The earlier half of Elizabeth's reign, also, though not lacking in literary effort produced

no work of permanent importance.

After the religious convulsions of half a century time was required for the development
of the internal quiet and confidence from which a great literature could spring. At length,
however, the hour grew ripe and there came the greatest outburst of creative energy in the
whole history of English literature. nder Elizabeth's wise guidance the prosperity and
enthusiasm of the nation had raised to the highest pitch and !ondon in particular was
overflowing with vigorous life.
There followed several long years of breathless suspense" the victory in #$%% the
Armada. Thereupon the released energy of England broke out e&ultantly into still more
impetuous achievement in almost every line of activity. The great literary period is taken
by common consent to begin with the publication of 'penser's ''hepherd's (alendar' in
#$)*, and to end in some sense at the death of Elizabeth in #+,-, though in the drama, at
least, it really continues many years longer.
'everal general characteristics of Elizabethan literature and writers should be indicated at
the outset.
#. The period has the great variety of almost unlimited creative force" it includes works of
many kinds in both verse and prose, and ranges in spirit from the loftiest .latonic
idealism or the most delightful romance to the level of very repulsive realism.
/. 0t was mainly dominated, however, by the spirit of romance.
-. 0t was full also of the spirit of dramatic action, as befitted an age whose restless
enterprise was eagerly e&tending itself to every quarter of the globe.
1. 0n style it often e&hibits romantic lu&uriance, which sometimes takes the form of
elaborate affectations of which the favorite 'conceit' is only the most apparent.
$. 0t was in part a period of e&perimentation, when the proper material and limits of literary
forms were being determined, oftentimes by means of false starts and grandiose failures.
0n particular, many efforts were made to give prolonged poetical treatment to many
sub2ects essentially prosaic, for e&ample to systems of theological or scientific thought, or
to the geography of all England.
+. 0t continued to be largely influenced by the literature of 0taly, and to a less degree by
those of 3rance and 'pain.
). The literary spirit was all4pervasive, and the authors were men 5not yet women6 of almost
every class, from distinguished courtiers, like 7alegh and 'idney, to the company of hack
writers, who starved in garrets and hung about the outskirts of the bustling taverns.
PROSE FICTION.
The period saw the beginning, among other things, of English prose fiction of something
like the later modern type. 3irst appeared a series of collections of short tales chiefly
translated from 0talian authors, to which tales the 0talian name 'novella' 5novel6 was
applied. 8ost of the separate tales are crude or amateurish and have only historical
interest, though as a class they furnished the plots for many Elizabethan dramas,
including several of 'hakespeare's. The most important collection was .ainter's '.alace of
.leasure,' in #$++. The earliest original or partly original, English prose fictions to appear
were handbooks of morals and manners in story form, and here the beginning was made
by 9ohn !yly, who is also of some importance in the history of the Elizabethan drama. 0n
#$)% !yly, at the age of twenty4five, came from :&ford to !ondon, full of the enthusiasm
of 7enaissance learning, and evidently determined to fi& himself as a new and dazzling
star in the literary sky. 0n this ambition he achieved a remarkable and immediate success,
by the publication of a little book entitled 'Euphues and ;is Anatomie of <it.' 'Euphues'
means 'the well4bred man,' and though there is a slight action, the work is mainly a series
of moralizing disquisitions 5mostly rearranged from 'ir Thomas =orth's translation of
'The >ial of .rinces' of the 'paniard ?uevara6 on love, religion, and conduct. 8ost
influential, however, for the time4being, was !yly's style, which is the most conspicuous
English e&ample of the later 7enaissance craze, then rampant throughout <estern
Europe, for refining and beautifying the art of prose e&pression in a mincingly affected
fashion. <itty, clever, and sparkling at all costs, !yly takes especial pains to balance his
sentences and clauses antithetically, phrase against phrase and often word against word,
sometimes emphasizing the balance also by an e&aggerated use of alliteration and
assonance. A representative sentence is this@ 'Although there be none so ignorant that
doth not know, neither any so impudent that will not confesse, friendship to be the 2ewell
of humaine 2oye" yet whosoever shall see this amitie grounded upon a little affection, will
soone con2ecture that it shall be dissolved upon a light occasion.' :thers of !yly's
affectations are rhetorical questions, hosts of allusions to classical history, and literature,
and an unfailing succession of similes from all the recondite knowledge that he can
command, especially from the fantastic collection of fables which, coming down through
the 8iddle Ages from the 7oman writer .liny, went at that time by the name of natural
history and which we have already encountered in the medieval Aestiaries. .reposterous
by any reasonable standard, !yly's style, 'Euphuism,' precisely hit the (ourt taste of his
age and became for a decade its most approved conversational dialect.
