The Cavalier poets emerged in the middle of the 17th century, as followers of King Charles I, and they composed poetry which exemplified a sophisticated amalgamation of wit and clarity of expression, still retaining the necessary level of naiveté and elegance that did not cross the line of fine manners. Their polished lyrics mostly comprised of the courtly themes of praising a woman’s beauty and love, but also their sonnets were in debt to the more masculine themes of heroism in war, honor and the utter devotion to the king. The theme of friendship is one also infused within the poetry of the cavaliers, where the male, as well as the female poets use numerous instances of naturalistic imagery to convey the relevancy of the friend in their lives, as it is the case with Richard Lovelace. They move past mere physical beauty of the person in question and they focus on their inner feelings without the slightest tinge of shame in expressing their love for their friend, which can sometimes be perceived as bordering on romantic love. As it will become obvious in the poetry of poets such as Ben Jonson, Richard Lovelace and Katherine Phillips, the notion of friendship is an equally profuse one as the notions of love, honor and beauty, and is expressed with the equal amount of ardor.
Male Cavalier poets expressed their love and affection for a friend by emphasizing all the most praiseworthy traits a man could have, such as valor, honor and nobility. Several of Lovelace’s poems represent praise to a friend or a poet whose works he highly admired, giving advice during the painful experiences of grief or love, and overall, celebrating the beauty of love. His poem “The Grasshopper To My Noble Friend, Mr. Charles Cotton” offers a poetic specimen of how the cavaliers perceived their dearest friends, claiming that his friend was dropped down from heaven: “Dropt thee from Heav’n, where now th’art reard” (Lovelace). Thus, like the most precious of gifts, he has received his friend from heaven and feels that within his friend, he carries all “the joys of Earth and Ayre” (Lovelace). Naturally, the male perspective would offer no mention of the praised friend’s physical appearance or beauty, as it was the case with praising a woman, but rather the friend’s inner beauty and how it affects the world of the poet, who continues with the words that “up with the day, the Sun thou welcomst then” (CCCC). Consequently, the poet praises the effect that his friend has on the world that he perceives and is grateful and glad to have such a friend, who is so exceptional that he is even greeted by the Sun itself. His friend illuminates his world and when darkness falls, the poet does not despair, because the fire of their friendship burns within their breasts, and no “cold Time and frosen Fate” can extinguish this flame (Lovelace).
Finally, the culmination of the poem is the poet’s assertion of his friend as “Thou best of Men and Friends!” adding emphasis even to the very stylistic notion of the poem, by capitalizing the words men and friends (Lovelace). They are bonded forever in their friendship and their “sacred hearts shall burne eternally” (Lovelace). The imagery which is evoked here is one of an everlasting love, something that the malicious nature of the 21st century would deem as homosexual, but the fact of the matter is that the olden days considered friendship equally important as love between a man and a woman, and the men, especially poets, felt no shame in expressing their most inner emotions about their same sex friends. He finishes the poem with the words that “Thus richer than untempted Kings are we,/ That ask nothing, nothing need,” exemplifying the idea that the two of them are all they need, their friendship satisfies their every necessity and requirement. Consequently, in this poem, Lovelace uses a lot of naturalistic imagery to portray the essence of what his friend means to him and his feelings almost border on romantic emotions. But, if one takes into account the period during which it was written, the imagery and passion of expression are perfectly natural.
