Although poetic achievement had strong representatives in the historical period between Shakespeare (1564-1616) and Wordsworth (1770-1850), poetry of the highest accomplishment was limited to a relative handful of accomplished authors including John Donne (1572-1631), John Milton (1608-1674), Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672), and Andrew Marvell (1621-1678) during the 17th and 18th centuries. The nineteenth century, by comparison, saw a redoubling of interest in the poetic arts following the emergence and birth of High Idealism and High Romanticism generally being witnessed in the arts at that time. Among the leading contributors to poetry of high merit in the early 19th century were William Blake, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Lord Byron, Percy Shelley,John Keats, Alexander Pushkin, Elizabeth Browning, Robert Browning, Walt Whitman, Charles Baudelaire, Matthew Arnold, Emily Dickinson, and Manley Hopkins. Although the list of such poets is often subjective, this list of leading poets at the start of the 19th century presents a representative sample of writers of poetry who have received substantial recognition both in the scholarly reception of their poetry and among their artistic peers. These fourteen established poets appear to have represented a large part of the significant scope and depth of poetic achievement in the early 19th century.
Four poets can be identified of exceptional literary importance to poetry during the 17th and 18th centuries leading up to the start of poetry in the early nineteenth century following Shakespeare. These poets were John Donne, John Milton, Anne Bradstreet, and Andrew Marvell. All four were of central significance to the emergence of the poetry of High Idealism and High Romanticism which would be of preeminent importance during the early nineteenth century.
John Donne was a near contemporary of Shakespeare (d. 1616) though he outlived Shakespeare by fifteen years. Donne's earliest poems showed a developed knowledge of English society coupled with sharp criticism of its problems. His satires dealt with common Elizabethan topics, such as corruption in the legal system, mediocre poets, and pompous courtiers. Donne's images of sickness, vomit, manure, and plague reflected his strongly satiric view of a world populated by all the fools and knaves of England. His third satire, however, deals with the problem of true religion, a matter of great importance to Donne. He argued that it was better to examine carefully one's religious convictions than blindly to follow any established tradition, for none would be saved at the Final Judgment, by claiming "A Harry, or a Martin taught [them] this."Some have speculated that Donne's numerous illnesses, financial strain, and the deaths of his friends all contributed to the development of a more somber and pious tone in his later poems. The change can be clearly seen in "An Anatomy of the World" (1611), a poem that Donne wrote in memory of Elizabeth Drury, daughter of his patron, Sir Robert Drury of Hawstead, Suffolk. This poem treats Elizabeth's demise with extreme gloominess, using it as a symbol for the Fall of Man and the destruction of the universe. The poem "A Nocturnal upon S. Lucy's Day, Being the Shortest Day", concerns the poet's despair at the death of a loved one. In it Donne expresses a feeling of utter negation and hopelessness, saying that "I am every dead thing ... re-begot / Of absence, darkness, death." This famous work was probably written in 1627 when both Donne's friend Lucy, Countess of Bedford, and his daughter Lucy Donne died. Three years later, in 1630, Donne wrote his will on Saint Lucy's day (13 December), the date the poem describes as "Both the year's, and the day's deep midnight". The increasing gloominess of Donne's tone may also be observed in the religious works that he began writing during the same period. His early belief in the value of scepticism now gave way to a firm faith in the traditional teachings of the Bible. Having converted to the Anglican Church, Donne focused his literary career on religious literature. He quickly became noted for his sermons and religious poems. The lines of these sermons and devotional works would come to influence future works of English literature, such as Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls, which took its title from a passage in Meditation XVII of Devotions upon Emergent Occasions, and Thomas Merton's No Man is an Island, which took its title from the same source. Towards the end of his life Donne wrote works that challenged death, and the fear that it inspired in many men, on the grounds of his belief that those who die are sent to Heaven to live eternally. One example of this challenge is his Holy Sonnet X, Death Be Not Proud, from which come the famous lines "Death, be not proud, though some have called thee / Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so." Even as he lay dying during Lent in 1631, he rose from his sickbed and delivered the Death's Duel sermon, which was later described as his own funeral sermon. Death's Duel portrays life as a steady descent to suffering and death, yet sees hope in salvation and immortality through an embrace of God, Christ and the Resurrection.
