16th Century Poem Analysis
Our school assignment was to pick a poem from the 16th century and analyze it. I chose the following poem:
FAIRY REVELS
by: John Lyly (1553-1606)
INCH him, pinch him, black and blue, Saucy mortals must not view
What the queen of stars is doing,
Nor pry into our fairy wooing.
Pinch him blue--
And pinch him black--
Let him not lack
Sharp nails to pinch him blue and red,
Till sleep has rocked his addlehead.
For the trespass he hath done,
Spots o'er all his flesh shall run.
Kiss Endymion, kiss his eyes,
Then to our midnight heidegyes.
I find it best to look a little bit about the author especially since it's from the 16th century and a lot has changed since this time era, as well as I have never heard of this name before so this is why I am looking up his past to learn some about him. I have found this information from this link: https://study.com/academy/lesson/john-lyly-biography-poems.html
According to this I could see that John Lyly lived a quite normal life considering the problems that many other poets acquired his life seems fairly normal or better than other people in this time era. He had a grandfather who was a grammarian which helped frame him into a famous writer today. He lived in England and he also received his bachelors degree and masters degree and after that was complete he started his literary career. It is quite common for people to not complete their degrees or not attend college at all, so for him he was extremely lucky to be one of those who attended college.
In this piece I noticed the repetition of "pinch him black pinch him blue." Pinching someone black or blue means to pinch them with extreme force or for a long period to cause a bruise or discoloring to the skin. If I knew any better I would say it's aggression towards a maid, servant, or slave. But slavery necessarily didn't begin until the 1610's. Maybe this is before it was a world renown thing. I feel that because the speaker is pinching this person "til sleep has rocked his addlehead," "Spots o'er all his flesh shall run," and "then to our midnight heidegyes." I have looked up heidegyes and it is not a word however maybe it means death in a way. Using context clues like the midnight word right before it, midnight is associated with sleep and maybe it's a way of going to sleep and ending that life.
I think that John Lyly comes from a family that is more superior considering his degree choice and his grandfathers profession. So it is quite usual and possible that he is among the superior to be able to have a slave in his family.
I think the diction in this piece is very important. Addlehead is a word that I have never heard of and addle means to confuse so addlehead could be another word for dumb or unintelligent. Endymion is a greek mythology that is the king who was said to rule and live at Olympia in Elis. He was endlessly asleep which connects my theory of the word heidegyes meaning something with sleep or death. "Saucy Morals" saucy reminds me of sassy and morals reminds me of what they should do. But them together means that they are adding a hint of sassy or badness to what is the correct moral to do. The reference to the queen of England which was Elizabeth and this time shows a sense of power.
But I feel mostly that this piece is about the sense of power over others. The queen has more power. The ability to pinch someone until they turn blue is a tremendous amount of force that person has. Sharp nails have more power than short nails. And death at midnight is more common then death in day. I also think this poem is hard to understand exactly what its meaning is just because of how much later of a period it was written than in present time.
FAIRY REVELS
by: John Lyly (1553-1606)
INCH him, pinch him, black and blue, I find it best to look a little bit about the author especially since it's from the 16th century and a lot has changed since this time era, as well as I have never heard of this name before so this is why I am looking up his past to learn some about him. I have found this information from this link: https://study.com/academy/lesson/john-lyly-biography-poems.html
According to this I could see that John Lyly lived a quite normal life considering the problems that many other poets acquired his life seems fairly normal or better than other people in this time era. He had a grandfather who was a grammarian which helped frame him into a famous writer today. He lived in England and he also received his bachelors degree and masters degree and after that was complete he started his literary career. It is quite common for people to not complete their degrees or not attend college at all, so for him he was extremely lucky to be one of those who attended college.
In this piece I noticed the repetition of "pinch him black pinch him blue." Pinching someone black or blue means to pinch them with extreme force or for a long period to cause a bruise or discoloring to the skin. If I knew any better I would say it's aggression towards a maid, servant, or slave. But slavery necessarily didn't begin until the 1610's. Maybe this is before it was a world renown thing. I feel that because the speaker is pinching this person "til sleep has rocked his addlehead," "Spots o'er all his flesh shall run," and "then to our midnight heidegyes." I have looked up heidegyes and it is not a word however maybe it means death in a way. Using context clues like the midnight word right before it, midnight is associated with sleep and maybe it's a way of going to sleep and ending that life.
I think that John Lyly comes from a family that is more superior considering his degree choice and his grandfathers profession. So it is quite usual and possible that he is among the superior to be able to have a slave in his family.
I think the diction in this piece is very important. Addlehead is a word that I have never heard of and addle means to confuse so addlehead could be another word for dumb or unintelligent. Endymion is a greek mythology that is the king who was said to rule and live at Olympia in Elis. He was endlessly asleep which connects my theory of the word heidegyes meaning something with sleep or death. "Saucy Morals" saucy reminds me of sassy and morals reminds me of what they should do. But them together means that they are adding a hint of sassy or badness to what is the correct moral to do. The reference to the queen of England which was Elizabeth and this time shows a sense of power.
But I feel mostly that this piece is about the sense of power over others. The queen has more power. The ability to pinch someone until they turn blue is a tremendous amount of force that person has. Sharp nails have more power than short nails. And death at midnight is more common then death in day. I also think this poem is hard to understand exactly what its meaning is just because of how much later of a period it was written than in present time.
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