As Natural, As Nude

Female Gestures by Lau Hoe In

Jojo C. Chukwueloka

Art and beauty are often intrinsically linked. Many of the most famous poems, art pieces, and general great media are often encased around the idea of what it means to be beautiful, to look beautiful, and to feel beautiful.  It is only expected, then, that both Ben Johnson and Robert Hedrick would put the symbols of their poems to be the most familiar and citedly beautiful creatures humanity has ever known: women.   However, while their subjects and opinions are the same, neither man goes about representing their regard for art the same way or how they view the women they choose to symbolize it. 

In Herrick’s “Delight in Disorder”, the reader is presented with a woman in a state of dishevelment.   Specifically, she’s referred to as a “sweet disorder in a dress” with “erring lace which here and there” and “in clothes a wantonness” (lines 1 to 5).”   Most would consider this a criticism, but the poet doesn’t present it as such.  He can see notions of “wild civility” (line 12) meaning that though ungainly to most it is still beautiful.  To him, her messiness is natural and realistic, something that enthralls him.  He uses this as an argument against the notion that art needs to be polished or aesthetically pleasing to be moving and intimate.  Hedrick emphasizes his belief that art should be allowed to be imperfect and sloppy in line 4.  Unlike the rest of the poem that is set in iambic tetrameter, line 4 is spondaic and throws the reader off (being a literal distraction).  It makes the poem “imperfect”, making the reader actually have to pause and consider the message presented rather than follow a rigid system of thoroughly repeated patterns.  Lines 13 and 14 reinforce this viewpoint in a self-aware moment presented by the poet.  The lines state that inconsistency and inaccuracy is far more bewitching and interesting to view than a perfect piece.  Having non-linear lines, blemishes, or mistakes in art adds to the piece, spellbinding the viewer more so than without. 

Johnson’s “Still To Be Neat”, delivers a situation of the complete opposite to Herrick’s.  Here the woman is in a state of what Johnson decides is overdressed.  He laments, stating that she is “still to be powdered, still perfumed” (line 3) and how he wishes for “a face that makes simplicity a grace” (lines 7 and 8).  The use of over abundant makeup on a woman is a common comparison to over-touched art that lacks noticeable features like messy brush strokes, muddy colors, or unrealistic proportions.  Johnson argues that both, while pleasing to look at, do not invoke any emotion in him.  They are pretty, yes, but there is no human/natural element to them via the scarcity of imperfections.  His use of repetition in lines 1, 3, and 6 further this idea.  They represent the boredom through the uninteresting nature “perfect” art has.  That it comes off as feeling wrong and unsound, truly unnatural.  Johnson furthers this disillusionment with art in line 11.  He describes art as a series of adulteries, secondary to candid life.  It is only an imitation and, therefore, it’s something incapable of making him feel like a real, genuine, and bare person would.   This is also the line where he goes off the usual iambic tetrameter and pulls a spondaic pentameter to emphasize his point. 

In terms of which is most effective in representing the nature of art, my hand goes for Herrick’s.  Both are reaching for the same goal, but “Delight in Disorder” is far less restrained than “Still to be Neat”.  Rather than just stating he wants simplicity, Herrick entices the reader’s senses and puts us in the scene. This decision to describe the unkempt nature makes the poem feel more intimate and less artificial.  Neither are love poems (per se), but they are honest.  Disorder is far more valuable than perfection.  Without it, life would be tedious and boring. So, whether it be in women, art, or poetry, inconsistency makes the ride a whole lot more compelling.  

Art and Beauty

Sophia Wallace-Boyd

Two poems: one about the beauty of disorder and chaos, and one about the beauty of neatness and order. Robert Herrick’s “Delight in Disorder” and Ben Jonson’s “Still to be Neat” are two wildly different poems, yet they share some things in common. Both reflect on the beauty of a woman, and compare that beauty to art. 

