A SongThomas Carew 1595–1640

Background Information 1

Thomas Carew (pronounced as “Carey”) (1595 – 22 March 1640) was an English poet, among the Cavalier group of Caroline poets.

He was the son of Sir Matthew Carew and his wife Alice, daughter of Sir John Rivers, Lord Mayor of the City of London. The poet was probably the third of the eleven children of his parents, and was born in West Wickham in London, in the early part of 1595.

He was thirteen years old in June 1608, when he matriculated at Merton College, Oxford. He took his degree of B.A. early in 1611 and proceeded to study at the Middle Temple. Two years later his father complained to Sir Dudley Carleton that he was not doing well. He was, therefore, sent to Italy as a member of Sir Dudley's household, and, when the ambassador returned from Venice, he seems to have kept Thomas Carew with him, for he was working as secretary to Carleton, at the Hague, early in 1616. However, he was dismissed in the autumn of that year for levity and slander; he had great difficulty in finding another job.

In August 1618 his father died, and Carew entered the service of Edward Herbert, Baron Herbert of Cherbury, in whose train he travelled to France in March 1619, and it is believed that he remained with Herbert until his return to England, at the close of his diplomatic missions, in April 1624.

While Carew held this office he displayed his tact and presence of mind by stumbling and extinguishing the candle he was holding to light Charles I into the queen's chamber, because he saw that Lord St. Albans had his arm round her majesty's neck. The king suspected nothing, and the queen heaped favors on the poet.

Probably in 1630, Carew was made “server” to the king. To this period may be attributed his close friendships with Sir John Suckling, Ben Jonson, and Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon; the latter described Carew as “a person of pleasant and facetious wit.”

John Donne exercised a powerful if not entirely healthy influence over the genius of Carew. In February 1633, a masque by the latter, Coelum Britanicum, was acted in the Banqueting House at Whitehall, and was printed in 1634.

The close of Carew's life is absolutely obscure. It was long supposed that he died in 1639, and this has been thought to be confirmed by the fact that the first edition of his Poems, published in 1640, seems to have a posthumous character. But Clarendon tells us that “after fifty years of life spent with less severity and exactness than it ought to have been, he died with the greatest remorse for that license.” If Carew was more than fifty years of age, he must have died during or after 1645, and in fact there were final additions made to his Poems in the third edition of 1651.

Carew's poems are sensuous lyrics. They open to us, in his own phrase, “a mine of rich and pregnant fancy.” His metrical style was influenced by Jonson and his imagery by Donne, for whom he had an almost servile admiration.

His earliest critics—chiefly other poets—evidently knew his work from the many manuscripts that circulated. Among many others, two of the most celebrated writers of the age, Sir John Suckling and William Davenant, paid tribute to Carew, playfully admiring his poetic craftsmanship.

Background Information 2

Ask me no more where Jove bestows, aWhen June is past, the fading rose; a ear rhymeFor in your beauty's orient deep bThese flowers, as in their causes, sleep. b

Ask me no more whither do stray cThe golden atoms of the day; cFor in pure love heaven did prepare dThose powders to enrich your hair. d ear rhyme

Ask me no more whither doth haste eThe nightingale when May is past; eFor in your sweet-dividing throat fShe winters, and keeps warm her note. f ear rhyme

Ask me no more where those stars light, gThat downwards fall in dead of night; gFor in your eyes they sit, and there hFixèd become, as in their sphere. h

Ask me no more if east or west iThe phoenix builds her spicy nest; iFor unto you at last she flies, jAnd in your fragrant bosom dies. j

Jove= the Roman god Jupiter Bestows= disposes ofOrient= (1) sunrise; (2) lustrous, brilliantAs in their causes= to the same extent as their originsSweet-dividing= melodiously singingWinters= stays the winterLight= alightSphere= what people believed to be the crystal sphere of the night-skyPhoenix= mythical bird that built its nest from spices, burnt itself, and was born from its own ashes

Analysis 1Simply put, the THEME of the poem

is beauty. Carew presents an encomium of the loveliness of a

lady with whom he may be romantically involved. Moreover, he adopts elements typical of a blason, namely the singling out of certain features his beloved possesses, as

well as the use of metaphors to describe said features.

