My group and I didn’t get to share some of our ideas about Hero, but we mostly talked about her double nature and how contradictory it was. Her clothes were described as being made of “lawn.” In the footnotes this was described as “as kind of fine linen or thin cambric.” The thinner fabric suggested to me that her clothes were see through, which plays on the doubleness of Hero’s nature as hyper-sexualized and virginal. The blood on her dress show how much she is desired by men, but it also symbolizes that her dress has been tainted by the blood and therefore isn’t as innocent as she is perceived to be.

Both Shakespeare Robert Herrick’s poem “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time” reminds me of Shakespeare’s hastening words, especially in Sonnet 1: ”

Shakespeare’s speaker addresses a man, urges him to have children, and in a chastising tone. Herrick’s speaker is more equivocating in its address. “The Virgins” only appear in the title; in the body of the poem, the speaker employs the second-person with “ye,” with rhyming platitudes that anyone might take to heart:

In the second stanza, the speaker’s perspective is cosmic: “The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun…” And the third stanza speaks broadly of “that age… when youth and blood are warmer.” Finally, the speaker seems to turn to “the virgins,” whom he cautions against chastity. But he does not–of course not!–suggest that they seize the day before they have married. The implication for a woman to share her youth and beauty requires a kind of flowery masking, as Herrick demonstrates on multiple levels in this poem. In urging this woman to share, the speaker’s worst must belie his own desire. But the man, “tender churl,” who does not beget heirs and propagate the race receives a bold, stern reminder of his responsibility: if he “mak’st waste in niggarding,” if he hoards his beauty and youth, then he will suffer, at least, in death (with no heirs).

Something I was thinking about for the reading this week was how the message of “To His Coy Mistress” parallels Shakespeare’s sonnets, especially the line, “The grave’s a fine and private place / But none, I think, do there, embrace.” Marvell seems to be urging the person he addresses in the poem to have sex with him because “they are young and alive” and there is time to be chaste when they are dead. This very much reminds me of the sentiments of the first 17 sonnets, which urge the young man to procreate.

In “The Choice of Valentines,” Nashe uses vivid descriptions and imagery to engage the male reader. While the poem’s plot and language make it very erotic and pleasing to his contemporary intended audience, he also uses humor to poke fun at the narrator and his inability to please Francis in the end. Nashe humorously addresses the insecurities of male sexuality, such as fear about one’s ability to satisfy a woman, and he combines this wit with explicitly erotic imagery and dialogue. I am curious as to how contemporary male readers would have received this poem as it is both seduces the reader and also forces him to face his sexual insecurities in face of a woman who is more sexually competent than he.

Partially in response to the question in Prof Kitch’s email – how do the poems seduce the presumably male reader – I noticed a common thread throughout, and particularly in the works by Herrick and Marvell. The poems’ graphic natures do justify their categorization as pornography, but rather than the sexual acts appearing consensual, the poems in many cases use aggressive language, portraying the (presumably male) speaker as dominating and forceful. The speakers, particularly in “To His Coy Mistress” and “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time,” don’t cajole the subjects into sexual acts as much as they attempt to force it on them, through scaremongering or other, more physical means. Likewise, “The Vine” takes on an invasive metaphor, describing the speaker’s penis as an invasive species of plant, making its way around the poem’s subject and then taking over, invading her very body.

This raises more general questions about pornography in the Renaissance age (and, indeed, how much these themes resonate even in contemporary pornography) – this porn, clearly produced for male readers, glorifies the masculine takeover of the female body, and encourages its reader to act on his lustful instincts regardless of the situation.

While reading the poem “Upon the Nipples of Julia’s Breast”, I realized that yes there are certainly sexual undertones to Herrick’s fixation with this specific part of Julia, but I also noticed how he went about it in a way that was preserving her purity and innocence. For example,  he compares Julia’s nipples to cherries which can represent her sweetness in character and then her actual breast is a lily which can represent her purity. So I thought, if he wanted to focus so much on her purity and innocence, why choose to write a poem about her breasts? This question made me think about how when it comes to nudity, there is a difference between the words “Naked” and “Nude”. The word Naked usually has a more sexual connotation to it where someone is exposed in a way that they are vulnerable or indecent, usually seen in a negative light, as opposed to the word “Nude” which has a softer connotation to it where someone is seen as just uncovered, pure, and even comfortable. These differences in words that essentially mean the same thing is perhaps what Herrick is trying to address. In my opinion I feel as if he is trying to show in his writing that he can depict parts of a woman that are deemed sexual in nature and still show that she is being respected and emphasized for her character. He is also trying to show that sexuality is a natural thing that should not be deemed as shameful. Julia’s uncovered sexual organs do not mean that she is suddenly not pure, Herrick demonstrates that her exposing a natural part of herself can still indicate that she is remaining innocent and pure as well as her being able to show herself and be physical with a man that she is in love with. He also attempts to convey that physical love can actually be something that should be embraced because sexual feelings are present when two people are attracted to each other anyways and once welcomed, riches and prosperity can come such as the ones he describes when he compares Julia’s breasts to rubies and pearls.

Though I know Marlowe’s lines in Hero and Leander reflect the conventional social wisdom of his time, I found myself pretty bothered by some of the generalizations he made about women in this poem, and in his characterization of Hero herself. He presents Hero as a stereotypical “tease,” apparently always saying “no” when she means “yes” and relishing in the blood of her failed suitors that stains her skirt. When juxtaposed with Marlowe’s abhorrence of the rapacious actions of Jove, I found myself a bit confused about Marlowe’s view of the role of a woman’s consent in sexual relations, as it seemed impossible for Hero, and all women, to have her answer of “no” taken seriously when a man asked, or attempted to take, something of her body. Did anyone else get this vibe? And, if so, what does it say about women’s sexual agency in sixteenth century England?