Rose-Cheeked Laura | Introduction to Literature

THOMAS CAMPION

Rose-cheek'd Laura, come, 

Sing thou smoothly with thy beauty's 

Silent music, either other 

Sweetly gracing. 

Lovely forms do flow 

From concent divinely framed; 

Heav'n is music, and thy beauty's 

Birth is heavenly. 

These dull notes we sing 

Discords need for helps to grace them; 

Only beauty purely loving 

Knows no discord, 

But still moves delight, 

Like clear springs renew'd by flowing, 

Ever perfect, ever in them- 

Selves eternal. 

Thomas Campion

Of all song-writers, Thomas Campion (1567-1620), inventive composer and masque-maker, wrote the best quantitative verse. His ‘Rose-cheeked Laura, come’, in praise of an ideal woman dancing, is the classic example. In later versions of this theme, the dancer, an emblem of Platonic harmony, sings. Campion’s Laura is accompanied only by her own silent music (and his verbal intelligence): 

Introduction

Rose-cheeked Laura is written by Campion to illustrate his theories of versification in Observations in the Art of English Poesy, this song is a brilliant example of quantitative verse made musically effective in English.
___________________________________________

History of Elizabethan Writing Style

After 1590, poets in general were beginning to think more deeply about the nature of the rhythms they were using. The influence of Greek and Latin theories of verse was beginning to become perni­cious. Greek and Latin poetry was measured verse, patterns of long and short syllables, since those languages had no stressed syllables. English verse in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance was normally syllabic, mostly decasyllabic (10 syllables) in the narrative poems, and it is wrong to try to divide lines into "feet" in poems written before the very end of the 16th century. The notion of "feet" is derived directly from Greek metrical patterns of long and short vowels: iambic (unite, repeat), trochaic (unit, instant), anapestic (intervene, disarray), dactylic (Wash­ington, energy), or spondaic (headline, heartfelt). English lines almost naturally tend towards the iambic rhythm, and this can be found in medieval alliterative poems as well as in Chaucer, but there was no concept of "feet" until the late Elizabethan age received it from the classics.

The first step in this was for English poets to attempt to write English verse "quantatively" like Latin, ignoring the natural pattern of stress and attending only to the length of each syllable. Sidney was an innovator here, but others followed. The setting of quantative lines to music was perhaps made easier; Byrd set some such poems, but it was another musician, Thomas Campion (1567 - 1620), who made quantative verse the basis of his entire system and defended it theoreti­cally in a book, his Observations in the Art of English Poesy. Campion wrote his own lyrics, and this one (published in 1602) is designed to illustrate his theory of quantitative verse:

Campion was in fact quite wrong to disparage the natural patterns of stress that characterize English and the other modern European vernaculars, and quantitative verse had no future; instead, the native English stress patterns took the place of the long/short vowel patterns in the classical feet (meter being the Greek for measure) and the poetic lines received Greek names: tetrameter (4 feet), pentameter (5 feet, the most popular), hexameter (6 feet). Since most feet were iambic or trochaic (2 syllables), these names simply correspond to octosyllabic, decasyllabic, or twelve syllable lines.

It was his skill in music, rather than his odd ideas about meter, that guided Campion in his poetry-writing, and he is one of the finest writers of the decorative lyric that makes no claim to personal involve­ment.

Taken from
http://hompi.sogang.ac.kr/anthony/books/Ren7.htm


"Rose-cheeked Laura," by Thomas Campion. Harmon's note: This lyric is one of the most successful of the many Elizabethan experiments in basing versification on principles drawn from classical antiquity. It contains no rhyme, the rhythm is based on quantity (length of syllable) as well as quality (accent), lines are made up of different kinds of foot, and a word may be broken at the end of a line--a very rare occurrence in serious poetry. (Note that: "concent" is "harmonious music-making.")
________________________________________________________________________________

Short Analysis

Thomas Campion’s Observations in the Art of English Poetry (1602), which features the poem “Rose-Cheeked Laura” as an example of English verse constructed according to the Classical pattern of quantity rather than stress. The first stanza of poem, Rose-cheekt Lawra come/Sing thou smoothly with thy beawties/Silent musick, either other/Sweetely are explained by Campion thus:

[it] consists of Dimeter, whose first foote may either be a Sponde or a Trochy [a spondee in this case]: The two verses following are both of them Trochaical, and consist of foure feete, the first of either of them being a Spondee or Trochy [spondee the second, trochaic the third in the example], the other three only Trochyes [since “thy” is considered short by Campion]. The fourth and last verse is made of two Trochyes.

“Rose-cheeked Laura” is so widely accepted as an example of successful quantitative verse in English that it is noted as such in the most recent edition of The Norton Anthology of English Literature: “[...] this song is a brilliant example of quantitative verse made musically effective in English” (1198 n.1).