While Lovelace conveys to his readers the enormous importance his friend has in his life, his contemporary Ben Jonson chooses to accentuate the righteousness of the life path chosen by Thomas Lord Chancellor. In his poem “To Thomas Lord Chancellor,” he praises the “weigh’d judgements” of his friend and bears witness to his life “live[d] with purest hands” (Jonson). He continues that his friend does not feel any affection on proclaiming a judgment, meaning that Jonson emphasizes the way in which his friend deals with the issues of justice and fairness, since it is his vocation. Jonson admires the judge to a great extent and offers this poem as a eulogy to the way of life he leads which can be taken as a prime example for others. He not only praises the judge’s manner of dispersing justice, but also his knowledge: “And no lesse wise, than skillful in the lawes” (Jonson). Thus, a quality educational background and a justice oriented frame of mind lead to a clear conscience, which Jonson is certain the judge has, because once his judgment has been made, once the words are gone, his conscience always remains one. This refers to the fact that he never regrets his decisions, due to the fact that they are always well thought through and always justice oriented. Jonson rounds up his poem with: “The Virgin, long since fled from earth, I see,/ T’ our times return’d, hath made her heaven in thee” (Jonson). These two lines exemplify the idea that someone who is without sin, a biblical reference to Mary, has long fled from earth, but that the best qualities are left within this person Jonson has devoted his poem to. He represents the idea of truthfulness and justice, good morals and incorruptibility, something that Jonson praises highly and emphasizes to a great extent. Unlike Lovelace, whose focus is on friendship and the effect it has on him, Jonson endeavors to amplify those qualities of his friend that not only benefit him as an individual, but the whole society that enjoys the judge’s wise protection.
Compared with her male contemporaries, Katherine Phillips’ poetic discourse about friendship is additionally adorned with high levels of intense passion. For instance, in her poem “To My Excellent Lucasia, On Our Friendship,” she commences with the words that she has not lived until the time when she and her friend became not each other’s, but actually each other. Here, she conveys the idea of a spiritual union of souls, where one soul does not belong to the other, but really is the other: lives, breathes and dreams the same life. They are no longer separate entities, they are mirror images of each other. She claims that the most profound notion of love is not romantic love, “No bridegroom’s nor crown-conqueror’s mirth/ To mine compar’d can be,” but the union of two souls in friendship: “For thou art all that I can prize,/ My joy, my life, my rest” and she utilizes similes to buttress her stance (Phillips). Phillips perceives romantic love as mere union of physical bodies, while a friendship is the sharing of a soul. She feels happiness which encompasses her whole being and cannot but express herself in a less passionate way, which is why the poem might bear the connotation of lesbian tendencies. This is not so. Phillips’ standard of true love does not encompass physical love, because it disregards potential of the mind and soul. Only spiritual love, which ignores the mundane pleasures of the flesh, can unite two souls in such a way that they become extensions of themselves. Phillips does not feel sensual appetite, she merely expresses her delight and bliss in having found a spiritual mate: “I’ve all the world in thee” (Phillips).
The three previously mentioned poets express the notion of friendship in a dissimilar manner. For Lovelace, his divine friend has fallen from the sky, right into his breasts where he continues to keep him warm with his friendship throughout forlorn and wintry nights. Jonson proposes a less emotional portrayal of his friend’s characteristics, which are fairness, knowledge and obedience to justice in serving the public, where not only the poet benefits from having such a person for a friend, but the whole society. Phillips, being a woman, is the most emotionally expressive one; her friend is not only her joy, life and rest, but an actual extension of herself. Thus, all of these poets manage to convey the utter necessity of friendship in human life, because without it, one feels desolate, bitter and incomplete. In today’s fast paced life, it appears that people have forgotten the true meaning of friendship and are all too afraid to convey their emotions in such a way as these poets did. Words convey ideas, which stem from the heart and mind, and if people took the effort to reinforce the original power and passion of true friendship, there would not be so many desolate people in the world. All it takes is a gentle word and the touch of a friendly hand for us to realize that even though friendship does not have any relevant survival value, it however, does give value to our survival.
Works Cited:
Jonson, Ben. “To Thomas Lord Chancellor.” Web. 22 Feb. 2012. http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/jonson/egerton.htm
Lovelace, Richard. “The Grasshopper To My Noble Friend, Mr. Charles Cotton.” Web. 22 Feb. 2012. http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/lovelace/grasshopper.htm
Phillips, Katherine. “To My Excellent Lucasia, On Our Friendship.” Web. 22 Feb. 2012. http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/katherine_philips/poems/16147
