Literature Focus V. The Cavalier Poets
The metaphysical poets came mostly from the middle class; but their contemporaries, the
C
avalier
poets, were often aristocrats. Some came from such distinguished
families that they were welcomed at the court of King Charles I;
others served the king as soldiers. Like his predecessors Elizabeth
and James, Charles surrounded himself with well-educated, able,
versatile young men who were witty writers and conversationalists.
Some were literary followers of Ben Jonson, a brilliant poet and
dramatist who had been a rival and friend of Shakespeare’s. The
most gifted of the “Tribe,” or “Sons of Ben,” were Sir John
Suckling, Robert Herrick, and Richard Lovelace.
Long before the French word cavalier came to describe these poets, it simply denoted a horseman, especially a mounted warrior, such as a knight. During Charles I’s reign, however, cavalier became a political term. Supporters of the monarchy were called Cavaliers or Royalists. Their opponents, who supported the Puritan-dominated Parliament, were called Roundheads (because of their closely cropped hair). The personal style of the Cavaliers, which featured long, flowing hair and elaborate dress, contrasted sharply with that of the austerely garbed Roundheads.
Features of Cavalier Poetry As writers affiliated with the court, the Cavalier poets generally intended to entertain their audience rather than instruct it. Their poetry displays a number of typical features:
Conversational Style Influenced by the works of John Donne and Ben Jonson, the Cavaliers cultivated a conversational style based on natural speech patterns. “I sing of brooks, of blossoms, birds, and bowers; / Of April, May, of June, and July flowers” begins one of Herrick’s poems.
E
laborate
Conceits Some
of the Cavalier poets shared Donne’s fondness for elaborate
conceits. In “The Garden,” Andrew Marvell describes a garden and
then implicitly compares it to the Garden of Eden. Still, the
majority of the Cavaliers’ poems were less obscure and more
accessible than those of the metaphysical poets.
Meditative Tone The majority of the Cavaliers’ poems seem controlled; at times the poets seem indifferent or self-mocking—as Suckling does when he writes,
“I must confess, when I did part from you,
I could not force an artificial dew [tears]
Upon my cheeks . . . ”
Classicism Most of the “Sons of Ben” shared Jonson’s admiration for the poetry of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Cavalier poetry is rich in classical allusions, such as the names of Greek and Roman gods—demonstrating that readers were clearly expected to be well versed in such classical works. Furthermore, forms of the poems are often based on classical models, such as the odes of Horace, the satires of Juvenal, and eclogues, short pastoral poems often written as dialogues between shepherds.
Regular Poetic Form The Cavaliers’ use of regular rhythmic patterns, carefully structured stanzas, and simple but eloquent language also reflects this classical influence. The Cavalier poets welcomed the tidy order of regular meter and rhyme scheme. Widely used by Marvell and others, the heroic couplet consists of two lines of rhymed iambic pentameter. Lovelace favored the four- or eight-line stanza with either an abab or aabb rhyme scheme. Such regularity, of course, allowed the poems to be set to music.
Carpe Diem The classical influence can also be seen in the Cavaliers’ choices of subject. Love was a popular theme, and some Cavaliers wrote about idealized love and addressed their poems to women to whom they gave such classical names as Julia, Althea, and Lucasta. Others, reflecting on the uncertainty and brevity of life, wrote poems that expressed a precept known as carpe diem (Latin for “seize the day”). This expression, drawn from the famous line of the Roman poet Horace, urges readers to make the most of every moment—a sensible strategy, given the uncertainty of life during the English Civil War. Herrick wrote, “Gather ye rosebuds, while ye may, / Old time is still a-flying”; other poets wrote variations on this theme.
The Cavalier poets did not shrink, either, from writing sarcastic commentaries on the pursuit of coy beauties. The seemingly amazed speaker in a Suckling poem exclaims,
“Out upon it! I have loved
Three whole days together;
And am like to love three more,