Adultery of Art

By: Tierney Bowden

Both Robert Herrick’s “Delight in Disorder” and Ben Jonson’s “Still to be neat, still to be dressed”, there is the use of iambic tetrameter. In Herrick’s poem, the iamb is used consistently while Jonson utilizes other patterns such as in line 10, “Such sweet neglect, more taketh me”. In this line, Jonson uses a trochaic tetrameter to break the poem’s flow. This break in the flow brings attention to the words in the line. Along with this break of iamb, the following line is out of line with the rest of the poem. I believe Jonson intended this because lines 10 and 11 are where the true meaning of his poem is found. The “sweet neglect” Jonson is referring to, is the neglect of an artist to put any soul into their work. They may create the most beautiful piece, but if it has no purpose, no message, it is worthless. This is why in line 11 he calls them, “adulteries of art,  (Jonson). By calling it adultery, he is making a metaphor that creating meaningless art for beauty’s sake is a cheating way to make art. 

Although both poems use similar metaphors for the nature of art, Jonson’s is more effective because of his break in the uniformity of his poem. Herrick sticks to the iamb and perfect rhyme that contrasts with the title of his poem. How can he talk of disorder without creating disorder within his own poem?

Still to Be Disorder

Ben Jonson’s “Still to Be Neat” and Robert Herrick’s “Delight in Disorder” are both primarily in iambic tetrameter. Both poems’ titles and contents indicate that Jonson’s poem praises neatness while Herrick’s values disorder. Between the two poems, “Still to Be Neat” and “Delight in Disorder”, the latter is most effective in representing the nature of art. I believe that emotional art can often be wild and messy, but I do not believe art needs to be solely neat or messy. Ultimately, the process of creating art is messy due to the medium and/or the revision process. It is highly likely that both of these poets brainstormed topics, crossed lines out, and repeatedly rewrote these poems.

Jonson begins the poem with three lines dedicated to discussing a proper, refined woman. I find these lines to be too constricting with their description of this woman. The iambic meter and repetitive use of the phrase “still to be” emphasize this person’s neatness. Iambic meter is common in poems, so the rhythm of this poem is not out of the ordinary. The next three lines indicate that perhaps not all is as it seems, and there is more hiding beneath all the tidiness. In the last four lines of his poem, Jonson appears to be saying that disorderly women are more interesting than disorderly art. I struggled with the rhythm of the 11th line, but eventually settled on anapest for “th’ adult” and iambic for the rest of the line. Adultery literally interrupts the rhythm of the poem. The word “adulteries” indicates cheating, sin, sex, and betrayal. For Jonson, cheating at art might be making messy, disorderly art and claiming that mess is intentional rather than incidental. The poem continues on, “they strike mine eyes, but not my heart”. Disorderly artworks/women attract Jonson, but do not appeal emotionally.

Herrick spends most of the poem describing someone (presumably a woman) whose clothing is disorderly. The poem includes small details that usually go unseen like a “tempestuous petticoat” and “careless shoestring”. I appreciate the praise of the imperfect. For the 10th line, I settled on iambic, trochee, iambic, and spondee for the meters. Truthfully, I am unsure of this rhythm, but I am certain “tempestuous petticoat” disrupts the rhythm in the way that a storm might disrupt a sunny day. Herrick is explicit in meaning for the last three lines of the poem. For Herrick, disorderly artworks/women are more enchanting than precise art.

Sincerely,

Miki Chroust

Rhythm and Meter

In the two poems, ‘Still to be Neat’ by Ben Johnson and ‘Delight and Disorder’ by Robert Herrick, there is a fascination with not being all proper and dressed in what would be considered, the correct fashion. Both seem to have heavy use of the iambic rhythm, which I feel is trying to convey the feeling of a natural wanting, like the disorder is natural and something that feels more real as well as something that is naturally desired. Though, they both have an iambic rhythm, I feel that in the poem, ‘Still to be Neat’, it starts of with more of a trochaic rhythm and works its way into more of an iambic towards the end, which gives off the impression that the second part of the poem is where the more real feelings come in by having more of a heartbeat rhythm. This is enforced by the fact that the first part of the poem discusses being “powdered and perfumed”and dressed as if one was “going to a feast”. Yet the second half discusses more of what seems to be what the author desires through using the word “me”, which is not seen in the first half and the line “Robes loosely flowing, hair as free;” refer to the more natural state of a person. In the poem, ‘Delight and Disorder’, it seems to be more of a constant iambic rhythm, yet it also is constant in the way it discusses prefering disorder over being proper, which the heartbeat like rhythm enforces by making the poem feel more natural.