Once Paradise Lost was published, the stature of John Milton as epic poet was immediately recognised. He cast a formidable shadow over English poetry in the 18th and 19th centuries; he was often judged equal or superior to all other English poets, including Shakespeare. Very early on, though, he was championed by Whigs, and decried by Tories: with the regicide Edmund Ludlow he was claimed as an early Whig, while the High Tory Anglican minister Luke Milbourne lumped Milton in with other "Agents of Darkness" such as John Knox, George Buchanan, Richard Baxter, Algernon Sidney and John Locke. John Dryden, an early enthusiast, in 1677 began the trend of describing Milton as the poet of the sublime. Dryden's The State of Innocence and the Fall of Man: an Opera (1677) is evidence of an immediate cultural influence. In 1695, Patrick Hume became the first editor of Paradise Lost, providing an extensive apparatus of annotation and commentary, particularly chasing down allusions. In 1732, the classical scholar Richard Bentley offered a corrected version of Paradise Lost. Bentley was considered presumptuous, and was attacked in the following year by Zachary Pearce.Christopher Ricks judges that, as critic, Bentley was both acute and wrong-headed, and "incorrigibly eccentric"; William Empson also finds Pearce to be more sympathetic to Bentley's underlying line of thought than is warranted. There was an early, partial translation ofParadise Lost into German by Theodore Haak, and based on that a standard verse translation by Ernest Gottlieb von Berge. A subsequent prose translation by Johann Jakob Bodmer was very popular; it influenced Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock. The German-language Milton tradition returned to England in the person of the artist Henry Fuseli. Many enlightenment thinkers of the 18th century revered and commented on Milton's poetry and non-poetical works. In addition to John Dryden, among them were Alexander Pope,Joseph Addison, Thomas Newton, and Samuel Johnson. For example, in The Spectator, Joseph Addison wrote extensive notes, annotations, and interpretations of certain passages of Paradise Lost. Jonathan Richardson, senior, and Jonathan Richardson, the younger, co-wrote a book of criticism. In 1749, Thomas Newton published an extensive edition of Milton's poetical works with annotations provided by himself, Dryden, Pope, Addison, the Richardsons (father and son) and others. Newton's edition of Milton was a culmination of the honor bestowed upon Milton by early Enlightenment thinkers; it may also have been prompted by Richard Bentley's infamous edition, described above. Samuel Johnson wrote numerous essays onParadise Lost, and Milton was included in his Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets.
Because writing was not considered to be an acceptable role for women at the time, Anne Bradstreet was met with criticism. One of the most prominent figures of her time, John Winthrop, happened to be among her critics. He mentioned in his journal that Bradstreet should have kept to being a housewife and left writing and reading for men, "whose minds are stronger." Despite her criticism, Bradstreet continued to write which led to the belief that she was interested in rebelling against societal norms of the time. A prominent minister of the time, Thomas Parker (minister), was also against the idea of women writing and sent a letter to his own sister saying that publishing a book was outside of the realm of what women were supposed to do. No doubt he was opposed to the writing of Bradstreet as well. These negative views were likely augmented by the fact that Puritan ideologies stated that women were vastly inferior to men.Bradstreet's works tend to be directed to members of her family and are generally intimate. For instance, in Bradstreet's "To My Dear and Loving Husband", the poem's intended audience is her husband, Simon Bradstreet. The focal point of this poem is the love that she has for her husband stating it with the words, "I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold."To Bradstreet, her husband's love is worth more than some of the best treasures that this earth has to offer. She also makes it a point to show to her husband that nothing can fill the love that she has for her husband. In the lines, "My love is such that rivers cannot quench,"the rivers represent death, which she says the fire of her love is invulnerable to. The last line of the poem sums this up with the words, "Then when we live no more, we may live ever." In "A Letter to Her Husband Absent upon Public Employment"Bradstreet writes a letter to her husband who is away from her working at his job. Bradstreet uses various metaphors to describe her affection for her husband, for example, stating that it is a sad, cold time for Bradstreet and she wishes for her husband to soon return. "Return, return, sweet Sol, from Capricorn." She continues by expressing that her husband's job is important and he can't be there always and he must also go away at times, "Till nature's sad decree shall call thee hence."