When I first began scanning the poem,”Still to be Neat”, the one thing that stuck out to me was that the structure of the poem seemed to reflect a theme of uniformity. This is shown by the fact that the poem is made up of two stanzas, both with six lines. In addition, each line seems to be about the same length. The uniformity also helps aid in the identification of the rhythm of the poem. After scanning the poem, one can see that the majority of the lines are iambic. The simplicity of the iambic structure of the poem reflects, in a way, the simplicity of the ideal woman that Jonson describes. In the first stanza, Jonson describes a woman who puts on makeup and dresses up. He says this when he states “still to neat, still to be dressed, as you were going to feast; still to be powdered, still perfumed.” (Jonson 1-3), but he later alludes to the idea that he prefers a more “natural”, simple woman. This happens in lines 7-10, when Jonson says “give me a look, give me a face that makes simplicity a grace; robes loosely flowing, hair as free.” He then compares the look of a woman to art. He states: “such sweet neglect more taketh me then all the adulteries of art. They strike mine eyes, but not my heart.” (Jonson 10-12). To me, this means that Jonson thinks that art is too made up, just like the women who dress up to impress people. In other words, Jonson prefers his art to be clean and proper looking, but in a natural sense.

On the other hand, Herrick’s “Delight in Disorder” talks about the beauty of messiness and disorder, which is made clear by the title of the poem and is continuously made clear throughout the entirety of the poem by the word choice. For example, in line 3 Jonson uses the word “thrown” to describe what has been done with an article of clothing the woman is wearing and in line 8 he says “ribbons to flow confusedly.” His use of words and phrases like these help emphasize Herrick’s love for a nontraditional look for a woman’s dressing. Although “Delight in Disorder” is also iambic, it seems to serve to show how disorder can be beautiful, how there can be a sense of order in it. The poem is about a woman who is not prim and proper, but that does not mean that all aspects of her are chaotic, which is reflected by the juxtaposition of the content of the poem and the structure of the poem. I think it proves Herrick’s point that there is beauty in disorder. I believe that this is also shown when Herrick compares women to art in lines 13-14 by saying “do more bewitch me than when art is to0 precise in every part.”

Jonson’s “Still to be Neat” and Herrick’s “Delight in Disorder” are both about women, and what they find beautiful in how a woman presents herself. They also both compare a woman’s appearance to art, which reflects how they view art. Whereas Jonson views art most art as something that is aesthetically pleasing, but not emotionally pleasing, Herrick views art as something that is too careful and meticulous.

A Heart and a Waltz

While both Herrick’s, “Delight in Disorder” and Jonson’s, “Still to Be Neat” express a similar appreciation for the occasional disorder in an otherwise pruned life, I will argue that the scansion and rhythm implemented in Jonson’s more effectively delivers this message and feeling.

From the first line in Herrick’s poem, “A sweet disorder in the dress”, the idea of disorder coexisting with and enhancing groomed life is established. I find Herrick’s decision ineffective right off the bat because it is delivered in a very steady and common iambic tetrameter, which comprises the majority of the rest of the poem. While Herrick voices such a strong appreciation for disorder with ideas like, “A carless shoestring, in whose tie I see wild civility”, this language is the only way in which he relays this appreciation. In essence, Herrick’s art is “precise in every part”, and the only peek into how he truly feels is through the actual sentence meanings in the poem. This seems somewhat ineffective and begs the question of why it needs to be a poem, and not, say, an essay. While Herrick does implement spondees in lines 2 and 8 with “Kindles” and “Ribbons”, I did not feel they successfully added enough variation or emphasis on disorder to effectively make me feel what he was trying to convey.

Jonson’s, “Still to Be Neat”, on the other hand, cleverly combines lines of waltz-like dactylic meter, with the rhythmic and steady heartbeat of iambic meter. This creates variation in the rhythm, as well as a sense of natural disorder created by two coexisting aspects of a woman’s life. What I mean by this is that Jonson focuses on two aspects of the woman’s life––preppy and perfumed, vs. free and disorderly––with the preppy qualities written in a very luxurious waltz-like rhythm, and the free and disorderly written with the rhythm of a heartbeat. For example, “Still to be neat, still to be powdered”, a very posh description of the precise parts of life is composed of waltz-like dactylic meter, which is contrasted greatly with the heartbeat-like iambic, “Robes loosely flowing, hair as free”, which Jonson describes as a more beautiful and raw state of living. This technique that Jonson implements provides a very clever way of relaying how the beauty of disorder coexists with the “neat” aspects of life.