25

30

The wanton smiled, father wept,
Mother cried, baby leapt ;
More he crow'd, more we cried,
Nature could not sorrow hide :
He must go, he must kiss
Child and mother, baby bliss,
For he left his pretty boy,
Father's sorrow, father's joy.

Weep not, my wanton, smile upon my knee,

When thou art old there's grief enough for thee.

In this lyric Greene pathetically lifts his voice in repentance for leaving his wife and child in far Norwich. In London at this time he was riotously running a course of dissipation which was to lead him to a death at the hands of one of the seven deadly sins-Gluttony. The poem is a passionate sob for his former pure country life.

THE SONG OF THE SHEPHERDESS

Ah! what is love! it is a pretty thing
As sweet unto a shepherd as a king,

And sweeter too:

For kings have cares that wait upon a crown,
5 And cares can make the smoothest brow to frown:
Ah then, ah then,

If country loves such sweet desires gain,
What lady would not love a shepherd swain?

His flocks are folded, he comes home at night 10 As merry as a king in his delight,

And merrier too:

For kings bethink them what the state require,
When shepherds careless carol by the fire:
Ah then, ah then,

15 If country loves such sweet desires gain,

What lady would not love a shepherd swain?

He kisseth first, then sits as blithe to eat

His cream and curd as doth the king his meat,
And blither too:

20 The kings have often fears' when they sup,
Where shepherds dread no poison in their cup:
Ah then, ah then,

If country loves such sweet desires gain,
What lady would not love a shepherd swain?

25 Upon his couch of straw he sleeps as sound As doth the king upon his bed of down, More sounder too:

30

35

For cares cause kings full oft their sleep to spill
Where weary shepherds lie and snort their fill:
Ah then, ah then,

If country loves such sweet desires gain,
What lady would not love a shepherd swain?

Thus with his wife he spends the year as blithe
As doth the king at every tide or syth,

And blither too:

For kings have wars and broils to take in hand,
When shepherds laugh and love upon the land:
Ah then, ah then,

If country loves such sweet desires gain,

40 What lady would not love a shepherd swain?

Observe the exquisite refrain which contains the note so often sounded by the Elizabethan lyrists. Note as in the former poem the call of the country to "the man-stifled town." (25-29) Cf. Shakespere, II Henry IV. 3. I.:

"And in the calmest and most stillest night,

With all appliances and means to boot,

Deny it to a king? Then happy low, lie down!
Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown."

THOMAS CAMPION

1567?-1619

Optional Poems

Cherry-Ripe.

Integer Vitae.

FORTUNATI NIMIUM

Jack and Joan, they think no ill,
But loving live, and merry still;
Do their week-day's work, and pray
Devoutly on the holy-day:

5 Skip and trip it on the green,

And help to choose the Summer Queen;

Lash out at a country feast

Their silver penny with the best.

Well can they judge of nappy ale,
IO And tell at large a winter tale;
Climb up to the apple loft,
And turn the crabs till they be soft.
Tib is all the father's joy,

And little Tom the mother's boy :

15 All their pleasure is, Content,

And care to pay their yearly rent.

Joan can call by name her cows

And deck her windows with green boughs;
She can wreaths and tutties make,

20 And trim with plums a bridal cake.

Jack knows what brings gain or loss,
And his long flail can stoutly toss :
Makes the hedge which others break,
And ever thinks what he doth speak.

25 Now, you courtly dames and knights,
That study only strange delights,
Though you scorn the homespun gray,
And revel in your rich
array;

Though your tongues dissemble deep
30 And can your heads from danger keep;
Yet, for all your pomp and train,

Securer lives the silly swain!

Fortunati Nimium, happy beyond measure. Cf. Virgil, Georg. II. 458: "O fortunatos nimium," etc. (19) tutties, nosegays. Note the metre of the poem. Classify and analyse the finest phrase. In this lyric contrast city and court life with country life. Compare the previously read poems of Greene's.

CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE

1564-1593

By the force of poetry, not of dramatic art, Marlowe made a noble porch to the temple which Shakespeare built.- Stopford Brooke.

Phrases

whoever loved that loved not at first sight.

...

Hero And Leander.

Was this the face that launch'd a thousand ships,
And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?
Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss.

O, thou art fairer than the evening air
Clad in the beauty of a thousand stars.

- Doctor Faustus.

- Doctor Faustus.

One thought, one grace, one wonder at the least,
Which into words no virtue can digest.

Tamburlaine.

THE PASSIONATE SHEPHERD TO HIS LOVE
Come live with me, and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove,
That valleys, groves, hills and fields,
Woods or steepy mountains yields.

5 And we will sit upon the rocks,
Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks
By shallow rivers, to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals.