sonnets and courtly love

7/25/2019 Sonnets and Courtly love

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SonnetsDr Jessica Dyson

[email protected]


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1) The sonnetForm and structureSpeaker / addressee

Desire

2) The AuthorCourtly contextsPatronageManuscript and Print

Lecture Overview


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Courtly love is based on the idea that

human love is an enobling, even

spiritual experience !!!" ! #he lover

adores his lady in spite o$ the $act that

she is the %i$e o$ another man! She

becomes the idealised ob&ect o$ his

veneration! #he vassal'lover su$$ers

constantly in his uns%erving devotion

to all his lady(s orders and desires!

)*ray, +-, p! -.

0icholas 1illiard )+2.-'+3+

45oung Man among 6oses4

Possibly 6obert Devereux, second

7arl o$ 7ssex )+233'+38+

+292'2


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a lyric poem of 14 lines

iambic pentameter

Form andStructure


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e tra!e" #full $er"#c%ants t%at # wit% wear" #ytoyle& #

*nstresse!

Stresse!

Iambic pentameter


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a lyric poem of 14 lines

iambic pentameter

+talian sonnet structure) Octave ,- lines an!

Sestet ,/ lines

+talian r%ymin( pattern) 00 00 2D3 2D3

3n(lis% an! Spenserian sonnet structure) 5uatrains ,4 lines an! a r%ymin( couplet ,6 lines

7%ymin( patterns of) 00 22 2D2D 33,Spenserian

00 2D2D 3838 99 ,3n(lis% :S%akespearean

Form andStructure


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Sonnet +2

5e trade$ull Merchants that %ith %eary toyle,Do seeke most pretious things to make your gain:

;nd both the

For loe my love doth in her sel$e containe

;ll this %orlds riches that may $arre be $ound,


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Sonnet +2


;nd both the




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Sonnet +2


;nd both the




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Sonnet +2


;nd both the




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blazon, a courtly literary trope, usually $ound in love poetry and

particularly in sonnets, %hich involves listing and proclaiming the physical

$eatures o$ a person, usually a %oman, as an idealiAed $orm o$ beauty! #he

blaAon became popular in the French court in the sixteenth century, and

$ashionable in 7nglish literature in the later sixteenth and early

seventeenth century!


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Metaphor

Simile


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Sonnet +2


;nd both the




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Sonnet B8

; %oman4s $ace, %ith nature4s o%n hand painted,1ast thou, the master'mistress o$ my passion

; %oman4s gentle heart, but not acuainted

=ith shi$ting change, as is $alse %omen4s $ashion?

;n eye more bright than theirs, less $alse in rolling,

*ilding the ob&ect %hereupon it gaAeth?

; man in hue all hues in his controlling,=hich steals men4s eyes and %omen4s souls amaAeth!

;nd $or a %oman %ert thou $irst created,

#ill nature as she %rought thee $ell a'doting,

;nd by addition me o$ thee de$eated,

@y adding one thing to my purpose nothing!

@ut since she pricked thee out $or %omen4s pleasure, Mine be thy love and thy love4s use their treasure!

=illiam Shakespeare


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Sonnet B8

; %oman4s $ace, %ith nature4s o%n hand painted,1ast thou, the master'mistress o$ my passion

; %oman4s gentle heart, but not acuainted

=ith shi$ting change, as is $alse %omen4s $ashion?

;n eye more bright than theirs, less $alse in rolling,

*ilding the ob&ect %hereupon it gaAeth?

; man in hue all hues in his controlling,=hich steals men4s eyes and %omen4s souls amaAeth!

;nd $or a %oman %ert thou $irst created,

#ill nature as she %rought thee $ell a'doting,

;nd by addition me o$ thee de$eated,

@y adding one thing to my purpose nothing!

@ut since she pricked thee out $or %omen4s pleasure, Mine be thy love and thy love4s use their treasure!

=illiam Shakespeare


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Masculine rhyme:

toil / spoil gain / vain

Feminine rhyme:passion / fashion

rolling / controlling


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Sonnet +E8

My mistress4 eyes are nothing like the sun?Coral is $ar more red than her lips4 red?


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Sonnet +E8

My mistress4 eyes are nothing like the sun?Coral is $ar more red than her lips4 red?


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#he sonnet(s potential $or o$$ence is brilliantly de$lected in the $inal

couplet %here the poet discredits the %hole blaAon tradition and

elevates his mistress above it in a single move! )Findlay, B8+8,

p!.-


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Sonnet 3

Fair is my love, and cruel as she4s $air:

1er bro% shades $ro%ns, although her eyes are sunny,

1er smiles are lightning, though her pride despair,

;nd her disdains are gall, her $avors honey!

; modest maid, decked %ith a blush o$ honour,=hose $eet do tread green paths o$ youth and love,

#he %onder o$ all eyes that look upon her,

Sacred on earth, designed a Saint above!

Chastity and @eauty, %hich %ere deadly $oes,

ive reconcilGd $riends %ithin her bro%?

;nd had she pity to con&oin %ith those,#hen %ho had heard the plaints < utter no%>

For had she not been $air and thus unkind,

My Muse had slept, and none had kno%n my mind!

Samuel Daniel

Speaker andAddressee


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Sonnet 3

Fair is my love, and cruel as she4s $air:

1er bro% shades $ro%ns, although her eyes are sunny,

1er smiles are lightning, though her pride despair,

;nd her disdains are gall, her $avors honey!

; modest maid, decked %ith a blush o$ honour,=hose $eet do tread green paths o$ youth and love,

#he %onder o$ all eyes that look upon her,

Sacred on earth, designed a Saint above!

Chastity and @eauty, %hich %ere deadly $oes,

ive reconcilGd $riends %ithin her bro%?

