Thomas Dekker (c.
1572 25 August 1632) was an English Elizabethan dramatist and
pamphleteer, a versatile and prolific writer whose career spanned several decades and
brought him into contact with many of the period's most famous dramatists .
Song
ART thou poor, yet hast thou golden slumbers?
O sweet content!
Art thou rich, yet is thy mind perplex'd?
O punishment!
Dost thou laugh to see how fools are vex'd
To add to golden numbers golden numbers?
O sweet content! O sweet, O sweet content!
Work apace, apace, apace, apace;
Honest labour bears a lovely face;
Then hey nonny nonnyhey nonny nonny!
Canst drink the waters of the crispd spring?
O sweet content!
Swim'st thou in wealth, yet sink'st in thine own tears?
O punishment!
Then he that patiently want's burden bears,
No burden bears, but is a king, a king!
O sweet content! O sweet, O sweet content!
Work apace, apace, apace, apace;
Honest labour bears a lovely face;
Then hey nonny nonnyhey nonny nonny!
Comprehensive response
1. Explain the first stanza in your own word
2. Can riches become a punishment? Explain The unfading beauty
Thomas Carew (pronounced as "Carey"[1]) (1595 22 March 1640) was an English
poet, among the 'Cavalier' group of Caroline poets. He was the son of Sir Matthew
Carew, master in chancery, and his wife Alice, daughter of Sir John Rivers, Lord Mayor
of the City of London and widow of Ingpen/
The Unfading Beauty
HE that loves a rosy cheek,
Or a coral lip admires,
Or from star-like eyes doth seek
Fuel to maintain his fires:
As old Time makes these decay,
So his flames must waste away.
But a smooth and steadfast mind,
Gentle thoughts and calm desires,
Hearts with equal love combined,
Kindle never-dying fires.
Where these are not, I despise
Lovely cheeks or lips or eyes.
Comprehensive response
1 What details of physical beauty are given in the first stanza ?
2 What spiritual beauties are given in the second stanza? Why so pale
and wan , Fond lover?
Sir John Suckling (10 February 1609 after May 1641) was an English poet and one
prominent figure among those renowned for careless gaiety, wit, and all the
accomplishments of a Cavalier poet; and also the inventor of the card game cribbage]
He is best known for his poem "Ballad Upon a Wedding".
Why so pale and wan , fond lover?
Why so pale and wan fond lover?
Prithee why so pale?
Will, when looking well cant move her,
Looking ill prevail?
Prithee why so pale?
Why so dull and mute young sinner?
Prithee why so mute?
Will, when speaking well cant win her,
Saying nothing dot?
Prithee why so mute?
Quit, quit for shame, this will not move,
This cannot take her;
If of herself she will not love,
Nothing can make her;
The devil take her.
Comprehensive response
1.What is the speaker's attitude toward women ?
2. If the speaker in this poem could dicuss women with the speaker in
"Rosalind's Madrigal" what would each say?
To Lucasta , On going to the Wars
Tell me not (Sweet) I am unkind,
That from the nunnery
Of thy chaste breast and quiet mind
To war and arms I fly.
True, a new mistress now I chase,
The first foe in the field;
And with a stronger faith embrace
A sword, a horse, a shield.
Yet this inconstancy is such
As you too shall adore;
I could not love thee (Dear) so much,
Lovd I not Honour more.
Comprehensive response
1. Of the three foregoing lovers. Which one knows the true meaning of
love? Why do u say so?
2. What seems to be the situation between the lovers in lovelace's poem ?
Point out the line whuch indicates this.
3. Who or what is the speaker's new mistress? Why does he use the word
mistress
4. In the last stanza, he explains his inconstancy in leaving his love one .
Express the thought of this stanza in your own word.
George Herbert ( April 1593 1 March 1633) was a Welsh-born English poet, orator
and Anglican priest. Herbert's poetry is associated with the writings of the metaphysical
poets, and he is recognized as "a pivotal figure: enormously popular, deeply and broadly
influential, and arguably the most skillful and important British devotional lyricist.
Virtue
Sweet day, so cool, so calm, so bright,
The bridal of the earth and sky;
The dew shall weep thy fall to-night,
For thou must die.
Sweet rose, whose hue angry and brave
Bids the rash gazer wipe his eye;
Thy root is ever in its grave,
And thou must die.
Sweet spring, full of sweet days and roses,
A box where sweets compacted lie;
My music shows ye have your closes,
And all must die.
Only a sweet and virtuous soul,
Like season'd timber, never gives;
But though the whole world turn to coal,
Then chiefly lives.
Comprehensive response :
1. What three things suggest the briefly of all earthly beauty?
2. What words in the poem induce a feeling of melancholy?
Robert Herrick Born on August 24, 1591, Robert Herrick was the seventh child and
fourth son born to a London goldsmith, Nicholas, and his wife, Julian Stone Herrick.
When Herrick was fourteen months old, his father died. At age 16, Herrick began a tenyear apprenticeship with his uncle. The apprenticeship ended after only six years, and
Herrick, at age twenty-two, matriculated at Saint Johns College, Cambridge. He
graduated in 1617.
To The Virgins,To Make Much Time
Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying;
And this same flower that smiles today
Tomorrow will be dying.
The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,
The higher he's a-getting,
The sooner will his race be run,
And nearer he's to setting.
That age is best which is the first,
When youth and blood are warmer;
But being spent, the worse, and worst
Times still succeed the former.
Then be not coy, but use your time,
And while ye may, go marry;
For having lost but once your prime,
You may forever tarry.
Comprehensive response
1. Do approve the speaker's advice ?
2. Is this a poem in favor of teenage marriage?
3. Is this poem addressed to girls who are choosy?
3. Explain "angry and brave"
4. Why should the rose "bid the rash gazer wipe his eye"?