0n literature the imitations of 'Euphues' which flourished for a while gave way to a series
of romances inaugurated by the 'Arcadia' of 'ir .hilip 'idney. 'idney's brilliant position
for a few years as the noblest representative of chivalrous ideals in the intriguing (ourt of
Elizabeth is a matter of common fame, as is his death in #$%+ at the age of thirty4two
during the siege of Butphen in ;olland. ;e wrote 'Arcadia' for the amusement of his
sister, the (ountess of .embroke, during a period of enforced retirement beginning in
#$%,, but the book was not published until ten years later. 0t is a pastoral romance, in the
general style of 0talian and 'panish romances of the earlier part of the century. The
pastoral is the most artificial literary form in modern fiction. 0t may be said to have begun
in the third century A. (. with the perfectly sincere poems of the ?reek Theocritus, who
gives genuine e&pression to the life of actual 'icilian shepherds. Aut with successive
!atin, 8edieval, and 7enaissance writers in verse and prose the country characters and
setting had become mere disguises, sometimes allegorical, for the e&pression of the very
far from simple sentiments of the upper classes, and sometimes for their partly genuine
longing, the outgrowth of sophisticated weariness and ennui, for rural naturalness.
'idney's very complicated tale of adventures in love and war, much longer than any of its
successors, is by no means free from artificiality, but it finely mirrors his own knightly
spirit and remains a permanent English classic. Among his followers were some of the
better hack4writers of the time, who were also among the minor dramatists and poets,
especially 7obert ?reene and Thomas !odge. !odge's '7osalynde,' also much influenced
by !yly, is in itself a pretty story and is noteworthy as the original of 'hakespeare's 'As
Cou !ike 0t.'
!astly, in the concluding decade of the si&teenth century, came a series of realistic stories
depicting chiefly, in more or less farcical spirit, the life of the poorer classes. They
belonged mostly to that class of realistic fiction which is called picaresque, from the
'panish word 'picaro,' a rogue, because it began in 'pain with the '!azarillo de Tormes'
of >iego de 8endoza, in #$$-, and because its heroes are knavish serving4boys or similar
characters whose unprincipled tricks and e&ploits formed the substance of the stories. 0n
Elizabethan England it produced nothing of individual note.
EDMUND SPENSER, 1552-1599.
The first really commanding figure in the Elizabethan period, and one of the chief of all
English poets, is Edmund 'penser. D3ootnote@ ;is name should never be spelled with
a c. E Aorn in !ondon in #$$/, the son of a clothmaker, 'penser past from the newly
established 8erchant Taylors' school to .embroke ;all, (ambridge, as a sizar, or poor
student, and during the customary seven years of residence took the degrees of A. A. and,
in #$)+, of 8. A. At (ambridge he assimilated two of the controlling forces of his life,
the moderate .uritanism of his college and .latonic idealism. =e&t, after a year or two
with his kinspeople in !ancashire, in the =orth of England, he came to !ondon, hoping
through literature to win high political place, and attached himself to the household of
7obert >udley, Earl of !eicester, Fueen Elizabeth's worthless favorite. Together with
'idney, who was !eicester's nephew, he was for a while a member of a little group of
students who called themselves 'The Areopagus' and who, like occasional other
e&perimenters of the later 7enaissance period, attempted to make over English
versification by substituting for rime and accentual meter the ?reek and !atin system
based on e&act quantity of syllables. 'penser, however, soon outgrew this folly and in
#$)* published the collection of poems which, as we have already said, is commonly
taken as marking the beginning of the great Elizabethan literary period, namely 'The
'hepherd's (alendar.' This is a series of pastoral pieces 5eclogues, 'penser calls them, by
the classical name6 twelve in number, artificially assigned one to each month in the year.
