Medieval to Renaissance

Renaissance Commentary Spring 2012

Please write an 800-1000 word commentary on ONE of the following poems / pairs of poems / prose extracts to hand in to your tutor in your seminar in week 7. You may wish to discuss some of the following: content, choice of vocabulary, metaphor, poetic technique, poetic form, point of view, argument, assumed audience and sequence of ideas.

1.

Compare the following two sonnets by Thomas Wyatt and Edmund Spenser as responses to Petrarchs Rima 189 (translated in Norton Anth. p. 597). My galley My galley charged with forgetfulness Thorough sharp seas, in winter nights doth pass Tween rock and rock; eke mine enemy, alas, That is my lord, steereth with cruelness; And every oar a thought in readiness, As though that death were light in such a case. An endless wind doth tear the sail apace Of forced sighs and trusty fearfulness. A rain of tears, a cloud of dark disdain, Hath done the wearied cords great hinderance; Wreathed with error and eke with ignorance. The stars be hid that led me to this pain. Drowned is reason that should me consort, And I remain despairing of the port. Thomas Wyatt Sonnet 34, from Amoretti Lyke as a ship that through the Ocean wyde, By conduct of some star doth make her way Whenas a storme hath dimd her trusty guyde, Out of her course doth wander far astray: So I whose star, that wont with her bright ray Me to direct, with cloudes is overcast, Doe wander now in darknesse and dismay, Through hidden perils round about me plast. Yet hope I well, that when this storme is past My Helice the lodestar of my lyfe Will shine again, and looke on me at last, With lovely light to cleare my cloudy grief. Till then I wander carefull comfortlesse, In secret sorow and sad pensivenesse. Edmund Spenser Helice: a name for the Big Dipper. 2. But the whole matter can be cleared up if youll ask Raphael about it either directly, if hes still in your neighbourhood, or else by letter. And Im afraid you must do this anyway, because of another problem that has cropped up whether through my fault, or yours, or Raphaels, Im not

placed guiding star full of cares

sure. For it didnt occur to us to ask, nor to him to say, in what area of the New World Utopia is to be found. I wouldnt have missed hearing about this for a sizable sum of money, for Im quite ashamed not to know even the name of the ocean where this island lies about which Ive written so much. Besides, there are various people here, and one in particular, a devout man and a professor of theology, who very much wants to go to Utopia. His motive is not by any means idle curiosity, but rather a desire to foster and further the growth of our religion, which has made such a happy start there. To this end, he has decided to arrange to be sent there by the pope, and even to be named bishop to the Utopians. He feels no particular scruples about intriguing for this post, for he considers it a holy project, rising not from motives of glory or gain, but simply from religious zeal. Therefore I beg you, my dear Peter, to get in touch with Hythloday in person if you can, or by letters if hes gone and make sure that my work contains nothing false and omits nothing true. It would probably be just as well to show him the book itself. If Ive made a mistake, theres nobody better qualified to correct me; but even he cannot do it, unless he reads over by book. Besides, you will be able to discover in this way whether hes pleased or annoyed that I have written the book. If he has decided to write out his own story for himself, he may be displeased with me; and I should be sorry, too, if, in publicizing Utopia, I had robbed him and his story of the flower of novelty. But to tell the truth, Im still in two minds as to whether I should publish the book or not. For mens tastes are so various, the tempers of some are so severe, their minds so ungrateful, their judgements so foolish, that there seems no point in publishing something, even if its intended for their advantage, that they will receive only with contempt and ingratitude. Better simply to follow ones own natural inclinations, lead a merry, peaceful life, and ignore the vexing problems of publication. Most people know nothing of learning; many despise it. The clod rejects as too difficult whatever isnt cloddish. The pedant dismisses as mere trifling anything that isnt stuffed with obsolete words. Some men approve only of ancient authors; most men like their own writing best of all. Heres a man so shallow he wont allow a shadow of levity, and theres one so insipid of taste that he cant endure the salt of a little wit. Thomas More, from Letter from Thomas More to Peter Giles, Utopia

3. Too dearly had I bought my grene and youthfull yeres, If in mine age I could not finde when craft for love apperes; And seldom though I come in court among the rest, Yet can I judge in colours dim as depe as can the best. Where grief tormentes the man that suffreth secret smart, To breke it forth unto som frend it easeth well the hart. So standes it now with me for my beloved frend: This case is thine for whom I fele such torment of my minde, And for thy sake I burne so in my secret brest That till thou know my whole disseyse my hart can have no rest. I see how thine abuse hath wrested so thy wittes That all it yeldes to thy desire, and folowes thee by fittes. Where thou hast loved so long with hart and all thy power, I see thee fed with fayned wordes, thy fredom to devour. I know, though she say nay and would it well withstand, When in her grace thou held thee most, she bare thee but in hand. I see her pleasant chere in chiefest of thy suite: When thou art gone I see him come, that gatheres up the fruite. And eke in thy respect I see the base degre Of him to whom she gave the hart that promised was to thee. I see, what would you more? Stode never man so sure On womans word, but wisdome would mistrust it to endure.

deceived, led astray

Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey 4. Beauty shut up thy shop, and truss up all thy trash. My Nell hath stolen thy finest stuff, and left thee in the lash: Thy market now is marred, thy gains are gone God wot, Thou hast no ware that may compare with this that I have got. As for thy painted pale, and wrinkles surfled up: Are dear enough for such as lust to drink of every cup: Thy bodies bolstered out with bumbast and with bags, Thy rolls, thy ruffs, thy cauls, thy coifs, thy jerkins and thy jags*. Thy curling and thy cost, thy frisling and thy fare, To court, to court with all those toys, and there set forth such ware Before their hungry eyes that gaze on every guest: And choose the cheapest chaffer still to please their fancy best. But I whose steadfast eyes could never cast a glance, With wandering look amid the press to take my choice by chance, Have won by due desert a piece that hath no peer, And left the rest as refuse all to serve the market there. There let him choose that list, there catch the best who can: A painted blazing bait may serve to choke a gazing man. But I have slipped* the flower that freshest is of hue, I have thy corn, go sell thy chaff, I list to seek no new: The windows of mine eyes are glazed with such delight As each new face seems full of faults that blazeth in my sight. And not without just cause, I can compare her so, Lo here my glove: I challenge him that can, or dare, say no. Let Theseus come with club, or Paris brag with brand, To prove how fair their Helen was that scourged the Grecian land, Let mighty Mars himself come armed to the field, And vaunt Dame Venus to defend with helmet, spear and shield, This hand that had good hap, my Helen to embrace, Shall have like luck to foil her foes and daunt them with disgrace. And cause them to confess by verdict and by oath, How far her lovely looks do stain the beauties of them both. And that my Helen is more fair than Paris wife, And doth deserve more famous praise than Venus for her life. Which if I not perform, my life then let me leese, Or else be bound in chains of change to beg for beautys fees. George Gascoigne, from The Adventures of Master F.J. . jags: cuts in garment to show off lining beneath slipped: cut, in order to replant