THOMAS CAREW 'S POEM - MEDIOCRITY IN LOVE REJECTED

   

 On the 11 ^th day of the Blog chatter’s #WRITEAPAGEADAY, Here is a poem with love as the major theme.

 

Poet: Thomas Carew

Poem:  Mediocrity in Love Rejected

 

   Give me more love or more disdain;

   The torrid, or the frozen zone,

   Bring equal ease unto my pain;

  The temperate affords me none;

   Either extreme, of love, or hate,

   Is sweeter than a calm estate.

 

  Give me a storm; if it be love,

  Like Danae in that golden show'r

I  I 'll  swim in pleasure; if it prove

  Disdain, that torrent will devour

  My vulture-hopes; and he's possess'd

  Of heaven, that's but from hell releas'd.

  Then crown my joys, or cure my pain;

  Give me more love, or more disdain.

 

 

More strongly influenced by John Donne, however, was Herrick’s contemporary Thomas Carew. He also belonged to the west of England.

Born at west Wickham about 1594, Thomas was the son of Sir Matthew Carew. As a lyric writer he is among the finest of his age.  Thomas Carew was the poetic arbiter elegantiae of the court of Charles I of England. His indebtedness to Donne lies in the flexibility of his style and in a certain strength, but he was a wise disciple who eschewed his master’s infirmities, and he is never obscure nor uncouth.

The inspiration for many of his lyrics lies in Donne, whose songs, sonnets, and elegies enjoyed wide manuscript circulation in London during the years in which Carew began to write. The younger poet borrows ideas, images, sometimes precise wording from his model; yet the ultimate effect is very different from Donne. Carew's syntax is utterly clear, his arguments easy to follow; what he sacrifices in dynamism and immediacy he gains in lucidity. He utterly ignores the satiric side of Donne.

Carew's lyrics rest squarely in the tradition of English Petrarchanism. The poet employs all the traditional conceits and addresses the usual amatory situations; yet, through vivid diction, a penchant for the elegant variation, and an ability to give an old phrase a surprising turn, he makes the clichés witty and new.

A good idea of his metrical ability may be gained from the study of his Persuasions to Love, a clever piece of rhythmic cadence, artfully devised, and happily successful. He is far from being the mere “elegant court trifler’’ that the brilliant and capricious Hazlitt dubs him.