And I will make thee beds of roses, A cap of flowers, and a kirtle, A gown made of the finest wool, A belt of straw and ivy-buds, The shepherd swains shall dance and sing SIR WALTER RALEIGH 1552-1618 THE NYMPH'S REPLY If all the world and love were young, 5 But time drives flocks from field to fold, The flowers do fade, and wanton fields 10 To wayward winter reckoning yields; A honey tongue, a heart of gall, Is fancy's spring, but sorrow's fall. Thy gowns, thy shoes, thy beds of roses, 15 Soon break, soon wither, soon forgotten; In folly ripe, in reason rotten. Thy belt of straw and ivy-buds, But could youth last, and love still breed, Then these delights my mind might move, To live with thee and be thy love. Observe how Raleigh differs from Marlowe in his conception of the allurements of the country. Winter has its drawbacks, and youth and love possess no setting to make them permanent. THOMAS NASHE 1567-1601 Optional Poem In Time Of Pestilence. SPRING Spring, the sweet Spring, is the year's pleasant king; 5 The palm and May make country houses gay; Lambs frisk and play, the shepherds pipe all day, And we hear aye birds tune this merry lay, Cuckoo, jug-jug, pu-we, to-witta-woo! The fields breathe sweet, the daisies kiss our feet, By previously read lyrics interpret this poem. From the point of view of construction, the poem possesses artificiality. SIR PHILIP SIDNEY 1554-1586 Optional Poems The Bargain. Sonnet XXXI. (Astrophel and Stella.) SONNET XXXIX. ON SLEEP. (From Astrophel and Stella.) Come, Sleep! O Sleep, the certain knot of peace, I will good tribute pay, if thou do so. Take thou of me smooth pillows, sweetest bed; And if these things, as being thine in right, What is a sonnet? Explain its construction. In this sonnet does the thought in the sestet transcend the thought in the octave? What is the one completely evolved thought? Stella was Penelope Devereux, daughter of the Earl of Essex. She became Lady Rich. Sidney represents himself as Astrophel, lover of the star, Stella. (1-4) Cf. Shakespere's metaphors applied to sleep in "Macbeth," Act II. 2. |