More then we men can fayne, 416 Poure out your blessing on us plentiously, With lasting happinesse, Up to your haughty pallaces may mount, 420 426 And each one had a little wicker basket, And with fine fingers cropt full feateously Of every sort, which in that meadow grew, To decke their bridegromes posies 31 35 Sweete Themmes, runne softly, till I end my song. With that I saw two swannes of goodly hewe Come softly swimming downe along the lee; Two fairer birds I yet did never see: The snow which doth the top of Pindus strew Did never whiter shew, 40 Nor Jove himselfe, when he a swan would be For love of Leda, whiter did appear: neare: So purely white they were, 45 That even the gentle streame, the which them bare, When downe along by pleasant Tempes shore, Scattred with flowres, through Thessaly they streeme, 80 As he would speake, but that he lackt a tong, Yeat did by signes his glad affection show, That they appeare, through lillies plenteous Making his streame run slow. store, Like a brydes chamber flore. And all the foule which in his flood did dwell Gan flock about these twaine, that did excell The rest so far as Cynthia doth shend 120 Faire branch of honor, flower of chevalrie, That fillest England with thy triumphes fame, 151 The lesser starres. So they, enrangèd well, | Joy have thou of thy noble victorie, From those high towers this noble lord issuing, Like radiant Hesper when his golden hayre In th' ocean billows he hath bathèd fayre, Descended to the rivers open vewing, 166 With a great traine ensuing. Above the rest were goodly to bee seene Two gentle knights of lovely face and feature, 169 Beseeming well the bower of anie queene, With gifts of wit and ornaments of nature, Fit for so goodly stature: That like the twins of Jove they seem'd in sight, Which decke the bauldricke of the heavens bright. They two, forth pacing to the rivers side, Received those two faire brides, their loves ELIZABETHAN LYRICS As a whole, the brilliant lyrical effluence of the Elizabethan period may fairly be regarded as the product of English courtly life, and particularly, in its beginning, the product of the Renaissance court of Henry VIII. Wyatt and Surrey were conspicuous courtiers, and scarcely one of the contributors to Tottel's Miscellany (1557) was free from court influence. An inevitable result of courtliness in literature is convention, a too conscious refinement, and, often, a baffling veil of literary pretence. These qualities are salient and inherent in the Elizabethan sonnet. After its introduction into English literature by Sir Thomas Wyatt, and after its chastening in the hands of Surrey and others, this poetical form was first used in masterly fashion by Sir Philip Sidney in his Astrophel and Stella, the earliest sonnet sequence in English, composed a good while before its publication in 1591. During the decade 15901600, the sonnet was, apparently, the prevailing literary fashion, a fashion to which Shakspere submitted without restraint. Of the total number of these sonnets, which 'far exceeds two thousand,' the larger proportion are found in sonnet collections, or sonnet sequences, of which the most important, after those of Shakspere and Sidney, are the following: Delia (1592), by Samuel Daniel; Idea (1594), by Michael Drayton; and Amoretti (1595), by Edmund Spenser. With few exceptions, these sonnets, like those of Wyatt and Surrey, are imitations of Continental models. But since lyric is essentially the expression of personal emotion, the lyrist inevitably breaks out, at times, into a frank, intimate, and spontaneous utterance which is of all sorts of expression the most immediately pleasurable. Free, fresh, and various are the lyrics found in the series of miscellanies which began with Tottel's Miscellany, and continued with The Paradise of Dainty Devices (1576), A Gorgeous Gallery of Gallant Inventions (1578), A Handful of Pleasant Delights (1584), The Phoenix' Nest (1593), The Passionate Pilgrim (1599), England's Helicon (1600), and Francis Davison's Poetical Rhapsody (1602). In one or other of these collections are represented the chief lyrical writers of the Elizabethan period. In a group apart from the lyrical miscellanies, though not conspicuously different from some of them in content, may be reckoned the Elizabethan song books. William Byrd's Psalms, Sonnets, and Songs of Sadness and Piety (1587) and Songs of Sundry Natures (1589) were followed, during the next decade or two, by some scores of similar collections, such as John Dowland's The First Book of Songs or Airs (1597), and Thomas Campion's A Book of Airs (1601). Along with the songs in song books should be mentioned those that delightfully enliven many of the plays of the period, eminently those of Lyly and of Shakspere. SIR EDWARD DYER (1550?-1607) MY MIND TO ME A KINGDOM IS My mind to me a kingdom is, Such present joys therein I find That it excels all other bliss That earth affords or grows by kind: Though much I want which most would have, Yet still my mind forbids to crave. No princely pomp, no wealthy store, No wily wit to salve a sore, No shape to feed a loving eye; To none of these I yield as thrall: I see how plenty [surfeits] oft, And hasty climbers soon do fall; I see that those which are aloft Content to live, this is my stay; I seek no more than may suffice; I press to bear no haughty sway; Look, what I lack my mind supplies: Lo, thus I triumph like a king, Content with that my mind doth bring. 5 10 15 20 A cloaked craft their store of skill: But all the pleasure that I find 40 Is to maintain a quiet mind. My wealth is health and perfect ease; My conscience clear my chief defence; I neither seek by bribes to please, Nor by deceit to breed offence: Thus do I live; thus will I die; Would all did so as well as I! SIR WALTER RALEIGH (1552?-1618) THE SILENT LOVER I 45 Silence in love bewrays more woe Than words, though ne'er so witty: A beggar that is dumb, you know, May challenge double pity. Then wrong not, dearest to my heart, HIS PILGRIMAGE Give me my scallop-shell of quiet, My staff of faith to walk upon, My bottle of salvation, 10 My scrip of joy, immortal diet, 35 I loathe not life, nor dread my end. My gown of glory, hope's true gauge; And thus I'll take my pilgrimage. 5 I fear no foe, I fawn no friend; |