Post by Mlle Bienvenu on Sept 27, 2004 23:09:47 GMT -5
Behn's Elegy, "On the Death of the Late Earl of Rochester" is an excellent example of the elegy which illustrates vocational crisis through the death of a poetic figure. Although, on first glance, the poem seems to mourn the loss of the poetic figure himself (in this case, the Earl of Rochester), further investigation reveals that the poet is actually lamenting, not the poet, but the poet's inability to write more poetry (on account of his death). The poem moves from lamenting the craft to, in the last stanza, coming to terms with the loss.
From the very begining of the elegy, bewailing your own loss is paramount. In fact, the very first word (set off as well as doubled) is a command in the form of an invocation to the muses, to mourn. The muses here represent the poetic art as a whole, and thus, from the off, we have a poem of vocational crisis. "Mourn, Mourn, ye muses, all your loss deplore" The use of the cesurae in this line jogs the rythim, almost making it sound as though the speaker is in the middle of sobbing. It breaks up the rythm just as one would break up their speech trying to utter something amid sobs. This is important, as later on in the piece, the meter is not interrupted as often (with the exception of the 'choral' line) , indicating a move from utter grief to consolation.
Next, the author sets up the object of the loss in the next line "The young, the noble Strephon is no more." Throughout the poem, Rochester is referred to as the pastoral lover Strephon, the half-fae hero of Iolanthe. He is compared to him due to his youth (The earl died in his 30's, it is rumoured from a venereal disease) and also because of the subject matter of his poetry, which was often rife with sexual imagry intended to satire it, to incite a change in the moral climate of the times. (see The Imperfect Enjoyment, for an example)
Also, it's important to point out that Behn chose to provoke mourning before even saying what exactly they should be mourning over. This demonstrates the 'selfish' tendancy of the elegy, and also further substantiates the claim that the poem is about vocational crisis rather than personal loss. (On a sidenote, this is not a foriegn tendancy in poetry. The Shakespearian love sonnet often focuses on the poetic voice's reaction to the female rather than the female herself) The loss could be just about any important poetic figure's death, because the poem is concerned with the living rather than the dead.
The next few lines are very interesting, especially lines 7 and 8, "He was but lent this duller world t' improve/ In all the charms of poetry, and love." Again this underlines Rochester's affinity for both love and poetry (and their intermingling, which seems to be a thematic element of the poem especially later on). It is unclear, and, perhaps intentionally, whether he was lent this duller world to improve it, or if he was lent this duller world to improve his art. I am leaning towards the first indication as the weightier, because the last two lines of the stanza, Rochester is compared to the sun, which would color the previous line as 'to make this duller world brighter through his poetry' When these two lines are juxtaposed it makse the contrast (no pun intended) between dark and light very obvious.
Now that the author has set up what she is elegizing, she goes on to tell of the sorrow that is the poetic world at Rochester's passing... this is the bulk of the poem. three sections-worth. These sections are split into three categories of mourners. Youths, Beauties, and Cupids (ye little gods). These three groups are not wontonly chosen, in plain english it's men, women, and love, which would cover well the whole group of mourners. Throughout these sections, love and verse are frequently intermingled, blurring the lines by using loaded words. For example 'ravisht' is used to refer to how his words affected the listener. But ravished has many meanings (to be snatched up, enraptured, )
Appropriately, the first section of mourners Behn chooses to point out are the people Wilmot satirized the most. She says that 'no sharp pen dares tell 'em how they've strayed;" (line 30) and then she goes on to say how many 'sharp pens' he took himself, and bore them all as a god, while his chastisment of the youths was still 'kind and gentle'. Once again she emphasizes the loss to the art first, because she ends the section with 'The last reproacher of your vice is dead'" (line34) where emphasis is clearly on the loss to the genre of satire.
Next, she addresses the 'beauties' emphasizing his youth and how well he looked. She even goes so far to state that he was a slave to women. This section seems be designed as a sort of chastisment of women, especially when taken in light of the way he is said to have caroused, and if it is true that he died of a venereal disease.
Somthing interesting happens in this section. Thus far, the poem has been comprised of rhymed iambic pentametric couplets. (lending well to the serious tone of the piece) But in this section comes a triplet, the only triplet in the piece. Thus:
'Adorned with all the graces Heaven e'er lent,
All that was great, soft lovely, excellent
You've laid into his early monument.' (lines 47 - 9)
The section above is different from the rest of the poem, and it seems to read as more of an epitaph for the Earl of Rochester's tomb as well as, as stated above, a placing of blame of his death on the women with which he caroused.
Which leads us into the final group of mourners, the cupids, who because of Wimot's passing, have lost all their power to make people fall in love.
It is only in our concluding section that the poem makes a sudden shift from lament to consolation. This is marked by a shift in tense. The entire poem, except this section is composed in the present tense, which lends a feeling of urgency to the piece. However this last section is in the past tense, as though it's happening after their mourning has calmed down a bit, and she begins to summarize his life in broader more plain strokes, like the mark of a more distant memory. (Because it's difficult to see the wood for the trees) It feels as though it is years later and is looking back reflectivly, almost remotely on the Earl of Rochester's passing. The last chorus of "Mourn, Mourn" (which again, speaks in generalizations, as it addresses the world rather than muses, muses, youths, beauties, and cupids. ) seems mellower when taken in with the preceding lines.
