Metaphysical poets, selected poems Contents
- Donne, John
- John Donne's early life
- John Donne - from Catholic to Protestant
- John Donne's marriage and its aftermath
- John Donne - The Reverend Dean
- Herbert, George
- Crashaw, Richard
- Vaughan, Henry
- Marvell, Andrew
- King, Henry
- Lovelace, Richard
- Cowley, Abraham
- Philips, Katherine
- Cleveland, John
- Social / political context
- Religious / philosophical context
- Literary context: ideas and innovations
- Aire and Angels
- A Hymn to God the Father
- A Hymn to God, my God, in my Sicknesse
- A Nocturnall upon St. Lucies day
- At the Round Earth's Imagin'd Corners
- A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
- Synopsis of Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
- Commentary on Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
- Language and tone in Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
- Structure and versification in Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
- Imagery and symbolism in Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
- Themes in Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
- A Valediction: of Weeping
- Batter my heart
- Death be not Proud
- Elegie XIX: Going to Bed
- Elegie XVI: On his Mistris
- Good Friday, 1613. Riding Westward
- Lovers' Infiniteness
- Oh my blacke Soule!
- Satyre III: 'On Religion'
- Show me Deare Christ
- Since She Whom I Lov'd
- Song: Goe, and catche a falling starre
- The Anniversarie
- The Dreame
- The Extasie
- The Flea
- The Good-morrow
- The Sunne Rising
- This is my playes last scene
- Twicknam Garden
- What if this present
- Affliction I
- Easter Wings
- Jordan I
- Jordan II
- Love II
- Prayer I
- The Church-floore
- The Collar
- Hymn in Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament
- Hymn to St Teresa
- St Mary Magdalene, or the Weeper
- To the Countesse of Denbigh
- Ascension - Hymn
- The Night
- The Retreate
- The Water-fall
- A Dialogue between Soul and Body
- On a Drop of Dew
- The Coronet
- The Definition of Love
- The Garden
- The Mower Against Gardens
- The Mower to the Glo-Worms
- The Mower's Song
- The Nymph Complaining for the Death of her Faun
- The Picture of Little T.C. in a Prospect of Flowers
- To his Coy Mistress
- Upon Appleton House, to my Lord Fairfax
Upon Phillis Walking in a Morning before Sun-rising
John Cleveland was one of the many love poets of the period who could generally be classified as Cavalier poets, writing smooth, witty, but conventional verse, but whose poetry occasionally shows metaphysical traits. Upon Phillis would seem to be a typical pastoral love poem written in the Elizabethan conventions largely taken over by the Cavaliers. But at times the rhythms and imagery echo Donne rather than Ben Jonson.
The morning star
The central conceit is to see Phillis as a new sun goddess. The first half of the poem (ll.1-32) sees Phillis appear from the east, as if she were the sun. The whole of pastoral nature responds to her appearance, though in fact she can do no more than be Venus, the morning star, who is ‘Usher to the sun'. ‘Venus' is, of course, also the goddess of love in classical mythology.
So we have the trees ‘like yeomen of her guard': she receives the royal welcome from them. The plants, even if they have been staked or pruned, revive as ‘each receives his ancient soule'. The birds, breezes and flowers all respond to her as if she were the sun. But this does not cause civil war – the reference to ‘her Yorke and Lancaster' is to the white and red roses which were respectively emblems of two former royal dynasties in England, who fought each other in the Wars of the Roses in late medieval times. But here the roses are all submitted to her.
Rivalling the sun
The second half of Upon Phillis (ll.33-54) continues the conceit by describing what happens when the real sun tries to rise. He has to see what saint has performed these miracles in nature (in the Roman Catholic church, one of the signs of a saint is that he or she has performed a certain number of miracles). The sun is pictured as shut out of his own realm, forced to spy ‘The trembling leaves through ...', afraid ‘lest her full Orb his sight should dim.' The personification is comic.
The trees shed their fruit and leaves for Phillis ‘that they might her foot-steps strawe' - spontaneously 'strewing' her way, as a wealthy person might have mud covered up before theywalkeddown the street. But this is going to cause confusion in nature (‘wed October unto May') – so she ‘With-drew her beames' by going indoors. However, she is leaving the sun ‘her Curate-light', a curate being a substitute priest or minister.
The conceit is maintained throughout. It has humour and some wit, though not the dazzling display we might expect from Donne. It is a graceful compliment to the lady, for whom the poet expresses no particular personal feelings.
- What would you say is metaphysical about Upon Phillis?
- Compare it with Donne's The Sunne Rising
- Work out the versification of the poem
- How does it fit the light and complimentary tone of the poem?
- Examine the extent of the personification in the poem
- What effect does it have, especially on the portrayal of Phillis?
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