I feel that the poem ‘Delight and Disorder’ better represents art because of the fact that it describe the fact that art is better when it is “disorderly” than when it is precise. Art is something that people use to get their emotions, feelings, or experiences across and the world around us and emotions we feel are not always beautiful and perfect, so by describing art as something that more disorderly than perfect displays art as something more real rather than something flawless and perfect meant just to please the eye.

Emily Mayo

Rhythm and Meter

Beauty is beyond masking our natural features with cosmetics and dressing to impress. With Ben Jonson’s “Still to be Neat” and Robert Herrick’s “Delight in Disorder,” both poems describe the nature of beauty and art, but Jonson’s poem more effectively expresses the beauty of the natural appearance of women. Jonson’s poem is shown to be iambic prosody as the rhythm and meter helps support his idea within this poem. 

The poem begins, Jonson details, “Still to be neat, still to be dressed” (Line 1), where he explains the nature of a woman to be represented in a certain pleasing and clean manner. As you read the line, you can feel the distinguishing of each unstressed and stressed syllable for the emphasis of “neat” and “dressed.” He is driving the focus on the words to begin his idea of the nature of art to be natural and real. He continues, “Still to be powdered, still perfumed” (Line 3), as both the powder and perfume are used as masking the natural appearance and smell that further separates the real beauty of women.  Jonson continues to use rhythm to underline “powdered” which is broken into three syllable words that creates an anapest foot that breaks off the iambic tetrameter that begins in the poem. Later addresses a woman as “Lady” as demonstrating they have to present themselves as respectable ladies and it is something to be assumed of them. While explaining the natural standard of a woman, he proclaims, “Give me a look, give me a face, / That makes simplicity a grace” (Line 7-8), as he supports the idea that being natural and true to themselves is beautiful as well no matter how simple it may seem. As it starts a new stanza in the poem, Jonson keeps on the iambic tetrameter, however, uses the word “simplicity” that is broken into 4 syllables which breaks the iambic tetrameter with two unstressed and two stressed feet. His use of simplicity supports the importance of simple beauty and art. 

As well as in Herrick’s poem “Delight in Disorder” being in iambic tetrameter through the poem, Herrick does not further advance the use of the rhythm to give a strong presence and support his idea within the poem. Both poems have similar ideas of the nature of beauty, but Jonson further explores the use of breaks in the iambic tetrameter that emphasizes and supports his idea of beauty.  

Naraint Catalan Rios

Rhythm and Meter: Chaos in Order

by Cifriana Mina Dela Cruz

After reading the two poems, “Still to be neat, still to be dressed” by Ben Jonson and “Delight in Disorder”, I’ve noticed something incredibly interesting: while both poems discuss similar concepts, they go about it in different ways. Both share the idea of the authenticity of art, but one celebrates the rawness in more freeing forms of it, while the other criticizes the orderliness and presentation.

“Delight in Disorder” is a simpler poem. With a mainly straightforward iambic tetrameter, the poem describes “disordered” art by comparing it to a woman’s clothing. While the wording in simple, it celebrates the image in how chaotic it is, and I believe that the iambic tetrameter emphasizes this in a way. Because it is comparable to a heartbeat, one might say that the speaker of the poem has their heart beating to this particular form of art, with the few anomalies in rhythm perhaps representing the heart skipping.

However, “Still to be neat” describes a different type of art. One that can be seen as artificial, manufactured, synthesized by the rules of society. The comparison here is to a woman that is overdressed, caked with makeup as it hides its own truth to itself. And unlike the simple iambic tetrameter as we’ve seen in the previous poem, this one can be read in a dactylic meter along with a hint of trochaic, which unlike iambic meter, goes against the heartbeat. It’s here that I think the speaker conveys is that the structure of the art itself doesn’t move his heart in the way that a more “simplistic” form of art could, and despite its lavish appearance doesn’t have more than a shallow statement. And I think the meter here goes well, because the switching between dactylic and trochaic reveal both its lavishness and its artificiality.

In a way, I can see both points of view, while I personally agree more with “Delight in Disorder” because of its simple message to love the mistakes in art that make it unique, I also liked picking apart “Still to be neat” because of how the rhythm plays in its criticism in how art is usually judged and perceived, leading it to become shallow underneath all of its techniques to appear sophisticated.

