. Literary activities • • • • • • • • • • • • 26 Diana " " " " 1. " • • • • • • • • • • • " • • " • • • • • 29 2. Poems in honor of distinguished persons • • • • • 31 Venus and Adonis • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 32 ~: Pastoral poems • " • • " • • • • • • • • • • • • 32 5. Spiritual sonnets • • • • • • • • • • • " " " " • 34 II. THE SPIRITUAL SONNETS " • • • • • • " • • • • • • • • • 35 A. Manuscript and printed editions • • • • • " • • • • 39 1. Reasons for withholding publication. • " • • • • 2. Text to be used in the thesis • • • • • • • • • • ~6 B. Division of the sonnets • • • • • • • • • • • • • • C. Form of the sonnets • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • ~ D. Survey of the criticism of the sonnets • • • • • • • 1. Constable 'a view • • • • • " " " " • • • • • • • fr4 2. Contemporary criticism • • • • • • • • • • • • • 3. Later criticism • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • tt§ a. Nineteenth century • • • • • • • • • • • • • • b. Twentieth century • • • • • • • • • • • • • • tt~ c. Author's viewpoint • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 52 III. THE SONNETS IN HONOR OF GOD: THOUGHT, IMAGERY. EMOTION, TECHNIQUE • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 33 1 A. To God the liather • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • ~5 B. To God the Son • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • C. To God the Holy Ghost • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 6~ Iv v D. To the Blessed Sacrament • • • • • • • • • • • •• 76 IV. THE MARIAN CYCLE: THOUGHT, IMAGERY, EMOTION, TECHNI QUE • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• 8.3 A. Queen of queens • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 85 B. Sovereign of queens • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 90 C. 0 Queen • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 94 D. Sweet Queen • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 95 V. THE SONNETS IN HONOR OF Tff8 SAINTS, THOUGHT, IMAGERY, EMOTION, TECHNIQUE •••• • • • • • • • • • • • •• 107 A. St. Michael • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • .. • • .. lOr. B. St. John the Baptist • • • • • • • • • • .. • • • • 114 C. St. Peter and Paul • • • • • • .. • .. • • • • • • • 120 D. St. Katherine • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 127 E. St. Margaret • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 133 F. Four in honor of St. Mary Magdalene • • • • • • • 138 VI. CONCLUSION~ A SYNTHESIS OF THE STUDY • • • • • • • " 150 ., BIBLIOGRAPHY • • • • • • • " • • • " • • • • • .. " • • • 157 .. LIFE Sister Mary Melora Mauritz, S. S. Ii. D., was born in oshkosh, Wisconsin, May 19, 1914. She was graduated from Notre Dame High School, Milwau­ kee, Wisoonsin, June, 1932. Atter her graduation from high school, she entered the Novitiate of the Sohool Sisters of Notre Dame. She was graduated trom Mount Mary College, Milwaukee, Wis­ consin, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. For several years she taught in the Catholic elementary schools in Milwaukee and Madison, Wisconsin. She also taught English and Latin at St. Mary's Academy, Prairie du Chien, Wis­ consin, and st. Anthonyt s High School, Detroit, lUohigan. The writer took courses in English at Edgewood College, Madison, Wisoonsin, and also at the University of Detroit. She began her graduate stUdies at Loyola University in June, 1948. iil CHAPTER I HENRY COtmTABLE, 1562-1613 The Elizabethan Age was a vital poriod which filled men's live. with a bewildering complexity of stark realism, emo­ tional intensity, Idealistlc yearnings, and imaginative tancle. a. delicate and gossamer as tbe fairy's wings in Drayton's Nymphid1a or sa grotesque as the legendary dragon in Spenser'. Faerie Queene. It produoed a group ot Dllnor poet. among whom Helll'1 Constable, poet, convert, polltlolan, sPY', diplomat, and traveler occup1ed a distinctive place. By his contemporarle., nHelll7' Con­ stable haa been termed the 'firat, or prinoipal, sonnetteer ot his tlme. ,n' This man, 80 muoh ••teemed b7 the poet. ot his own da7, merlts recognit1on todaJ, not on17 beoause he was among the flrs' 01' the sonneteers to wrlte a sonnet .equence, or because of hi. s11gbt but graoefUl ~.n1u., but a180 becauae he possessed the courage to live up to his conv1ctions bJ embracing Oatholicis. in an era when such an act was oonsidered treason. Therefore, 1 Henl7.