9 Comments

Fun to read more about Nashe. We gave him a glance in my grad classes, but not much more.

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Do you take banished as 3 syllables? The metre is awkward either way, though I do love the poem.

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Could be three, although that wouldn't solve the metrical awkwardness. I read it aloud as "Long BAN-ish'd MUST we LIVE // FROM our FRIENDS"

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Yes. That line resists reasonable scansion.

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A good example of how historical realities alter the way we view the world; these days, with our central heating and our robust health system, the approach of autumn comes as a welcome event, and I wouldn't be surprised if a modern-day Nashe would have written a poem in praise of the changing season instead of the one we have now. When was the turning point, the moment at which poets started talking about autumn's joys instead of its ill portents?

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Victorian era? Though I have no direct evidence. No, Keats already praised it.

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Thank you for this interesting account of Nashe - a favourite of mine - and for bringing this poem to our attention. of course, 1592 had been a very year for plague deaths, and I think the poem reflects this. I wondered if the 'low-built house' actually referred to the grave?

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Quite possible.

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I wondered the same.

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