The sub2ects are various44the conventionalized love of the poet for a certain 7osalind"
current religious controversies in allegory" moral questions" the state of poetry in
England" and the praises of Fueen Elizabeth, whose almost incredible vanity e&acted the
most fulsome flattery from every writer who hoped to win a name at her court. The
significance of 'The 'hepherd's (alendar' lies partly in its genuine feeling for e&ternal
=ature, which contrasts strongly with the hollow conventional phrases of the poetry of
the previous decade, and especially in the vigor, the originality, and, in some of the
eclogues, the beauty, of the language and of the varied verse. 0t was at once evident that
here a real poet had appeared. An interesting innovation, diversely 2udged at the time and
since, was 'penser's deliberate employment of rustic and archaic words, especially of the
=orthern dialect, which he introduced partly because of their appropriateness to the
imaginary characters, partly for the sake of freshness of e&pression. They, like other
features of the work, point forward to 'The 3aerie Fueene.'
0n the uncertainties of court intrigue literary success did not gain for 'penser the political
rewards which he was seeking, and he was obliged to content himself, the ne&t year, with
an appointment, which he viewed as substantially a sentence of e&ile, as secretary to !ord
?rey, the governor of 0reland. 0n 0reland, therefore, the remaining twenty years of
'penser's short life were for the most part spent, amid distressing scenes of English
oppression and chronic insurrection among the native 0rish. After various activities
during several years 'penser secured a permanent home in Gilcolman, a fortified tower
and estate in the southern part of the island, where the romantic scenery furnished fit
environment for a poet's imagination. And 'penser, able all his life to take refuge in his
art from the crass realities of life, now produced many poems, some of them short, but
among the others the immortal '3aerie Fueene.' The first three books of this, his crowning
achievement, 'penser, under enthusiastic encouragement from 7alegh, brought to
!ondon and published in #$*,. The dedication is to Fueen Elizabeth, to whom, indeed,
as its heroine, the poem pays perhaps the most splendid compliment ever offered to any
human being in verse. 'he responded with an uncertain pension of !$, 5equivalent to
perhaps H#$,, at the present time6, but not with the gift of political preferment which was
still 'penser's hope" and in some bitterness of spirit he retired to 0reland, where in
satirical poems he proceeded to attack the vanity of the world and the fickleness of men.
;is courtship and, in #$*1, his marriage produced his sonnet sequence, called 'Amoretti'
50talian for '!ove4poems'6, and his 'Epithalamium,' the most magnificent of marriage
hymns in English and probably in world4literature" though his '.rothalamium,' in honor of
the marriage of two noble sisters, is a near rival to it.
'penser, a zealous .rotestant as well as a fine4spirited idealist, was in entire sympathy
with !ord ?rey's policy of stern repression of the (atholic 0rish, to whom, therefore, he
must have appeared merely as one of the hated crew of their pitiless tyrants. 0n #$*% he
was appointed sheriff of the county of (ork" but a rebellion which broke out proved too
strong for him, and he and his family barely escaped from the sack and destruction of his
tower. ;e was sent with despatches to the English (ourt and died in !ondon in 9anuary,
#$**, no doubt in part as a result of the hardships that he had suffered. ;e was buried in
<estminster Abbey.
'penser's '3aerie Fueene' is not only one of the longest but one of the greatest of English
poems" it is also very characteristically Elizabethan. To deal with so delicate a thing by
the method of mechanical analysis seems scarcely less than profanation, but accurate
criticism can proceed in no other way.
#. Sources and Plan. 3ew poems more clearly illustrate the variety of influences from
which most great literary works result. 0n many respects the most direct source was the
body of 0talian romances of chivalry, especially the ':rlando 3urioso' of Ariosto, which
was written in the early part of the si&teenth century. These romances, in turn, combine
the personages of the medieval 3rench epics of (harlemagne with something of the spirit
of Arthurian romance and with a 7enaissance atmosphere of magic and of rich fantastic
beauty. 'penser borrows and absorbs all these things and moreover he imitates Ariosto
closely, often merely translating whole passages from his work. Aut this use of the 0talian
romances, further, carries with it a large employment of characters, incidents, and
imagery from classical mythology and literature, among other things the elaborated
similes of the classical epics. 'penser himself is directly influenced, also, by the medieval
romances. 8ost important of all, all these elements are shaped to the purpose of the poem
by 'penser's high moral aim, which in turn springs largely from his .latonic idealism.
