Literary Analysis of Sir John Suckling's Poems, 'Sonnet
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EN3JD 20012540 Autumn Assessed Essay ! This essay intends to undertake the literary analysis of Sir John Suckling’s poems, ‘Sonnet: Of thee (kind boy)’ and ‘Love’s Clock’, and Robert Herrick’s, ‘The Eye’. Paying particular attention to some of the overriding themes of each piece, where necessary this essay will also consider the polit- ical and historical contexts under which the texts were written and consider to what extent these ef- fected the texts. However, the main focus of this essay will be to consider these works as part of a wider genre and examine some of the contrasts and similarities between Sir John Suckling and Robert Herrick. When approaching both poets it is often commonplace to read their works under the ‘Cava- lier’ label. Therefore, a solid starting point for the examination of these three texts is to first consid- er the role of the Cavalier as poet, and the Cavalier as a literary genre. Suckling is often regarded as being firmly part of this group, that commonly includes poets such as Thomas Carew, Lord Herbert, Richard Lovelace. But to read a Cavalier poet is to not only acknowledge a political stance, indeed a deeply ‘Royalist’ position during the English Civil Wars, it is to also recognise a kind of literary culture and attitude in itself. Robin Skelton puts forth a brief description of the Cavalier attitude, “ the sense that they distrust the over-earnest, the too intense”1. This is a helpful analysis that be- comes useful when assessing the tone of some of the mentioned works, but when examining the significance of particular characteristics of the writers’ poetic techniques it is essential to consider some of the other overriding influences that impacted their style. One way to consider the aim of Cavalier poets is to characterise how they shape wit in their work, after all says A. D. Cousins’ in, ‘The Cavalier World and John Cleveland’: this is “the great principle of their verse.”2 It is a wit that is carefully crafted, but there is also the sense in poems 1 Robin Skelton, The Cavalier Poets, (London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1960). pp. 9-10. 2 A. D. Cousins, ‘The Cavalier World and John Cleveland’, Studies in Philology, Vol. 78, No. 1 (Winter, 1981), [ac- cessed 02/12/2013 via: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4174065 ], pp. 61-86, at p. 62. !1 of !9 EN3JD 20012540 Autumn Assessed Essay such as ‘Sonnet: Of thee (kind boy)’, that Suckling’s wit is constructed in an entirely spontaneous nature. The very opening of the sonnet presents an indifferent attitude, with Suckling proposing that he: “ask[s] no red and white”.3 Yet at the same time it is a precise and insightful demand, that con- veys Suckling’s beliefs over love and relationships. Cousins’ describes how at times Suckling: [C]an manifest his virtuosity. Yet the deliberateness of Suckling's "skill" and "wit at will" is more directly shown by the way in which the sprezzatura of the verse — its courtly ease and apparent spontaneity achieved by careful modulation of cadence and variety of pause — almost conceals the lines' rigid argumentative design.4 ! Cousins’ analysis emphasises Suckling’s poetic craftsmanship, and it is clear that there is a studied carelessness in Suckling’s verse. The opening stanza presents a narrator who is musing over a slightly trivial and light-hearted episode that appears to be directed towards Cupid. Although, Suck- ling creates a paradox between a seemingly mundane human interaction with a spiritual interaction with Cupid, the highest form of love and desire. Suckling also makes us aware of his relationship with Cupid through the friendly manner in which he addresses him as in “thee (kind boy)”.5 It is indeed the deliberately elevated environment that this poem is set that both portrays the extrava- gance of the Royalist courtier and Suckling the ‘Cavalier’, who takes the reader on a journey through an untroubled world in which there is enough time to converse with Cupid. Despite the ‘carpe diem’ attitude, there is no sense of urgency, and the lack of response from Cupid shows Suckling’s unwillingness to present a philosophical or spiritual debate in his verse. Instead, Suck- ling is content with stating that he needs nothing else in the: “sport” but the: “love in love”.6 Never- theless, although this seems to be a casually blurted statement, Suckling has in fact declared that he 3 Sir John Suckling, ‘Sonnet: Of thee (kind boy)’, in The Metaphysical Poets, Selected and edited by Helen Gardner (London: Penguin Books, 1957; repr. 1985), p. 187. 4A. D. Cousins, ‘The Cavalier World and John Cleveland’, at p. 63. 5 Sir John Suckling, ‘Sonnet: Of thee (kind boy)’, p. 187. 6 Sir John Suckling, ‘Sonnet: Of thee (kind boy)’, p. 187. !2 of !9 EN3JD 20012540 Autumn Assessed Essay “ask[s] no more” of the workings of desire and love, as he has already put forward his judgement on the matter.7 His assertion is final and needs no response from Cupid, and again by disregarding the response of such a high entity Suckling almost becomes unaccountable for his views and actions. Moreover, Suckling combines the uniqueness of his viewpoint with a tone that is final, authoritative and teemed with audacity. It is also as Cousin’s outlines, the “careful modulation of cadence and [the] variety of pause” that marks Suckling’s verse.8 The progressing rhythm of the first four lines that moves through the first stanza uses simple rhyming couplets, but culminates with alternate couplets, giving the last line a certain resonance that almost ironically replicates a proverbial quality. Suckling eventually re- solves his argument by giving a mechanical analysis of desire, through the clock and its workings, in: “What in or watches, that in us is found, […] We up be wound, / No matter by what hand or trick”.9 This proposes a wholly unnatural account of the workings of love and desire, and presents Suckling the libertine cynic. This seems to be a theme and conceit that is replicated in Suckling’s, ‘Love’s Clock’. Much like ‘Sonnet: Of thee (kind boy)’, Suckling emphasises the mechanical role of the clock, and literal- ly signifies the impact of the passing of time. Through: “Are quicker / And thicker”, Suckling draws on the immediacy and highlights the certainty of time running out in the way the stanza makes use of rhythm to bring the stanza to a halt.10 Suckling’s use of iambic pentameter in the first two lines, in “That none beguiled be by time’s quick flowing, / Lovers have in their hearts a clock still going,” is abruptly contrasted in the middle of the third line with the use of “nimble” which has an awk- 7 Sir John Suckling, ‘Sonnet: Of thee (kind boy)’, p. 187. 8 A. D. Cousins, ‘The Cavalier World and John Cleveland’, at p. 63. 9 Sir John Suckling, ‘Sonnet: Of thee (kind boy)’, p. 187. 10 Sir John Suckling, ‘Love’s Clock’, in Cavalier Poets: Selected Poems, ed. by Thomas Clayton (Oxford, Oxford Uni- versity Press, 1978), p. 235. !3 of !9 EN3JD 20012540 Autumn Assessed Essay wardly stressed second syllable.11 This effectively breaks up the line, and causes an irregular metre. Throughout the rest of the poem, Suckling appears to explore human emotion through a mechanical device, suggesting that: “Hope is the mainspring on which moves desire”.12 This presents Suckling as the narrator who carefully deconstructs his own human emotion like the taking apart of clock. Suckling seems to be arguing that the workings of love emulate the movement of clockwork and can therefore be described just as accurately in this way, as they could be described in the more conventional, spiritual way. Much like ‘Sonnet: Of thee (kind boy)’, we see the clock as it winds down and finally stops or “strike[s]”.13 But compared to, ‘Sonnet: Of thee (kind boy)’, ‘Love’s Clock’ seems slightly less cynical. This is perhaps due to Suckling’s treatment of the subject with levity, and the poems final remark: “what you best like”, which presents a libertine optimism and celebrates freedom of choice.14 This is unlike, ‘Sonnet: Of thee (kind boy)’, which leaves the reader with a desolate image of a piece machinery and in: "No matter by what hand or trick”, ends with an uneasiness in the narrators’ own alienation from the emotional sources of love. 15 In both poems, Suckling seems to be mirroring the slightly cynical attitudes of Royalist courtiers and displaying a deliberate nonchalance, towards both the seriousness of poetry and life. Suckling also sets up throughout both poems some clear paradoxes that present a contrast between the mundane and the extraordinary, or perhaps even the Cavalier and the Puritan. Furthermore, Suckling’s wider literary conceits, that make use of the mechanism of clockwork, emphasise his ability to fashion poetry which encapsulates the hedonistic attitude he wishes to express. 11 Sir John Suckling, ‘Love’s Clock’, p. 235. 12 Sir John Suckling, ‘Love’s Clock’, p. 235. 13 Sir John Suckling, ‘Love’s Clock’, p. 235. 14 Sir John Suckling, ‘Love’s Clock’, p. 235. 15 Sir John Suckling, ‘Sonnet: Of thee (kind boy)’, p. 187. !4 of !9 EN3JD 20012540 Autumn Assessed Essay On the other hand, although Herrick champions the construction of the juxtaposition and the literary conceit in his poem ‘The Eye’, he seems to allude more to the metaphysical wit of a poet such as Donne than the cynicism of Suckling. In ‘The Eye’ Herrick expresses his ability to, as Roger B.