Cavalier Poets and the Metaphysicals

Introduction

During the 17th century, the poets were divided into two main groups:

· The Cavaliers

· The Metaphysicals

The Cavaliers

The Cavaliers were the members of the aristocracy. They had gotten their names from the supporters of King Charles I in the 17th century, who later was executed due to the Civil War. They were also known as “The Royalists”

Few cavalier poets include: Robert Herrick, Thomas Carew, Sir John Suckling, and Richard Cove Lace to name a few.

Robert Herrick was an exception as he was a clergyman.

Few other poets of this group lived at the court of Charles I. They used to favor the king and the court against the Puritans and the Parliament but usually did not use it in their poetry to generate propaganda against the king’s enemies. They kept royalism away from poetry.

They were generally lyrical poets who dealt with love, beauty and war. Other than Robert Henrick, who wrote both religious and secular poems, while the other cavalier poets dealt with secular themes.

Influence of John Donne and Ben Johnson

Usually, the cavalier poets came and was greatly influenced by John Donne and Ben Johnson. A lot of them were proud of calling themselves “Sons of Ben”. They derived clarity and lucidity of expression, control of emotions and sophistication of tone from Johnson.

Greatly influenced by Donne, the use of conversational tone and metaphysical conceit were used in their poems. So, both Ben Johnson and John Donne were considered as role models.

Main features of Cavalier Poetry

· The Cavaliers wrote short poems but did not enjoy sonnets

· Cavaliers did not write for publicity. They were immature and careless writers

· They generally used direct language. The Cavaliers accepted the Renaissance

· Usually avoided the subject of religion

· Avoided discovering the soul

· Their main thematic theme was pleasure. A lot of poems favor realizing moments in life and are usually erotic. Although, the Cavaliers were aristocrats, the main focus was on the lifestyle of the aristocrats led.

· The tone of the Cavaliers are light. It usually focusses on eroticism and matters of culture. Cavalier poetry is written from the perspective of an aristocrat.