___________________________________________

Summary of Rose -Cheeked Laura

‘Rose-Cheeked Laura’ by Thomas Campion describes a speaker’s idealized image of what love should be and how one woman personifies that love.

The poem begins with the speaker stating that a woman he is infatuated with, or at least enjoys looking at, “Laura” is “Rose-cheek’d.” It is clear from the opening lines that he knows little about this person. She is “Laura” with rosy cheeks and nothing more. 

In the following lines, as if speaking directly to her, he asks that she come over to him and “Sing thou smoothly…” While it might seem as if he wants her to actually sing him a song, he is actually just looking for an opportunity to stare at her. The speaker is so taken by Laura’s appearance he sees her as if she is music. Her beauty is singing to him. 

The next stanza expands on the speaker’s opinion of Laura’s beauty. It is like a harmonious piece of music from which “divine” sounds flow. Only a god could have crafted such a sound, or if one continues through the metaphor, a beauty such as Laura’s. 

The second half of the poem discusses love in general. The speaker has experienced moments of discordant music, or arguments and dull conversations. He knows a true love would not be like this. When one is truly in love the participants become “eternal” and “Ever perfect.” This is the type of relationship he sees as being possible with Laura. 

Analysis of Rose-Cheeked Laura 

Stanza One 

Rose-cheek’d Laura, come, 

Sing thou smoothly with thy beauty’s 

Silent music, either other 

Sweetly gracing. 

In the first stanza of this poem, the speaker begins by asking that a woman he cares for, or who he is at least infatuated with, come and sing. The speaker refers to this woman as being “Rose-cheek’d.” This shows an appreciation for her looks, but not much else. The poet could have utilized a deeper term of endearment, but chose not to. Instead, the compliment is entirely surface level. This shows that the speaker’s love for this person exists in the same way, on a surface level. 

In the next lines, the speaker asks that “Laura” come and “Sing” her beauty to him. He is not asking that she actually sing, but rather grace him with the music of her “beauty.” It is music that is “Silent” as it only involves her passively showing herself to him. It is a sound which “Sweetly” graces those who hear it and he wants to be among those special few again. 

Stanza Two 

Lovely forms do flow 

From concent divinely framed; 

Heav’n is music, and thy beauty’s 

Birth is heavenly. 

The silent sounds which are made by Laura are further spoken of in the next quatrain. The speaker is truly enamored with her appearance and the impact she has on him. He continues his description of Laura’s music. It is spoken of as being made up of “Lovely forms. These “do flow” as she moves through his line of sight from “concent” or harmonies, which have been designed by God. The speaker is using “forms” to refer to both the composition of the music she creates and the shape of her face and body. 

He sees her beauty as being so overwhelming that it is like she was “divinely framed” with otherworldly intentions. The speaker is completely taken in by this person. It is unclear at this point whether or not he has even spoken to her. Her looks are enough to inspire him to these verses. 

In the next lines, he expands his metaphor of her appearance and its relation to song as being heavenly. It is music that could only have come from God. While her current appearance is very important to the speaker, so is her history. Her “Birth” was a moment of divine intervention, the speaker states. 

Stanza Three

These dull notes we sing 

Discords need for helps to grace them; 

Only beauty purely loving 

Knows no discord, 

The second half of the poem changes directions. He has finished speaking directly about Laura and now turns to describe the nature of love. There is no further evidence that the two are in a couple. The relationship he speaks of could be completely metaphorical or even one-sided. 

The speaker refers to times in which “we sing” notes that are “dull” rather than beautiful. When one considers the metaphor which has been outlining the poem this is likely a reference to arguments and lackluster conversations. There is no music in these moments. It is obvious that he would have seen moments of “discord” as it is only through a beauty that knows nothing but love that discord does not exist. 

This is how he sees the speaker. She appears to him as the perfect woman for whom it would be impossible to experience discomfort, anger or any kind of negative emotion. The speaker believes she would bring nothing but “pure lov[e]” to a relationship. 

It is clear that the speaker’s image of this woman is idealized. This comes from the fact that he is judging her on her looks alone and adding to them his on perception of who he would like her to be. 

Stanza Four 

But still moves delight, 

Like clear springs renew’d by flowing, 

Ever perfect, ever in them- 

Selves eternal. 

In the final section of the poem, the speaker continues his thoughts from the third quatrain. He is thinking about the existence of love and when and where it thrives. He speaks of it as being the force that is able to “move delight.” It is all-powerful, but not violent. 

Love, to the speaker, is similar to a “clear spring” which renews itself “by flowing.” Love perfects those it touches. The participants in this idealized relationship are “eternal” and “Ever perfect” because of the love they share.