~. Todd, ed., Poetlcal Works !!!. ~ Milton. V, London, 1801, 442. 1 2 independently of his career as a poet, some estimate of Consta­ blets character should be formulated from the letters which reter to his personal life, as well as from the body of correspondence relating to his activities in the service of his country and his religion~ From these sources it appears that the poet was vitallJ interested in the religious and political questions of the day, that he possessed a patriotic spirit, and that he was gifted with good sense, shrewdness, and a certain amount of political acumen. Since he was a talented young gentleman, he made many influential friends, but his enlarged views also procured for him the unen­ viable reputation of a man dangerous to the safety and peace of the state, a distinction which made him an exile from home and a wanderer on the continent. Constable was the son of Sir Robert Constable at Newark in Nottinghamshire. Sir Robert, a prominent man, was Lieutenant of the Ordnance to Queen Elizabeth, a circumstance which leads one to conclude that he was not a Catholic. He had also served in the war. in Scotland under the Earl of Surrey and had been knighted by him in 1570. He, too, was an author, for among the manuscripts in the British Museum is a treatise on the Orderipa 2! ~ ~ which he wrote in 1576. 2 Through his father, Henry was 2 Thompson Cooper, "Henry Constable the Poet," ~eSks" !!!: !!!!! Magazine of Biographz, Westminster, I, January, 186, • .3 allied to several noble houses. His paternal. grandmother was Catherine Manners, the daughter ot Sir George Manners, Lord Roos. Her brother was the Earl ot Rutland, and she was the niece ot King Edward IV bY' his sister, Anne, Duchess of Exeter.) He was also related to the Earl of Shrewsbury and was the grand-nephew of the Sir Robert Constable who was hanged in chains in 1537 tor his share in the Pilgrimage ot Grace.4 The poet*s mother, the widow ot AnthonY' Foster, was Christiana, the daughter ot John Dabridgeoourt ot Astley in the countY' of Warwick. A distant relative, Zanches Dabridgecourt, had given protection to Queen Isabella and had been admitted into the Order ot the Garte~.5 Little else 1s known about his familY' except that his works contain epitaphs on his brother Richard and his sister Martha.6 His sister Barbara married Sir WillIam Babthorpe, a recusant, whose son numbered among his large family priests and nuns. 7 3 ~., 4. 4 Louise Imogene Guiney. Recusant Poets, New York, 1939, 30,3. 5 Cooper, "Henrr Constable the Poet," Register ~ Magazine g! BIoSl!Phl, I, ~ 6 Ibid. 7 Guiney, Recusant Poets, 303. .. Most of Constable'. early life. 1s cloaked in obscurity_ Recorda in Heralds Visitations ahow him as living in 1563 and as aged thirteen in 1575. Therefore. the date of his birth may be assigned to 1561 or 1562.8 In the year 1578, at the age or six­ teen, he matriculated as a fellow-commoner at St. John's College. Cambridge, and he received his B. A. degree in the January or 1579 or 1.580.9 In 1583, Constable was in Paris. A letter, written by his cousin Stafford to Wa1singham in December of this year, re­ veals that he was at this time a favorite at Court. He wrote: I received yesterday by Mr. Constable your packet touching Paget and Arundel. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Thus assuring you that my cousin Constable, tor being mr cousin, and for his own sake, and especially for your recommendation shall have all the favours I oan show him. Paris, 15. Deo., 1.58).10 From this and subsequent letters trom Stafford, it would seem that Constable was acting as a spy in the service of the govern­ ment and was not yet a Catholic. On December 27. Stafford wrote. 8 Cooper,"Henry Constable the Poet," Register ~ Magazine 2! Biosra~hl, I, 4. 9 -Ibid. 10 Great Britain, Public Record Office, Calendar of State pa~ers, Foreign
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