LIT103A - Paper #2

Darlene McCoy
Michael Ursell
LIT 103A
12 February 2012

Idealized Forms of Beauty in Fashion and Poetry
It is no surprise to find a description of aesthetically pleasing attributes of a woman in poems written by men of earlier times. The first edition of Christopher Marlowe's "Hero and Leander" was published in 1598. Robert Herrick's "Delight in Disorder" found its way into the hands of readers in 1648. Each poem makes an aesthetic statement using descriptions of clothing, and these statements express an ideal form in both fashion and poetry.
However, for fashion and poetry to correlate, there must be a reasonable connection made between them. How are the clothes humans use to decorate their bodies like rhetorical devices used to decorate poetry? Clothing is used to persuade another human being into believing a particular disposition. Rhetoric is used to persuade another human being into believing a particular disposition. Their only difference, in this sense, is the medium in which they are presented: one on a human body; one on a material body.
"Hero and Leander" is a free and original treatment of a classic tale of two ill-fated lovers written in the form of an epyllion. It begins by setting up the situation of the tale - two lovers live in two different cities - and then begins describing one of the actors. Her name is Hero; "Hero the fair." What follows should be a description of the ideal form of beauty - since a hero, in the time this tale was first written by Musaeus of Alexander, was the ideal form of a human being. Marlowe then takes twenty-five lines to describe Hero's apparel. He describes seven different articles of clothing in hyperbolic terms. For example: "Her kirtle blue, whereon was many a stain, / Made with the blood of a wretched lovers slain." (15-16). is an extravagant claim that those whom Hero denied her love committed suicide, thus leaving their blood on her dress. Each article is described using the same degree of excessive hyperbole; each description is uncannily precise. Another notation to be made about the description of Hero's dress is its monstrous implications. Heroic couplets perform in each line of Marlowe's description of Hero. A heroic couplet consists of two lines of iambic pentameter that end in a perfect rhyme.
"Hero and Leander" states that in both fashion and poetry, a work that is in perfect order and that encompasses every detail is the most beautiful. This is an Aristotelian ideal of poetry. The length of the description is excessive because it is all-encompassing, as Aristotle would have it. Nothing is left unexplained: every piece of Hero's attire is described in such overbearing detail that it is uncanny. "Uncanny" connotes feelings of strangeness and the supernatural. Something that is supernatural is not natural; something that is unfamiliar is strange because it is also not natural. How would a woman adorned in the blood of "wretched lovers" be natural? "Hero and Leander" adheres perfectly to the form of an epyllion. An epyllion is a term that hails from the nineteenth century meaning, "mini-epic." It is also noted that an epyllion follows the form of an epic precisely, except that it is shorter in length. This means that to be a proper epyllion, a poem must be written using heroic couplets, which, as stated above, Marlowe employs in his work. Aristotle believed that the epic had enough room to create a sense of wonder in the work, which would be why "Hero and Leander" is an 819 line poem.
"Delight in Disorder" is a fourteen line lyric poem that focuses on the imperfections of a woman's attire. It begins by stating that, "A sweet disorder in the dress / Kindles in clothes a wantonness." (1-2) This line establishes the theme of the poem: controlled forms of disorder are beautiful. Therefore, the lines that follow this initial set must be in the form of controlled disorder. It then continues to further elaborate on the woman's dress without the use of hyperbole: "A careless shoestring," (11). He simply states that a shoestring is untied. There is no implicit monstrosity to this shoestring and its untied-ness. While each line of the poem contains eight syllables, they do not all have the same meter. The meter in lines two and eight differs from the rest of the poem. Meter is not the only difference in form that lends itself to the theme of the poem. The rhyme scheme of the poem is not uniform. The first couplet, the fifth couplet, and the seventh couplet all end in perfect rhyme. The others, however, end in a rhyme that is only perfect if the reader changes their pronunciation of the last words of the couplets.
"Delight in Disorder" states that in both fashion and poetry, a work that is in order but contains minor imperfections, such as the leaving out of some details, is the most beautiful. This is a Horatian ideal of poetry. The length of the description is shorter because it does not encompass every detail of the woman's dress. Not every garment adorning her body is explained in full, explicit detail. Horace would not scorn Herrick's deliberate imperfections, because his poetics allow for imperfections, as long as they are appropriate and controlled. The words used to describe the woman's dress are not too explicit nor do they tell a specific story on their own - they are intentionally simple, but their simplicity is controlled. As stated above, a "careless shoestring" is a shoestring that is left untied, for some reason deemed by the author as "careless." "Careless" implies that something is arranged or uttered without art. Art is in the image of nature - so if art is taken away, all that is left is nature. Therefore, Herrick's line implies natural feelings. Horace abhors the thought of creating monstrosities using poetry. He does not believe that nature is supreme beauty and that humans cannot improve upon it by imitating it, but rather that humans must take considerable thought in creating their imitations, or monstrosities will appear in their work. Slight imperfections do not create a monstrosity; they are simply the mark of the human hand in creation, and that, in its own, is beautiful. "Delight in Disorder" is a lyrical poem, but it defers from its form in order to convey its meaning. A lyrical poem is a poem that allows itself to be recognized as a piece of work that is to be sung. Because it requires the use of voice, pronunciation and meter become an important part of the poem's meaning. In "Delight in Disorder", one who performs this poem may choose to pronounce its imperfect rhymes by changing the natural pronunciation of the rhyming words in order to form a perfect rhyme or pronounce them as they are, and allow the imperfect rhyme to be heard. They may also notice that lines two and eight do not fit the normal iambic pattern. They might pronounce the lines in iambs, anyway, or choose to pronounce the lines in another form: tetrameter. This confusion just further exemplifies Herrick's theme - because either way a performer speaks his words, they will feel the disorder the poem invokes. Whether or not they enjoy it - is up to the opinion of the performer.
"Hero and Leander" and "Delight in Disorder" are two poems that describe a woman's attire using distinctly different forms. Christopher Marlowe's form holds perfect imitation as the champion of beauty; Robert Herrick holds naturally imperfect order as the champion of beauty. Each poem expresses its view, and each is as lovely as the other, because the amount of effort and knowledge gone into each piece was enough to push it into the realm of classical British literature. They are simply two ways of going about writing poetry - just as Aristotle was simply a different man than Horace.