Download Cavalier Poets

 Cavalier
meant horsemen prior to being
attributed to this group
 Royalists
 Charles I supported them
 Entertainment
rather than instruction
 Conversational style
 Elaborate conceits – though less obscure
 Meditative tone
 Classicism – focus on Greek and Roman
poetry
 Regular poetic form
 Heroic couplets – pairs of rhymed iambic
pentameter lines
 Sarcastic commentary on pursuit of coy
beauties
 Ben
Johnson and “Friends of Ben”
 Sir John Suckling
 Robert Herrick
 Richard Lovelace
 Andrew Marvel (?)
 “To
His Coy Mistress”
 Syllogism
 All men are mortal (major premise)
 Aristotle was a man (minor premise)
 Therefore, Aristotle was mortal (conclusion)
 Those who perjure themselves cannot be
trusted (major premise)
 This man has perjured himself (minor
premise)…
 This man cannot be trusted (conclusion)
Level 1
 Who is the speaker of the poem?
 To whom is he speaking?
 What is his basic argument? Create a syllogism
 Level 2
 What is the structure of the poem?
 What is the tone?
 What imagery exists?
 Level 3
 What is the theme?
 Book lists him with the Cavaliers but most
consider him a Metaphysical poet. Which is it?

Keeping the syllogism in mind and how each
stanza represents one part (stanza 1 = major
premise, stanza 2 = minor premise, stanza 3 =
conclusion)
 With this in mind, choose a single metaphor or
image and argue why that metaphor or image is
appropriate to the stanza, based on your
understanding of how each stanza builds
Marvell’s overall argument. Do this in paragraph
form, one per group, take about 15 minutes.
 A modern “To His Coy Mistress”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3553DGF7
1g

 Find
a group of about 4 people, read and
analyze the 2 selected poems, complete the
chart, prepare for quick discussion.
 Homework…carpe diem for others