Characteristics of cavalier poetry

Cavalier poets were a group of lyric poets who gathered at the court of Charles I

and affected in their poetry the spirit of the court as best exemplified by Ben Johnson for

which they were called the “sons of Ben”. Cavalier poets reflect the lighter side of life

and literature in the 17th century: the gay, hopeful, passionate and amorous kind of poetry.

More than that cavalier poets sang of youth, love, happiness and physical beauty found in

transient things. They took life as they found it and often with a mocking and cynical

attitude. This cynicism which is one of the major themes of cavalier poetry shows itself

best in their careless disdain towards love. Another major theme of cavalier of cavalier

poetry is the theme of honor; it is the duty of standing by the king and fighting for his

cause. A third major theme is that of Carpé diem a Latin phrase meaning to seize the day.

Cavalier poets urge young lovers to enjoy the present moment, for youth and beauty will

fade soon and forever. From Carpé diem comes the theme of brevity of life which was

intensified because of war where death lurked in every corner and could come in any

moment. They are in a hurry to seize life before it goes. Among the great poets who

wrote in the cavalier current were Herrick, Sucking and Lovelace.

Herrick major themes were Carpé Diem, sensuality of love and the cynical

attitude towards love. His poem “Gather ye Rosebuds while ye may” expresses the theme

of Carpé Diem where the speaker addresses young women to gather roses while they can

because time goes fast and quickly, and the flower which looks fresh and beautiful today

will soon die. Here the speaker uses flowers to symbolize youth. Here he urges women to

enjoy their youth and to get pleasure in life as they can because youth and beauty will

soon fade and forever. He continues saying that the highest the sun goes to the sky. The

sooner its setting will be. Here the sun also symbolizes youth, beauty and freshness which

soon fade and come to its end. The speaker concluded that the best time of our age is our

youth or prime when we are filled with strong passion, so he asks her to enjoy love and

life, that is to seize the opportunity because after her youth fades, she will wait for

nothing.

The theme of Carpé Diem is also revealed in “Corinna’s Going a May “where the

speaker urges Corinna who is sitting in her bed to go out with him to enjoy their time. He

says that by seizing the time, they don’t harm anybody, and they will grow old quickly

and will soon die before they know their freedom of enjoying themselves. This sonnet

also includes the theme of brevity of time which serves the purpose of Carpé Diem. This

theme is shown when the speaker says that life is short. It is emphasized by his

description of the seem setting [the sooner the sun gets to the middle of the sky, the

nearer to its sitting will be]. The speaker also belittles time by referring to days when

measuring time. He even compares life to a drop of rain once lost it can’t begot again. All

this use of argumentation is to say that time is in their service because they are young and

that everyday passes brings them nearer to their death, so he urges Corinna to go out with

him to enjoy their precious time.

Other than the theme of Carpé Diem, Herrick discusses the theme of cynicism

towards love and women. This cynicism is shown clearly in his poems “Upon the Loss of

his Mistresses” where he goes from one woman to another because of a quality in each

one of them; one for majestic attitude, one for her management, one for her soft skin, one

for her voice and other for her sweetness. He moved among a number of ladies with

exotic natures, loving each with a dissolute affection for a specific purpose, usually a

physical one. This cavalier poem is characterized by its humor and cynical attitude

towards love and women.

Sensuality is another major theme of cavalier poetry which Herrick discussed in

his poems: “Upon the Nipple of Julia’s Breast” and “The Vine’. “Upon the Nipples of

Julia’s Breast” is built wholly on a contrast between white and red where he compares the

nipples of Julia’s breast to red rosebud among the white rosebud, to a cherry among white

lilies, to a strawberry drouned in cream, and to red rubies through pure pearl, this poem

contains words which are strongly connotated to signify the sensuality and the passion of

the poem. Sensuality is also so obvious in “The Vine” where the speaker dreamt himself

transforming into a vine crawling and climbing Lucia’s body in order to discover her. He

goes into more details when describing his invasion all over her body i.e. embracing her

long small legs and thighs, belly, and her waist. His curls crawl over her neck and

enthrall her arms and hands. He becomes more sensuous when for the purpose of

covering her unlook deep upon parts by his leaves, he felt extreme pleasure. At that

moment, he awake from his lustful dream with regret discovering himself a stock and not

a vine. The image contained in this poem show the sensuality of the cavalier poetry and

the delight in the beauty transient sensuous things which the woman physical beauty in

this poem resembles.

