At a glance, Ben Jonson’s “Still to Be Neat” and Robert Herrick’s “Delight in Disorder” appear to be extremely similar poems. They both deal with the overall theme of human desire for uniqueness, variety and beautiful imperfections. Even the prosody of these poems appears to be the same; iambic tetrameter definitely dominates the majority of these two poems. While both authors share an attraction for originality, their respective usage of rhythm changes the way their audience looks at, and interprets their poetry.
The use of rhythm in these two poems manages to change the momentum, mood, tone and overall suspense of both of these poems at certain points. “Delight in Disorder” appears to be a typically structured poem, it is mostly grouped into couplets, follows the iambic tetrameter fairly consistently and initially seems to have a simple rhythmic scheme. Interestingly, after starting with a perfect rhyme in his first couplet (“dress” and
“wantonness”), Herrick proceeds to alternate each couplet with an imperfect rhythmic combination. In addition, Herrick strays away from the iambic meter in lines 2 and 8, which proves his ability to write his work in an imperfect, yet, beautiful way by seamlessly replacing the iambic with a couple examples of trochee. His rhyming scheme is very effective in that it grasps the reader’s attention very easily, while at the same time, effectively conveying his message to the audience. His conclusive end rhyme clearly states his concern that art is too systematic, “Do more bewitch me than when art Is too precise in every part,” he is attempting to break the barrier of precise art by putting his own twist on traditional rhythm and meter styles. Intriguingly, Herrick ends his poem with a perfect rhyme (“art” and “heart”) as if he is trying to package the contents of him poem as the “precise art” which he dislikes so much. In my opinion, Ben Johnson delivers his message more effectively than Herrick. His use of enjambment throughout the poem adds an extra level of suspense that makes the poem even more entertaining to read. Although the poem is organized into couplets and also uses the iambic tetrameter, Johnson’s personification of art as the entire female gender puts him on top. The added suspense in his poem makes the conclusion “Then all th’ adulteries of art. They strike mine eyes but not my heart,” extremely powerful. Just like Herrick, Jonson finds too much percision to be boring. Like Jonson says, perfect beauty can be aesthetically pleasing, but it does not break down below the surface of the heart. The overall clarity and conciseness of “Still to Be Neat” allows its rhythm to be more effective and therefore, improves the poem as a whole.
Introduction to Poetry 