song (absent from thee)

Question 1

essence of the poem

Answer 1

the speaker satirises his unfaithfulness towards a woman, subverting conventions of traditional love poetry

Question 2

John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester

Answer 2

• an English poet and courtier of King Charles II’s restoration court
  
  • reacted against the spiritual authoritarianism of the Puritan era, reflected in his lifestyle of freedom and liveliness
  • an archetypal rake: immoral conduct, womanising, ‘party animal’ of the court
    
    • took its toll on him, died at 33 from alcoholism and sexual diseases
• Andrew Marvell: ‘the best English satirist’
  -poetry was censored in the Victorian Era due to his libertinism
• before dying, he converted to Christianity and demanded that his ‘lewd writings’ be burned

Question 3

Title

Answer 3

A Song ( Absent from Thee )
- Brackets add to the priority of our attention
- about a straying man unable to control his carnality, far from a song

Question 4

‘Absent from thee I languish still,
Then ask me not, when I return?’

Answer 4

• ‘languish’ - become weakened or forced to remain in a unpleasant situation
• doesn’t want to be questioned due to his moral conscience
• use of ‘I’ - markedly selfish

Question 5

‘The straying Fool ‘twill plainly kill,
To wish all Day, all Night to Mourn.’

Answer 5

• play on words - mourning / morning
• suffering of waiting on the speaker

Question 6

‘Dear, from thine arms then let me flie,
That my Fantastick mind may prove,’

Answer 6

• passionate exclamation, a romantic cliche, superficial and false compared to previous stanza
• ‘let me flie’ - feels held back and constrained by lover, wants freedom and self-indulgence
• capitalisation emphasises the way his dreams are idealised

Question 7

‘The torments it deserves to try,
That tears my fixt Heart from my Love.’

Answer 7

• philandering causes pain, contrasts to the Scrutiny
• self-punishment is a value upheld by Christian mysticism
• alike stanza 1, repeated use of personal pronoun ‘my’
• the speaker is aware of his inability to resist temptation, so suggests he should indulge in his fantasies, testing the limits and bounds of their relationship

Question 8

‘When wearied with a world of Woe,
To thy safe Bosom I retire.’

Answer 8

• bombardment of alliteration slows pace of line
  
  • heightens belief he will inevitably lack satisfaction from others and return
    -return to woman, and religion
• contrast of the misery of infidelity vs the comfort of faithfulness

Question 9

‘Where Love and Peace and Truth does flow,
May I contented there expire.’

Answer 9

• triplet of virtues , syndetic rhythm reflect unity
• ‘expire’ = breathe easy, connotations of sexual climax or die in arms fulfilled - a romantic notion/cliche?
• ‘may I’ - actively wishing it, not choosing it, creates hypotheticality

Question 10

‘Lest once more wandring from that Heav’n
I fall on some base heart unblest;’

Answer 10

• ‘Lest’ = ‘just in case’, alternative life speaker will lead if he fails to return to true love
• glorifies woman as ‘Heav’n’ - pure
  
  • interwines religion and erotic imagey in order to satirise puritanical practice of self-flagellation
• ‘fall’ = accidental?
• accidentally succumbs to temptation

Question 11

‘Faithless to thee, False, unforgiv’n,
And lose my Everlasting rest.’

Answer 11

• fricatives , curse-like, no escaping self-loathing
• ‘everlasting rest’ = damned, will lose contentment of true love and peaceful afterlife, predicts own death?
• ambiguous in who he is talking to
• speaker never questions that his lover might reject him! their consistent affection for his is expected, portraying his self-indulgence

Question 12

structure

Answer 12

traditional restoration song
x 4 quatrains, iambic tetrameter
rigid structure, desire for stability?
traditional form used to offend through bawdy comedy

Question 13

rhyme

Answer 13

initial half-rhymes, become more harmonious as poem goes on =
mirrors the peace the speaker hopes to find in faithfulness

Question 14

themes

Answer 14

religion, infidelity, satirical