The poem is composed in iambic tetrameter and features rhyming couplets. The meter is practically unvaried, with the few instances of hypercatalexis that do occur being

ascribed to differences in pronunciation. (For example, in Elizabethan England, the word “heaven” in line 7 would have been pronounced as a single syllable.) As for the

rhyme scheme, it is straightforwardly simplistic, and the sheer number of couplets hints at endless praise, as though the poet were loath to touch upon every single aspect of his

beloved lest he never finish the poem. The inherent simplicity of the rhythm and the rhyme scheme mirrors the simplicity of Carew’s feelings; the love he bears for the lady

is deep, of course, but there is also a muted naturalness about the way he refers to her, implying that both of them

are completely secure in the other’s affection. The prevalence of eye rhymes echoes the vicissitudes of love, and yet the import of the poem evokes the knowledge that the affection the poet and his beloved feel for each other will never truly die despite its intrinsic inconstancy. End-

stopped lines are used to mark the shift between the lady’s implied question and Carew’s answer, and enjambment

creates a sense of honesty and earnestness, as though the poet’s replies come readily, without deliberation.

The phrase “Ask me no more” (lines 1, 5, 9, 13, and 17) is repeated at the beginning of each of the five stanzas, and

constitutes Carew’s response to his beloved’s implied questions. As said questions pertain to her beauty, it may be construed that she is insecure, or otherwise excessively vain; the latter

would imply that she delights in hearing her virtues thus extolled by her lover.

Analysis 2Ask me no more where Jove bestows, aWhen June is past, the fading rose; a ear rhymeFor in your beauty's orient deep bThese flowers, // as in their causes, // sleep. b

Ask me no more whither do stray cThe golden atoms of the day; cFor in pure love heaven did prepare dThose powders to enrich your hair. d ear rhyme

Ask me no more whither doth haste eThe nightingale when May is past; eFor in your sweet-dividing throat fShe winters, // and keeps warm her note. f ear rhyme

Ask me no more where those stars light, gThat downwards fall in dead of night; gFor in your eyes they sit, and there hFixèd become, // as in their sphere. h

Ask me no more if east or west iThe phoenix builds her spicy nest; iFor unto you at last she flies, jAnd in your fragrant bosom dies. j

2. The word “powders” (l. 8), especially when coupled with “golden” (l. 7), has interesting implications: powder is obtained from alchemy, which was popular in those times due to its aim to transmute baser metals into gold. This association may imply that, considered individually, her lineaments would not recommend her as a striking beauty, but, when combined, they create an effect that is pleasing to the eye. Alternatively, Carew may be implying that, objectively speaking, his beloved is rather plain, but her personality is such that it effects a remarkable change to make her appear absolutely lovely. Lastly, the use of the word “heaven” (l. 7) hints at the fact that her beauty was granted to her by God.

1. As Carew mentions the god “Jove” (line 1), it may be inferred that he

considers his beloved to be worthy of the favor of the gods. The word “orient” (line 3), taken to mean

“sunrise,” implies that the lady is still quite young; alternatively, it may be a reference to Asia, in which case the

poet would be exalting his lover as exotic and rare. Furthermore, as the rose is said to be “fading” (line 2),

the lady’s beauty might be delicate and subtle rather than extravagant.

As for the caesurae in line 4, they set off the phrase “as in [the flowers’]

causes,” thus emphasizing its import: the lady’s presence is so

nurturing that the flowers cannot but grow as they would in the most

fertile soil.

3. In a similar fashion to the first stanza, the third one creates the impression that the lady’s presence is nurturing.

This idea is strengthened by the use of a caesura in line 12 as it emphasizes the

fact that the nightingale has chosen her, of all people, for protection during winter. Moreover, as the summer months, which are traditionally

associated with beauty and love, are said to have passed and the lady still retains her appeal, readers may infer that Carew considers her beauty—or,

alternatively, their love—eternal, unalterable by hardship.

4. The fourth stanza presents a comparison: the lady’s eyes are said to resemble stars. Seeing

that little was known about celestial bodies at the time, the resemblance may grant more than a preternatural shimmer:

it may hint at an aura of mystery, as though the poet’s

lover were a rare book, inaccessible to most

individuals, to be revealed page by page. Additionally, mentions of stars are often used to refer

to eternity.

5. The word “phoenix” (l. 18) harks back to the vagaries of love implied by the eye rhymes. Carew is aware that they will not always love each other with the same ardor, but should said love ever cool, it will

eventually return to previous levels, much as a phoenix is reborn from its ashes. As for the word “spicy” (l. 18), it implies that the lady is a rare

specimen, possibly in an exotic way, ensuring that they never have a dull moment together.