Suckling is the typical cavalier poet in his dash character and light heartedness,

and his cynical sensuous even dissolute attitudes towards love. For him, the greatest

delight of love his in the chase. Besides, the risk of not achieving fulfillment in love

prompts him to choose a more immediate satisfaction with the woman here and now. He

mocks the constancy in love of courtly love poets and their sticking to courtly love

conventions. In other words, Suckling’s attitude towards love is anti-Petrarchan; he

dismisses a too coy mistress and seeks enjoyment of sensual pleasure which is classless.

Suckling rallies himself on his inconstancy by resorting to hyperbole (exaggeration) and

irony. This attitude is the subject of his poem “Out Upon it”. In it the speaker is really

surprised because he has been in love with the same woman for a “long period of three

whole days together”, and he will be in love for three more days if the circumstances

continue to be as pleasurable as they have been. Not only that, but a “constant lover” that

the world doesn’t know alike. He compares time to a bird flying high and fast researching

for such a constant good lover, but the bird will get tired and his wings will be broken

before he discovers such a “constant lover” like himself. It is a very good example of

exaggeration, irony and cynicism towards constancy in love. The discrepancy between

our expectation aroused by “a constant lover” and this period of time constitutes irony.

The irony is however used in the end for the purpose of paying an exaggerated

compliment to the lady in question for this “constancy is” caused by the woman’s

extraordinary beauty and the beauty of her face is particular. Were the woman of not that

fascinating beauty, he would have loved many women [dozen dozen] in these three days.

Suckling mocks the trouble and pair courtly love poets show in their poems. This

mocking or cynicism shows itself best in his careless disdaim towards love. Such an

attitude could be seen in his poem “Why so Pale and Wan” where the speaker is a person

approaching a dejected lover [dejected because his love has not been returned]. There is

description of how the lover appears; he looks pale and wan in the first stanza, and he is

dull and mute in the second stanza. The speaker chides him for this, for if looking well or

when speaking eloquently he has he not won her love, then by looking pale and wan and

being dull and mute he will not be able for certain to win her love. This poem beside

being cynical towards love, shows also Suckling’s logical argumentation which is also a

characteristic of cavalier poets. Then, the speaker advises the dejected lover to leave such

a lady because it is not useful; it is unmanly and degrading, for love can’t be brought by

tears or sighs and it is shameful to beg for love [he is criticizing the love of the 16 th

century]. If the lady doesn’t love him by herself, it is impossible to make her do so.

Because of this the speaker asks the lover to move out of such a mood (quit quit) not

minding if the woman goes to the devil himself. All of these show the careless attitude of

the cavalier poets towards love and women.

Another major theme which was important to cavalier poets is honor. By honor,

we mean fighting for the side of the king. The theme of honor implies loyalty and

readiness to sacrifice one’s freedom, possession, and even one’s life for this cause.

Lovelace who was a cavalier wrote about all the cavalier themes, but for him, the theme

of honor is most conspicuous. Lovelace was imprisoned, dispossessed, and he escaped

his life only by fleeing to France. Two poems express the theme of Lovelace’s honor “To

Lucasta” and “to Althea from Prison”

In “To Lucasta” the major conflict is between two ideas of love and honor, but he

gives priority to honor. He is presented as a faithful lover which is strange in a cavalier

poems but he is called to duty. He admits to her that he is chasing a new mistress which

turns out to be his first enemy he sees in the battlefield which also shows the speaker’s

courage and bravery in fighting for the king’s cause. For he runs, as soon as he sees the

first enemy comes, after him to defeat him. Also his courage is also evident when he says

he is flying to war; it is with enthusiasm. He continues saying that he could not have

loved her that much if he had not loved honor more though it may seem to her that he is

inconstant in his love. On the contrary, she should love him more for his honor.

“To Althea from Prison” is another example of Suckling’s honor towards his

king. The poem is about imprisonment and an attempt to define imprisonment. The

poems is based on a number of paradoxes. In each stanza he says that though he is in

prison, he feels himself more free than the birds who have the whole sky to play, more

free than the fishes who have that whole ocean to swim in, more free than the wind who

blows freely and vigorously making the ocean wavy, only the angels are as free as he is.

He compares himself to a caged bird where he sings for the sweetness, mercy, glory and

majesty of his king. Imprisonment to him is not a state of physical confinement within the

stone walls and the iron bars of the prison because a free thin king person who is

convinced in what he believes - in his case, it is the belief in his king - will take the

prison as a place for contemplation and great thinking.