My short paper gibberish, available for critique.

Reading with the wisdom of Stephens and the insight of Rose

While the requirement for analysis crosses many disciplines, the nature of poetry sees this need perhaps greater than other forms of literature. Through seeking deeper understanding and significance, the reader of poetry is able to feel the words in a more insightful fashion than what a straightforward reading may offer. With this in mind, poetry should be looked at as more than the sum of its parts, or structure. A sonnet, such as Drayton’s 6^th, offers much more than fourteen lines of pretty words.

How many paltry, foolish, painted things,
That now is coaches trouble every street,
Shall be forgotten, whom no Poet sings,
Ere they be well wrapt in their winding-sheet.
Where I to thee eternity shall give,
When nothing else remaineth of these days,
And Queens hereafter shall be glad to live
Upon the alms of thy superfluous praise.
Virgins and matrons, reading these my rhymes,
Shall be so much delighted with thy story
That they shall grieve they liv'd not in these times,
To have seen thee, their sex's only glory.
So shalt thou fly above the vulgar throng,
Still to survive in my immortal song. (Drayton, 1619)

Although there may be several styles of sonnet, this is most definitely the English form. The ABAB rhyme, three quatrains and a couplet leave little room for any other definition. This sonnet catches the eye and ear with the contempt or disdain Drayton shows for all other women, when compared to his heart’s desire. From the collection of sonnets that make up Idea, published in 1619, this sonnet is one of 73 proclaiming the glories of Anne Goodeere, whom Drayton was said to be in love with (Jokinen, 2007).

The ‘paltry, foolish and painted things,’ troubling ‘every street’, seem to be utterly unworthy of his, or anyone’s contemplation. The stress placed on the first syllables of those three adjectives can be almost spat out as much as spoken. His contempt is completed through the second half of the first quatrain 'Shall be forgotten, whom no Poet sings, Ere they be well wrapt in their winding-sheet’; they will be dead and gone with none to remember them. This language marks all other women as very poor things indeed. In this first quatrain he is also setting up the rest of the sonnet; the ‘whom no poet sings,’ line is in direct contrast to what he is offering below.

The next quatrain sees the tone of the speaker changing, softening to one of seduction. Rather than reflecting on the lowliness of others, these and the following four lines focus on the glory of Anne and the poet himself. This quatrain sees Drayton’s ego let off the leash, claiming that even queens will be glad to live on the leftovers from his ‘superfluous praise’. The idea of achieving immortality through words is presented more clearly in these lines; only hinted at in the negative through the first quatrain. This immortality is a gift able to be bestowed by the author, ‘Where I to thee eternity shall give’, the words surviving long after what ‘remaineth of these days’. Drayton is gifting Anne with ‘eternity’.

The last of the quatrains bring both their glories together; his writing and her splendour. Written at about the same time, it is not too far a leap to the sentiment of Shakespeare’s St Crispin’s day speech in Henry V. where those not able to be at the battle or, in this case, witness the beauty shall ‘hold their manhoods cheap’ or ‘grieve they have not lived in these times’. Again, Drayton is returning to the idea of immortality achieved through words. This time he is suggesting that not only will they be wishing for but a fraction of the praise outlaid in these sonnets, they will also regret that they were not around to witness the beauty here described, the last of these lines crowning her the female ‘sex’s only glory’.

The couplet contains a promise, that through his writing, she will forever be above all others, or ‘fly over the vulgar throng’ in Drayton’s words. The promise of immortality also returns, this time directly attributing this ability to his ‘immortal words’. With other Drayton pieces based on the earlier style of Horace and Ovid (Jokinen, 2007), it may be suggested that the poet was well aware of the eternal nature of literature.

It is perfectly understandable if the reader is left in no small amount of awe at Drayton’s degree of devotion to his love. His heart is openly on display for the world to see, both in this and the rest of the collection. This particular sonnet is almost amusing in parts, though all of the sonnets combined are an epic work of flattery.  Mr Keating, Dead Poets Society, spoke of poetry being used to 'woo women'. This takes it to a whole other level. That Drayton never succeeded is in no way reflective of his poetic efforts to do so, though without this profounder understanding, through analysis, the reader may be excused for viewing these fourteen lines as not much more than an historical curiosity.