<hat the plan of the poem is 'penser e&plains in a prefatory letter to 'ir <alter 7alegh.
The whole is a vast epic allegory, aiming, in the first place, to portray the virtues which
make up the character of a perfect knight" an ideal embodiment, seen through
7enaissance conceptions, of the best in the chivalrous system which in 'penser's time
had passed away, but to which some choice spirits still looked back with regretful
admiration. As 'penser intended, twelve moral virtues of the individual character, such as
;oliness and Temperance, were to be presented, each personified in the hero of one of
twelve Aooks" and the crowning virtue, which 'penser, in 7enaissance terms, called
8agnificence, and which may be interpreted as 8agnanimity, was to figure as .rince
5Ging6 Arthur, nominally the central hero of the whole poem, appearing and disappearing
at frequent intervals. 'penser states in his prefatory letter that if he shall carry this first
pro2ected labor to a successful end he may continue it in still twelve other Aooks,
similarly allegorizing twelve political virtues. The allegorical form, we should hardly
need to be reminded, is another heritage from medieval literature, but the effort to shape a
perfect character, completely equipped to serve the 'tate, was characteristically of the
.latonizing 7enaissance. That the reader may never be in danger of forgetting his moral
aim, 'penser fills the poem with moral observations, frequently setting them as guides at
the beginning of the cantos.
/. The Allegory. Lack of Unity. 'o comple& and vast a plan could scarcely have been
worked out by any human genius in a perfect and clear unity, and besides this, 'penser,
with all his high endowments, was decidedly weak in constructive skill. The allegory, at
the outset, even in 'penser's own statement, is confused and hazy. 3or beyond the
primary moral interpretation, 'penser applies it in various secondary or parallel ways. 0n
the widest sense, the entire struggle between the good and evil characters is to be taken as
figuring forth the warfare both in the individual soul and in the world at large between
7ighteousness and 'in" and in somewhat narrower senses, between .rotestantism and
(atholicism, and between England and 'pain. 0n some places, also, it represents other
events and aspects of European politics. 8any of the single persons of the story, entering
into each of these overlapping interpretations, bear double or triple roles. ?loriana, the
3airy Fueen, is abstractly ?lory, but humanly she is Fueen Elizabeth" and from other
points of view Elizabeth is identified with several of the lesser heroines. 'o likewise the
witch >uessa is both .apal 3alsehood and 8ary Fueen of 'cots" .rince Arthur both
8agnificence and 5with sorry inappropriateness6 the Earl of !eicester" and others of the
characters stand with more or less consistency for such actual persons as .hilip 00 of
'pain, ;enry 0I of 3rance, and 'penser's chief, !ord ?rey. 0n fact, in 7enaissance spirit,
and following 'idney's '>efense of .oesie,' 'penser attempts to harmonize history,
philosophy, ethics, and politics, subordinating them all to the art of poetry. The plan is
grand but impracticable, and e&cept for the original moral interpretation, to which in the
earlier books the incidents are skilfully adapted, it is fruitless as one reads to undertake to
follow the allegories. 8any readers are able, no doubt, merely to disregard them, but
there are others, like !owell, to whom the moral, 'when they come suddenly upon it,
gives a shock of unpleasant surprise, as when in eating strawberries one's teeth encounter
grit.'
The same lack of unity pervades the e&ternal story. The first Aook begins abruptly, in the
middle" and for clearness' sake 'penser had been obliged to e&plain in his prefatory letter
that the real commencement must be supposed to be a scene like those of Arthurian
romance, at the court and annual feast of the 3airy Fueen, where twelve adventures had
been assigned to as many knights. 'penser strangely planned to narrate this beginning of
the whole in his final Aook, but even if it had been properly placed at the outset it would
have served only as a loose enveloping action for a series of stories essentially as distinct
as those in 8alory. 8ore serious, perhaps, is the lack of unity within the single books.
'penser's genius was never for strongly condensed narrative, and following his 0talian
originals, though with less firmness, he wove his story as a tangled web of intermingled
adventures, with almost endless elaboration and digression. 0ncident after incident is
broken off and later resumed and episode after episode is introduced, until the reader
almost abandons any effort to trace the main design. A part of the confusion is due to the
mechanical plan. Each Aook consists of twelve cantos 5of from forty to ninety stanzas
each6 and oftentimes 'penser has difficulty in filling out the scheme. =o one, certainly,
can regret that he actually completed only a quarter of his pro2ected work. 0n the si&
e&isting Aooks he has given almost e&haustive e&pression to a richly creative
imagination, and additional prolongation would have done little but to repeat.