By reading Bradstreet's works and recognizing her intended audience, one can get an idea of how life was for Puritan women. According to U.S. History.org, Puritan women were required to attend worship services, yet they could not to speak or offer prayer. Women were also not allowed to attend town meetings or be involved in the decisions that were discussed. If Puritan women were to be seen and not heard in public, then one can say that most of their works are not meant for public consumption. In Puritan religion, a relationship between a man and a woman is to be kept behind closed doors. They are not to draw attention to their relationship and keep their feelings repressed, because they believed that their relationship to God is the most important relationship and their personal relationship would take away from their devotion to God. They believed through this devotion to God they would find redemption and salvation and kept a strict moral code, especially for women. Therefore, Anne Bradstreet's love poems to her husband are her way of expressing the emotions she kept repressed from the public. These poems are from the heart and could be viewed more as structured diary entries. This is why her works were not initially intended for public viewing. That is why some of her poems do not even have a true title, but instead are more of a description of the poem or why it was written such as "Before the Death of One of her Children", in which she warns her child of her own possible death and instructs him or her to watch over her other children if she does die, and "A Letter to Her Husband", "Absent upon Public Employment." Bradstreet intended for her work to only be seen by the eyes they were strictly intended to be met by; her husband and children. She used her writing a way to cope with her loneliness when her husband was away for political affairs and her struggles with adapting to her new life in the colonies. Bradstreet was not responsible for her writing becoming public. Bradstreet's brother-in-law, John Woodbridge, sent her work off to be published. However soon after, there was concern for the family because Bradstreet did not want to elevate herself. Bradstreet was a righteous woman and her poetry was not meant to bring attention to herself. Though Bradstreet's works are renowned in today's world, it still was a great risk to have had her work published during the time in which she lived because being a published author would have not been a typical role of the everyday Puritan woman.
Andrew Marvell was already an active poet of recognized merit when the monarchy was restored to Charles II in 1660. Marvell avoided punishment for his own co-operation with republicanism, and he helped convince the government of Charles II not to execute John Milton for his antimonarchical writings and revolutionary activities. The closeness of the relationship between the two former colleagues is indicated by the fact that Marvell contributed an eloquent prefatory poem, entitled "On Mr. Milton's Paradise Lost", to the second edition of Milton's epic Paradise Lost. According to a biographer: "Skilled in the arts of self-preservation, he was not a toady." In 1661 Marvell was re-elected MP for Hull in the Cavalier Parliament. He eventually came to write several long and bitterly satirical verses against the corruption of the court. Although circulated in manuscript form, some finding anonymous publication in print, they were too politically sensitive and thus dangerous to be published under his name until well after his death. Marvell took up opposition to the 'court party', and satirised them anonymously. In his longest verse satire, Last Instructions to a Painter, written in 1667, Marvell responded to the political corruption that had contributed to English failures during the Second Anglo-Dutch War. The poem did not find print publication until after the Revolution of 1688–9. The poem instructs an imaginary painter how to picture the state without a proper navy to defend them, led by men without intelligence or courage, a corrupt and dissolute court, and dishonest officials. Of another such satire, Samuel Pepys, himself a government official, commented in his diary, "Here I met with a fourth Advice to a Painter upon the coming in of the Dutch and the End of the War, that made my heart ake to read, it being too sharp and so true."
From 1659 until his death in 1678, Marvell was serving as London agent for the Hull Trinity House, a shipmasters' guild. He went on two missions to the continent, one to the Dutch Republic and the other encompassing Russia, Sweden, and Denmark. Marvell spent some time living in a cottage on Highgate Hill in north London, where his time in the area is recorded by a bronze plaque that bears the following inscription: "Four feet below this spot is the stone step, formerly the entrance to the cottage in which lived Andrew Marvell, poet, wit, and satirist; colleague with John Milton in the foreign or Latin secretaryship during the Commonwealth; and for about twenty years M.P. for Hull. Born at Winestead, Yorkshire, 31st March, 1621, died in London, 18th August, 1678, and buried in the church of St. Giles-in-the-Fields. This memorial is placed here by the London County Council, December, 1898." A floral sundial in the nearby Lauderdale House bears an inscription quoting lines from of his poem "The Garden". He died suddenly in 1678, while in attendance at a popular meeting of his old constituents at Hull. His health had previously been remarkably good; and it was supposed by many that he was poisoned by some of his political or clerical enemies. Marvell was buried in the church of St Giles in the Fields in central London. His monument, erected by his grateful constituency, includes the following inscription: "Near this place lyeth the body of Andrew Marvell, Esq... He having served twenty years successfully in Parliament, and that with such Wisdom, Dexterity, and Courage, as becomes a true Patriot, the town of Kingston-upon-Hull, from whence he was deputed to that Assembly, lamenting in his death the public loss, have erected this Monument of their Grief and their Gratitude, 1688."