;nd had she pity to con&oin %ith those,#hen %ho had heard the plaints < utter no%>

For had she not been $air and thus unkind,

My Muse had slept, and none had kno%n my mind!

Samuel Daniel



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#he sonnet, because o$ its brevity, al%ays gives an impression o$ immediacy, as

i$ it proceeded directly and con$essionally or conversationally $rom the speaker,

and there$ore $rom the creator o$ that speaker! Since it has $or so long appeared

to o$$er a stage or arena on %hich the /


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Mimesis



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=hoso list to hunt, < kno% %here is an hind,

@ut as $or me, alas, < may no more:

#he vain travail hath %earied me so sore!

< am o$ them that $arthest come behind?

5et may < by no means my %earied mind

Dra% $rom the deer: but as she $leeth a$oreFainting < $ollo%! < leave o$$ there$ore,

Since in a net < seek to hold the %ind!

=ho list her hunt, < put him out o$ doubt,

;s %ell as < may spend his time in vain:

;nd, graven %ith diamonds, in letters plain

#here is %ritten her $air neck round about: Noli me tangere, $or Caesar4s < am,

;nd %ild $or to hold, though < seem tame!

Sir ;%omas


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#he vaintravail hath %eariedme so sore!


5et may < by no means my %eariedmind








Sir ;%omas


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Sir ;%omas


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Sir ;%omas


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#he vain travail hath %orried me so sore!










Sir ;%omas


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=yatt(s speaker renounces the courtly hunt in %hich only HCesar( sic" %ill %in

the priAe! @ut he also candidly admits that he cannot desist, even though he

kno%s he should )ll!2'3! #he picture he presents to the reader, then, is o$ a man

caught bet%een con$licting desires and social pressures! @et%een the attraction

o$ the Diere sic" )the $eminine other and the prohibition o$ Cesar )paternal

authority =yatt(s speaker struggles to $ind a neutral space in %hich to Hbe( or

Haddress( himsel$! )Falconer, B88E, p!+-9

Desire


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1) The sonnetForm and structureSpeaker / addressee

Desire

2) The AuthorCourtly contexts

PatronageManuscript and Print

Lecture Overview


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7ager to please potential employers by displaying themselves as sober, %ell'

$ormed gentlemen, the mid'century poets %ere also keen to demonstrate their

courtly credentials as men able to turn a neat sonnet or balet, and to $igure

themselves as experienced participators in elegant pastimes!

)1eale, B88E, p!BB

Courtly Contexts


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!!!" a great deal o$ %hat %e today think o$ as literature %as %ritten in the hopes

o$ obtaining money or position $rom a patron %ith court connections!

)Perry, B88E, p!+89

Patronage


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!!!" a great deal o$ %hat %e today think o$ as literature %as %ritten in the hopes

o$ obtaining money or position $rom a patron %ith court connections!

)Perry, B88E, p!+89

@en Jonson ' H#o Penshurst( )not a sonnetK

; country house poem Praising the Sidney $amily

Patronage


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@ut %hat can this )more than express their love

;dd to thy $ree provisions, $ar above

#he need o$ such> =hose liberal board doth $lo%

=ith all that hospitality doth kno%?=here comes no guest but is allo%ed to eat,

=ithout his $ear, and o$ thy lord(s o%n meat?

)H#o Penshurst(, ll!2-'3B

Patronage


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Men %ho are in love %ith real and attainable %omen may %rite love'sonnets to

them %ith per$ect sincerity, using this discourse? men %ho are in love in some

less sexual sense %ith unattainable %omen )their patroness or sovereign or

%ith some goal o$ a non'human kind may use the love'discourse as analogy,

and the sonnet as a theatrical utterance %ithin the arena o$ courtly per$ormance!)Spiller, +B, p!+B.

Patronage


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Sonnet +9

Shall < compare thee to a summer4s day>

#hou art more lovely and more temperate:

6ough %inds do shake the darling buds o$ May,

;nd summer4s lease hath all too short a date?

Sometimes too hot the eye o$ heaven shines,

;nd o$ten is his gold complexion dimmed?;nd every $air $rom $air sometimes declines,

@y chance or nature4s changing course untrimmed?

@ut thy eternal summer shall not $ade,

0or lose possession o$ that $air thou o%(st?

0or shall death brag thou %and4rest in his shade,

=hen in eternal lines to #ime thou gro%(st:So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,

So long lives this, and this gives li$e to thee!

=illiam Shakespeare


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Sonnet +9













=illiam Shakespeare


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Sonnet +9













=illiam Shakespeare


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HCoterie( circulation )common in manuscript culture

Small group

Similar statusShared values

Print and Manuscript


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L$ myAnniversaries, the $ault %hich < ackno%ledge in mysel$ is to havedescended to print anything in verse, %hich, though it have excuse, even in our

times, by example o$ men, %hich one %ould think should as little have done it,

as


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Manuscript circulation, despite these claims, does not make Donne less o$ an

author, but simply de$ines a di$$erent %ay o$ being an author in an age that

provides %idely variant responses to the competing pressures presented by t%o

eually acceptable systems o$ literary transmission manuscript and print!

)=ollman, +E, p!E

Print and Manuscript


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Sonnet +9






;nd o$ten is his gold complexion dimmed?

;nd every $air $rom $air sometimes declines,@y chance or nature4s changing course untrimmed?




=hen in eternal lines to #ime thou gro%(st:

So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,


=illiam Shakespeare

Death of the Author

+ a love poem>

B a poem o$ loving

admiration $or a young

$riend>

E a patronage poem>

. all three at once>

ibliography


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ibliography

Falconer, 6! )B88E! ; 6eading o$ =yatt(s H=ho so list to hunt(!

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