'till further, the characteristic 7enaissance lack of certainty as to the proper materials for
poetry is sometimes responsible for a rudely inharmonious element in the otherwise
delightful romantic atmosphere. 3or a single illustration, the description of the ;ouse of
Alma in Aook 00, (anto =ine, is a tediously literal medieval allegory of the 'oul and
Aody" and occasional realistic details here and there in the poem at large are merely
repellent to more modern taste.
-. The Lack of Dramatic Reality. A romantic allegory like 'The 3aerie Fueene' does not
aim at intense lifelikeness44a certain remoteness from the actual is one of its chief
attractions. Aut sometimes in 'penser's poem the reader feels too wide a divorce from
reality. .art of this fault is ascribable to the use of magic, to which there is repeated but
inconsistent resort, especially, as in the medieval romances, for the protection of the good
characters. :ftentimes, indeed, by the persistent loading of the dice against the villains
and scapegoats, the reader's sympathy is half aroused in their behalf. Thus in the fight of
the 7ed (ross Gnight with his special enemy, the dragon, where, of course, the Gnight
must be victorious, it is evident that without the author's help the dragon is incomparably
the stronger. :nce, swooping down on the Gnight, he seizes him in his talons 5whose
least touch was elsewhere said to be fatal6 and bears him aloft into the air. The valor of
the Gnight compels him to rela& his hold, but instead of merely dropping the Gnight to
certain death, he carefully flies back to earth and sets him down in safety. 8ore definite
regard to the actual laws of life would have given the poem greater firmness without the
sacrifice of any of its charm.
1. The Romantic Beauty. General Atmosphere and Description. (ritical sincerity has
required us to dwell thus long on the defects of the poem" but once recognized we should
dismiss them altogether from mind and turn attention to the far more important beauties.
The great qualities of 'The 3aerie Fueene' are suggested by the title, 'The .oets' .oet,'
which (harles !amb, with happy inspiration, applied to 'penser. 8ost of all are we
indebted to 'penser's high idealism. =o poem in the world is nobler than 'The 3aerie
Fueene' in atmosphere and entire effect. 'penser himself is always the perfect gentleman
of his own imagination, and in his company we are secure from the intrusion of anything
morally base or mean. Aut in him, also, moral beauty is in full harmony with the beauty
of art and the senses. 'penser was a .uritan, but a .uritan of the earlier English
7enaissance, to whom the foes of righteousness were also the foes of e&ternal loveliness.
:f the three fierce 'aracen brother4knights who repeatedly appear in the service of Evil,
two are 'ansloy, the enemy of law, and 'ansfoy, the enemy of religion, but the third is
'ans2oy, enemy of pleasure. And of e&ternal beauty there has never been a more gifted
lover than 'penser. <e often feel, with !owell, that 'he is the pure sense of the beautiful
incarnated.' The poem is a romantically lu&uriant wilderness of dreamily or languorously
delightful visions, often rich with all the harmonies of form and motion and color and
sound. As !owell says, 'The true use of 'penser is as a gallery of pictures which we visit
as the mood takes us, and where we spend an hour or two, long enough to sweeten our
perceptions, not so long as to cloy them.' ;is landscapes, to speak of one particular
feature, are usually of a rather vague, often of a vast nature, as suits the unreality of his
poetic world, and usually, since 'penser was not a minute observer, follow the
conventions of 7enaissance literature. They are commonly great plains, wide and gloomy
forests 5where the trees of many climates often grow together in impossible harmony6,
cool caves44in general, lonely, quiet, or soothing scenes, but all unquestionable portions
of a delightful fairyland. To him, it should be added, as to most men before modern
'cience had subdued the world to human uses, the sublime aspects of =ature were mainly
dreadful" the ocean, for e&ample, seemed to him a raging 'waste of waters, wide and
deep,' a mysterious and insatiate devourer of the lives of men.
