Renaissance Poetry Explores Provocative New Perspectives
Another important aspect of Renaissance poetry is that it forces the reader to consider provocative new perspectives. This is beautifully exemplified in Shakespearean Sonnets #27 and #29, which explore the intriguing dynamics of human reflection and imagination. In these sonnets, we discover that imagination is the vehicle whereby we are transported to other dimensions of time and space to experience liberating adventures. The mental journeys of the imagination are replete with mystical elements, suggesting the superiority of the interior life of imagination and reflection over corporeal realities. According to Shakespeare, the interior life of mental journeys is not subject or limited to the natural laws of the material world:
Weary with toil, I haste to my bed,
The dear repose for limbs with travel tired,
But then a journey begins in my head
To work my mind, when body's work expired. (S27, 1-4)
Although the poet's body is exhausted from toil, his mental faculties are free from such effects. He is able to experience a type of double-life where his mental journeys provide needed escapes. Shakespeare unquestionably ascribes a profound power to mortal imagination. The human imagination is almost god-like in its ability to transcend limitations of nature, such as time and space.
As the sonnet develops, Shakespeare continues to expound on the motif of imagination. The poet asserts that through our imaginations we can experience mystical communion with others:
For then far from my thoughts (far from where I abide)
Intend a zealous pilgrimage to thee,
And keep my drooping eyelids open wide, (S27, 5-8)
The poet's "drooping eyes" that are "open wide" during his mental journeys express the exquisite beauty of the experience. Nothing can compare to the imaginary countenance of his beloved.
In Sonnet #29 Shakespeare focuses on the power of the imagination to bring healing and consolation to even the most desperate cases of emotional and psychological pain. As the poem opens, the reader is presented with a compelling portrait of depression. Due to his misfortune, the poet experiences a dramatic crisis of consciousness. Additionally, for reasons not made clear in the sonnet, he is alienated from society. It appears that he is powerless to overcome his predicament:
When in disgrace with Fortune and men's eyes
I alone bewept my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with bootless cries,
And look upon myself and curse my fate, (S29, 1-4)
The goddess Fortuna, a deity of ancient Rome and Greece, has abandoned him. Scorned and rejected by society, the poet must endure his woe alone. Ostensibly, there is no one to comfort him- not even the Christian god of heaven acknowledges his cries for help.
The situation, however, is not entirely bleak. In the next stage of the sonnet, the poet reveals that he has discovered one thing capable of bringing him comfort. This "thing" is superior to any healing herb, balm or medicine- the human imagination:
Yet in these myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state
(Like to the lark at day of break arising
From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven's gate
For thy sweet love rememb'red such wealth brings,
That then I scorn to change my state with kings. (S29, 9-14)
The poet once again embarks on a mental journey to delight in the imaginary sight of his beloved. Imagination enables him to rise from the depths of depression into the glimmering light of hope.
During the Renaissance when Shakespeare and Spencer sat in their candle lit chambers, near the warm fires of blazing hearths, it is doubtful they imagined their works would endure through the twentieth century and beyond. However, their poetic works possess an eternal appeal because they mystically connect readers to the past, and help us to explore provocative issues of our humanity. In the study of Renaissance poetry, we have the exciting opportunity to participate in an exploration of human consciousness that spans many millennia, examining the important question of what it means, indeed, to be or not to be.