I agree that the word joy is a reference to Mountjoy, it is not the
repetition that is important, since many poets used repetition, it is
the way it is used.
For example,
Dear if you change:
Earth with her flow'rs shall sooner heav'n adorn,
Heav'n her bright stars through earth dim globe shall move,
Fire heat shall lose, and frosts of flame be born,
Air made to shine as black a hell shall prove:
Earth, Heaven, Fire, Air, the world transform'd shall view,
Ere I prove false to faith, or strange to you.
Here there is a certain amount of craft in the repetition, it is still
a shopping list, but the meter, language and retorical structure are
more sohpisticated. The poet use several kinds of alliteration,
including internal, and the structure ofthe argument is more complex.
However, it still falls very short of Donne or Jonson: here is the same
sort of list, but with all the tonal trappings
COME, madam, come, all rest my powers defy ;
Until I labour, I in labour lie.
The foe ofttimes, having the foe in sight,
Is tired with standing, though he never fight.
Off with that girdle, like heaven's zone glittering,
But a far fairer world encompassing.
Unpin that spangled breast-plate, which you wear,
That th' eyes of busy fools may be stopp'd there.
Unlace yourself, for that harmonious chime
Tells me from you that now it is bed-time.
Off with that happy busk, which I envy,
That still can be, and still can stand so nigh.
Your gown going off such beauteous state reveals,
As when from flowery meads th' hill's shadow steals.
The question is, where does In Darkness fall rhetorically, what is the
power ofthe poet's craft of composition?
And here it becomes subjective, but for me it lies just below Donne,
Marvell and Jonson but above the rest, and the quality of the second
verse is not as good as the first.
And as much as I adore the Coprario songs, I think the poet is less
skilled than the composer :)
The argument can be mase that the lyric was intentionally written in a
less refined rhetorical style, but for a funeral, I don't think that
was the case. I just think they went to "poets 'R Us"
I have often suspected that some of Dowland's poems were translations
of French and Italian works, perhaps I'll get of my duff and try to
find them
Weep you no more
Weep you no more, sad fountains;
What need you flow so fast?
Look how the snowy mountains
Heaven's sun doth gently waste.
But my sun's heavenly eyes
View not your weeping,
That now lies sleeping
Softly lies sleeping
Looks like a Chiabrera poem, lines of seven and five with irregular,
tapering phrases
It is always a tricky thing to try and assign authorship on the basis
of style, here I think there is a strong case because you have
specifics to point to, the use of Alexandrine lines of twelve
syllables, the reversal of the most important phrase, and so on.
The style issue is at best a circumstantial case.
However, most issues dealing with authorship, provenance and so on are
the same sort of thing, sifting through subtle changes.
aAt 02:30 AM 12/4/2009, you wrote:
On Fri, Dec 4, 2009 at 8:28 AM, David Tayler
<[email protected]> wrote=
:
> =A0 The internal metrical structure of the poem, which relies on
an
> =A0 Alexandrine pattern, =A0suggests that it is a translation of a
> =A0 continental model, probably French.
Now we are talking; these are valid arguments. Especially the
difference in style/quality of the 'In Darknes' first verse with the
rest of the poetry in the Funeral Tears.
> =A0 The unusual repetion of the word "joy" four times is also the
sort of
> =A0 rhetorical device that a trained poet would never use,
Obviously, these poems were written for Lord Mountjoy, the word
'joy'
the refers to him. It had to be insterted time and time again. Ad
nauseam, if you will.
David
--=20
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