To the beauty of 'penser's imagination, ideal and sensuous, corresponds his magnificent
command of rhythm and of sound. As a verbal melodist, especially a melodist of
sweetness and of stately grace, and as a harmonist of prolonged and comple& cadences,
he is unsurpassable. Aut he has full command of his rhythm according to the sub2ect, and
can range from the most delicate suggestion of airy beauty to the roar of the tempest or
the strident energy of battle. 0n vocabulary and phraseology his fluency appears
ine&haustible. ;ere, as in 'The 'hepherd's (alendar,' he deliberately introduces,
especially from (haucer, obsolete words and forms, such as the inflectional ending in en
!hich distinctly contri"ute to his romantic effect. #is constant use of alliteration is $ery
skilful% the fre&uency of the alliteration on ! is conspicuous "ut apparently accidental.
$. The Spenserian Stan'a. 3or the e&ternal medium of all this beauty 'penser, modifying
the otta$a rima of Ariosto 5a stanza which rimes a"a"a"cc(, invented the stanza which
bears his own name and which is the only artificial stanza of English origin that has ever
passed into currency. D3ootnote@ =ote that this is not inconsistent with what is said above,
of the sonnet.E The rime4scheme is a"a""c"cc and in the last line the iam"ic pentameter
gi$es place to an Ale)andrine *an iam"ic he)ameter(. +hether or not any stan'a form is
as !ell adapted as "lank $erse or the rimed couplet for prolonged narrati$e is an
interesting &uestion, "ut there can "e no dou"t that Spenser-s stan'a, firmly unified, in
spite of its length, "y its central couplet and "y the finality of the last line, is a disco$ery
of genius, and that the Ale)andrine, -fore$er feeling for the ne)t stan'a,- does much to
"ind the stan'as together. .t has "een adopted in no small num"er of the greatest
su"se&uent /nglish poems, including such $arious ones as Burns- -0otter-s Saturday
1ight,- Byron-s -0hilde #arold,- 2eats- -/$e of St. Agnes,- and Shelley-s-Adonais.-
.n general style and spirit, it should "e added, Spenser has "een one of the most po!erful
influences on all succeeding /nglish romantic poetry. T!o further sentences of Lo!ell
!ell summari'e his !hole general achie$ement3
-#is great merit is in the ideal treatment !ith !hich he glorified common things and
gilded them !ith a ray of enthusiasm. #e is a standing protest against the tyranny of the
0ommonplace, and so!s the seeds of a no"le discontent !ith prosaic $ie!s of life and
the dull uses to !hich it may "e put.-
ELIZABETHAN LYRIC POETRY. -The 4aerie 5ueene- is the only long /li'a"ethan
poem of the $ery highest rank, "ut Spenser, as !e ha$e seen, is almost e&ually
conspicuous as a lyric poet. .n that respect he !as one among a throng of melodists !ho
made the /li'a"ethan age in many respects the greatest lyric period in the history of
/nglish or perhaps of any literature. Still grander, to "e sure, "y the nature of the t!o
forms, !as the /li'a"ethan achie$ement in the drama, !hich !e shall consider in the
ne)t chapter% "ut the lyrics ha$e the ad$antage in sheer delightfulness and, of course, in
rapid and direct appeal.
The 'est for lyric poetry some!hat artificially inaugurated at 0ourt "y +yatt and Surrey
seems to ha$e largely su"sided, like any other fad, after some years, "ut it $igorously
re$i$ed, in much more genuine fashion, !ith the taste for other imaginati$e forms of
literature, in the last t!o decades of /li'a"eth-s reign. .t re$i$ed, too, not only among the
courtiers "ut among all classes% in no other form of literature !as the di$ersity of
authors so marked% almost e$ery !riter of the period !ho !as not purely a man of prose
seems to ha$e "een gifted !ith the lyric po!er.