Another interesting aspect of the last section is that it poses a hypothetical situation, a device which has not been used thus far. The poetic voice poses, "Had he been to the Roman Empire known [.....] [Augustus would have] increased the number of their gods; [...]" Behn then uses this construction to compare him with Ovid, even going so far as to say he would hav outdone Ovid in 'love and verse' As has been mentioned in class, Ovid was of prime interest of the day, on account of the rush to translate ancient poetry to English.
From the very begining of the elegy, bewailing your own loss is paramount. In fact, the very first word (set off as well as doubled) is a command in the form of an invocation to the muses, to mourn. The muses here represent the poetic art as a whole, and thus, from the off, we have a poem of vocational crisis. "Mourn, Mourn, ye muses, all your loss deplore" The use of the cesurae in this line jogs the rythim, almost making it sound as though the speaker is in the middle of sobbing. It breaks up the rythm just as one would break up their speech trying to utter something amid sobs. This is important, as later on in the piece, the meter is not interrupted as often (with the exception of the 'choral' line) , indicating a move from utter grief to consolation.
Next, the author sets up the object of the loss in the next line "The young, the noble Strephon is no more." Throughout the poem, Rochester is referred to as the pastoral lover Strephon, the half-fae hero of Iolanthe. He is compared to him due to his youth (The earl died in his 30's, it is rumoured from a venereal disease) and also because of the subject matter of his poetry, which was often rife with sexual imagry intended to satire it, to incite a change in the moral climate of the times. (see The Imperfect Enjoyment, for an example)
Also, it's important to point out that Behn chose to provoke mourning before even saying what exactly they should be mourning over. This demonstrates the 'selfish' tendancy of the elegy, and also further substantiates the claim that the poem is about vocational crisis rather than personal loss. (On a sidenote, this is not a foriegn tendancy in poetry. The Shakespearian love sonnet often focuses on the poetic voice's reaction to the female rather than the female herself) The loss could be just about any important poetic figure's death, because the poem is concerned with the living rather than the dead.
The next few lines are very interesting, especially lines 7 and 8, "He was but lent this duller world t' improve/ In all the charms of poetry, and love." Again this underlines Rochester's affinity for both love and poetry (and their intermingling, which seems to be a thematic element of the poem especially later on). It is unclear, and, perhaps intentionally, whether he was lent this duller world to improve it, or if he was lent this duller world to improve his art. I am leaning towards the first indication as the weightier, because the last two lines of the stanza, Rochester is compared to the sun, which would color the previous line as 'to make this duller world brighter through his poetry' When these two lines are juxtaposed it makse the contrast (no pun intended) between dark and light very obvious.
Now that the author has set up what she is elegizing, she goes on to tell of the sorrow that is the poetic world at Rochester's passing... this is the bulk of the poem. three sections-worth. These sections are split into three categories of mourners. Youths, Beauties, and Cupids (ye little gods). These three groups are not wontonly chosen, in plain english it's men, women, and love, which would cover well the whole group of mourners. Throughout these sections, love and verse are frequently intermingled, blurring the lines by using loaded words. For example 'ravisht' is used to refer to how his words affected the listener. But ravished has many meanings (to be snatched up, enraptured, )
Appropriately, the first section of mourners Behn chooses to point out are the people Wilmot satirized the most. She says that 'no sharp pen dares tell 'em how they've strayed;" (line 30) and then she goes on to say how many 'sharp pens' he took himself, and bore them all as a god, while his chastisment of the youths was still 'kind and gentle'. Once again she emphasizes the loss to the art first, because she ends the section with 'The last reproacher of your vice is dead'" (line34) where emphasis is clearly on the loss to the genre of satire.
Next, she addresses the 'beauties' emphasizing his youth and how well he looked. She even goes so far to state that he was a slave to women. This section seems be designed as a sort of chastisment of women, especially when taken in light of the way he is said to have caroused, and if it is true that he died of a venereal disease.
Somthing interesting happens in this section. Thus far, the poem has been comprised of rhymed iambic pentametric couplets. (lending well to the serious tone of the piece) But in this section comes a triplet, the only triplet in the piece. Thus:
'Adorned with all the graces Heaven e'er lent,
All that was great, soft lovely, excellent
You've laid into his early monument.' (lines 47 - 9)
The section above is different from the rest of the poem, and it seems to read as more of an epitaph for the Earl of Rochester's tomb as well as, as stated above, a placing of blame of his death on the women with which he caroused.
Which leads us into the final group of mourners, the cupids, who because of Wimot's passing, have lost all their power to make people fall in love.
It is only in our concluding section that the poem makes a sudden shift from lament to consolation. This is marked by a shift in tense. The entire poem, except this section is composed in the present tense, which lends a feeling of urgency to the piece. However this last section is in the past tense, as though it's happening after their mourning has calmed down a bit, and she begins to summarize his life in broader more plain strokes, like the mark of a more distant memory. (Because it's difficult to see the wood for the trees) It feels as though it is years later and is looking back reflectivly, almost remotely on the Earl of Rochester's passing. The last chorus of "Mourn, Mourn" (which again, speaks in generalizations, as it addresses the world rather than muses, muses, youths, beauties, and cupids. ) seems mellower when taken in with the preceding lines.
Another interesting aspect of the last section is that it poses a hypothetical situation, a device which has not been used thus far. The poetic voice poses, "Had he been to the Roman Empire known [.....] [Augustus would have] increased the number of their gods; [...]" Behn then uses this construction to compare him with Ovid, even going so far as to say he would hav outdone Ovid in 'love and verse' As has been mentioned in class, Ovid was of prime interest of the day, on account of the rush to translate ancient poetry to English.
