The Cavalier Poets: An Anthology

THE CAVALIER POETS is an anthology that explores the triumphalism and eroticism of professional soldiers. Herrick, Carew, Suckling, and Lovelace portray the sensibilities of patriotic officers torn between their loved ones and military service. The text itself is in big easy-to-read print with just enough explanatory material to inform without distracting. I heartily recommend this inexpensive and entertaining volume. It resurrects a neglected genre and makes it accessible to virtually any reader.

This is how the back book-jacket describes the book, " In the mid- seventeenth century, the poets associated with the court of Charles I of England, kinown as the Cavaliers, were strongly influenced by the Cassicism of Ben Jonson. Their verse , often concerned with the vagaries of love, is characteristically charming, witty, graceful and elegant. This volume contains a rich sampling of more than 120 works by four Cavalier poets: Robert Herrick, Thomas Carew, Sir John Suckling and Richard Lovelace. The work also contains brief biographical sketches of the four poets. Among the works are such well- known often anthologized pieces as Herrick's ' Gather ye rosebuds while ye may' , Suckling's'Why so Pale and Wan Fair Lover? ' Carew's ' A Cruel Mistress' Herrick's ' Delight in Disorder', Lovelace's 'Lucasta poems'. Enjoyable reading.

Great collection of the works of many authors in Europe. Herrick, Lovelace, and more.