The &ualities !hich especially distinguish the /li'a"ethan lyrics are fluency, s!eetness,
melody, and an enthusiastic 6oy in life, all spontaneous, direct, and e)&uisite. Uniting the
genuineness of the popular "allad !ith the finer sense of conscious artistic poetry, these
poems possess a charm different, though in an only half defina"le !ay, from that of any
other lyrics. .n su"6ects they display the usual lyric $ariety. There are songs of delight in
1ature% a multitude of lo$e poems of all moods% many pastorals, in !hich, generally, the
pastoral con$entions sit lightly on the genuine poetical feeling% occasional patriotic
out"ursts% and some reflecti$e and religious poems. .n stan'a structure the num"er of
forms is unusually great, "ut in most cases stan'as are internally $aried and ha$e a large
admi)ture of short, ringing or musing, lines. The lyrics !ere pu"lished sometimes in
collections "y single authors, sometimes in the series of anthologies !hich succeeded to
Tottel-s -7iscellany.- Some of these anthologies !ere "ooks of songs !ith the
accompanying music% for music, "rought !ith all the other cultural influences from .taly
and 4rance, !as no! enthusiastically culti$ated, and the soft melody of many of the "est
/li'a"ethan lyrics is that of accomplished composers. 7any of the lyrics, again, are
included as songs in the dramas of the time% and Shakespeare-s comedies sho! him
nearly as preeminent among the lyric poets as among the play!rights.
Some of the finest of the lyrics are anonymous. Among the "est of the kno!n poets are
these3 George Gascoigne *a"out 89:;89<<(, a courtier and soldier, !ho "ridges the gap
"et!een Surrey and Sidney% Sir /d!ard Dyer *a"out 89=98>;<(, a scholar and
statesman, author of one perfect lyric, -7y mind to me a kingdom is-% ?ohn Lyly *899:
8>;>(, the /uphuist and dramatist% 1icholas Breton *a"out 89=9 to a"out 8>@>(, a
prolific !riter in $erse and prose and one of the most successful poets of the pastoral
style% Ro"ert South!ell *a"out 89>@89A9(, a ?esuit intriguer of ardent piety, finally
imprisoned, tortured, and e)ecuted as a traitor% George Peele *899B to a"out 89AB(, the
dramatist% Thomas Lodge *a"out 899B8>@9(, poet, no$elist, and physician% 0hristopher
7arlo!e *89>=89A:(, the dramatist% Thomas 1ash *89><8>;8(, one of the most prolific
/li'a"ethan hack !riters% Samuel Daniel *89>@8>8A(, scholar and critic, mem"er in his
later years of the royal household of ?ames .% Barna"e Barnes *a"out 89>A8>;A(%
Richard Barnfield *89<=8>@<(% Sir +alter Ralegh *899@8>8B(, courtier, statesman,
e)plorer, and scholar% ?oshua Syl$ester *89>:8>8B(, linguist and merchant, kno!n for
his translation of the long religious poems of the 4renchman Du Bartas, through !hich
he e)ercised an influence on 7ilton% 4rancis Da$ison *a"out 89<9 to a"out 8>8A(, son of
a counsellor of 5ueen /li'a"eth, a la!yer% and Thomas Dekker *a"out 89<; to a"out
8>=;(, a ne-erdo!eel dramatist and hack!riter of irrepressi"le and delightful good
spirits.
THE SONNETS.
.n the last decade, especially, of the century, no other lyric form compared in popularity
!ith the sonnet. #ere /ngland !as still follo!ing in the footsteps of .taly and 4rance% it
has "een estimated that in the course of the century o$er three hundred thousand sonnets
!ere !ritten in +estern /urope. .n /ngland as else!here most of these poems !ere
ine$ita"ly of mediocre &uality and imitati$e in su"stance, ringing the changes !ith
!earisome iteration on a minimum of ideas, often !ith the most e)tra$agant use of
conceits. Petrarch-s e)ample !as still commonly follo!ed% the sonnets !ere generally
composed in se&uences *cycles( of a hundred or more, addressed to the poet-s more or
less imaginary cruel lady, though the note of manly independence introduced "y +yatt is
fre&uent. 4irst of the important /nglish se&uences is the -Astrophel and Stella- of Sir
Philip Sidney, !ritten a"out 89B;, pu"lished in 89A8. -Astrophel- is a fanciful halfGreek
anagram for the poet-s o!n name, and Stella *Star( designates Lady Penelope De$ereu),
!ho at a"out this time married Lord Rich. The se&uence may $ery reasona"ly "e
interpreted as an e)pression of Platonic idealism, though it is sometimes taken in a sense
less consistent !ith Sidney-s high reputation. Cf Spenser-s -Amoretti- !e ha$e already
spoken. By far the finest of all the sonnets are the "est ones *a considera"le part( of
Shakespeare-s one hundred and fiftyfour, !hich !ere not pu"lished until 8>;A "ut may
ha$e "een mostly !ritten "efore 8>;;. Their interpretation has long "een hotly de"ated.
.t is certain, ho!e$er, that they do not form a connected se&uence. Some of them are
occupied !ith urging a youth of high rank, Shakespeare-s patron, !ho may ha$e "een
either the /arl of Southampton or +illiam #er"ert, /arl of Pem"roke, to marry and
perpetuate his race% others hint the story, real or imaginary, of Shakespeare-s infatuation
for a -dark lady,- leading to "itter disillusion% and still others seem to "e occasional
e)pressions of de$otion to other friends of one or the other se). #ere as else!here
Shakespeare-s genius, at its "est, is supreme o$er all ri$als% the first recorded criticism
speaks of the -sugared s!eetness- of his sonnets% "ut his genius is not al!ays at its "est.
JOHN DONNE AND THE BEGINNING OF THE 'METAPHYSICAL' POETRY.
The last decade of the si)teenth century presents also, in the poems of ?ohn Donne, a ne!
and $ery strange style of $erse. Donne, "orn in 89<:, possessed one of the keenest and
most po!erful intellects of the time, "ut his early manhood !as largely !asted in
dissipation, though he studied theology and la! and seems to ha$e seen military ser$ice.
.t !as during this period that he !rote his lo$e poems. Then, !hile li$ing !ith his !ife
and children in uncertain dependence on no"le patrons, he turned to religious poetry. At
last he entered the 0hurch, "ecame famous as one of the most elo&uent preachers of the
time, and through the fa$or of 2ing ?ames !as rapidly promoted until he !as made Dean
of St. Paul-s 0athedral. #e died in 8>:8 after ha$ing furnished a striking instance of the
fantastic mor"idness of the period *post/li'a"ethan( "y ha$ing his picture painted as he
stood !rapped in his shroud on a funeral urn.
The distinguishing general characteristic of Donne-s poetry is the remarka"le
com"ination of an aggressi$e intellectuality !ith the lyric form and spirit. +hether true
poetry or mere intellectual cle$erness is the predominant element may reasona"ly "e
&uestioned% "ut on many readers Donne-s $erse e)ercises a uni&ue attraction. .ts definite
peculiarities are outstanding3 8. By a process of e)treme e)aggeration and minute
ela"oration Donne carries the /li'a"ethan conceits almost to the farthest possi"le limit,
achie$ing !hat Samuel ?ohnson t!o centuries later descri"ed as-enormous and
disgusting hyper"oles.- @. .n so doing he makes relentless use of the intellect and of
$er"ally precise "ut actually preposterous logic, striking out astonishingly "rilliant "ut
utterly fantastic flashes of !it. :. #e dra!s the material of his figures of speech from
highly unpoetical sourcespartly from the acti$ities of e$eryday life, "ut especially from
all the sciences and schoolkno!ledge of the time. The material is a"stract, "ut Donne
gi$es it full poetic concrete pictures&ueness. Thus he speaks of one spirit o$ertaking
another at death as one "ullet shot out of a gun may o$ertake another !hich has lesser
$elocity "ut !as earlier discharged. .t !as "ecause of these last t!o characteristics that
Dr. ?ohnson applied to Donne and his follo!ers the rather clumsy name of
-7etaphysical- *Philosophical( poets. -4antastic- !ould ha$e "een a "etter !ord. =. .n
$igorous reaction against the sometimes ner$eless melody of most contemporary poets
Donne often makes his $erse as ruggedly condensed *often as o"scure( and as harsh as
possi"le. .ts !renched accents and slurred sylla"les sometimes appear a"solutely
unmetrical, "ut it seems that Donne generally follo!ed su"tle rhythmical ideas of his
o!n. #e adds to the appearance of irregularity "y e)perimenting !ith a large num"er of
lyric stan'a formsa different form, in fact, for nearly e$ery poem. 9. .n his lo$e poems,
!hile his sentiment is often Petrarchan, he often emphasi'es also the /nglish note of
independence, taking as a fa$orite theme the incredi"le fickleness of !oman.
.n spirit Donne "elongs much less to /li'a"ethan poetry than to the follo!ing period, in
!hich nearly half his life fell. Cf his great influence on the poetry of that period !e shall
speak in the proper place.