Rhythm and Meter: Women = ART

‘Delight In Disorder’ and ‘Still to Be Neat’ reflect the feelings of how women feel about societal expectations of the ‘dress codes’. However, both poems fluctuate between the ideal picture of a woman. 

“Disorder” is the main concept in ‘Delight in Disorder’, a disorder is stated as an illness that disrupts normal physical or mental function. Knowing this, the author uses ‘disorder’ as an underlying meaning to show that the clothes on women are not the problem to ‘disruption’, it’s the brains of antagonists who mentally disrupt themselves.  The main theme of this poem is to show how women’s clothes are “distracting”, based off of key words in the poem “shoulders thrown, Into a fine distraction” , “tempestuous petticoat”, and “bewitch me”. Shoulders are used to indicate the stressed dress codes within schools. Using “tempestuous petticoat”, which is a piece of clothing that are predominantly used by kids, to show that girls at a young age dealt with strict dress codes. Ending off the poem “Do more bewitch me. . . “ , is more of a screw the patriarchy , to “demoralize” them. The energy in this poem comes off soft and mellow in the beginning which then trails off to be more stressed and the phrases come off more of an attack to the reader. Herrick uses iambic tetrameter through the ups and downs of the stressed and unstressed.

The speakers reservations about the lady in the first stanza  is to show how women are supposed to dress lady like. This poem has a rhythm of a iamic tetrameter based off of the stressed and unstressed lines. The poet creates this vision in the readers head of a typical ladylike of a women, but ends off the poem of how women are humans too  with personalities. Jonson writes about how women are more perceived as ‘eye-candy’ as seen in line 7, “Give me a look, give me a face”. The iambic rhythm of this poem fluctuates between womens’ physical features to not having a genuine connection with women who are ‘lady like’.  Where this is seen in the last line, it says “ They strike mine eyes, but not my heart.” 

Both poems have the same flow of iambic tetrameter. Jonson and Herrick uses the same social issue, however are different concepts of what women have faced for centuries. ‘Delight in Disorder’ depicts a clearer and bigger social issue than ‘Still to Be Neat’.

Roma Ventura

Defining Poems Through Rhythm/Meter

Ben Jonson’s “Still to Be Neat” and Robert Herrick’s “Delight in Disorder” are two unique poems that, in some sense, contradict one another when it comes down to interpretations. In a normal world, we as people have a common understanding that everyone views the world through their own lens filled with distinguishing meaning and purpose. Both these poems are perfect examples of two opposite sides of the spectrum involving the idea of simplicity, or the lack there of it, and perhaps the openness and acceptance of it. One can argue that neatness is the prime example of higher order or superiority, while others believe that uniqueness is what sets one apart from the rest: the true definition of superiority and higher order.

Jonson’s poem presented with an iambic tetrameter pattern as he a went on about the idea that women constantly maintain themselves to appear simple and put together in order to hide whats within. He creates a lot of emphasis around wanting women to be true to themselves rather than sulking because it’s not what matters on the outside as much as it does in the inside. This is a very powerful message for readers and the audience in general because society and social norms have the tendency to set unattainable beauty standards, forcing women or anyone to try and one up the next person. Such insecurities cause a constant battle not only for women all around, but with oneself too. Jonson used an interesting rhyme and rhythm combination at the ends of each line, creating a balanced flow throughout the poem. This highlights his message nicely because just like the rhythm, the poet reflects two thoughts back and forth between women and his own from the outside looking in.

Herrick’s poem also presented with an iambic tetrameter pattern while explaining the concept of imperfection and how disorderliness is quite beautiful in its own way. There’s something powerful about women who own their identity and openly embrace their style. Often times, people feel the need to pull up a facade to the world in order to prove that everything is ideal, when true beauty lies in admitting the opposite. Another thing that makes this poem unique from the other is the diction usage. Terms like “wantonness” and “bewitch” can create a more exciting scene showcasing power. The title “Delight in Disorder” is a perfect way to sum up the poet’s thoughts on confidence and artistic endeavors. The usage of rhythm creates sass and sexiness, which is very fitting for the poem as it constantly brings light to the intention that not being put together is essentially favored.

It’s almost difficult to choose which poem was more effective in representing the nature of art because both, in their own way, showcased brilliant skills and techniques alongside deeper meanings for the audience. While Jonson had the right idea of keeping an orderly and concise poem with his rhythm, Herrick played with the concept of contradiction to the next level. He used rhythm in order to describe messy and quirky scenarios. I see this as art because it gives the poem a different and deeper meaning, almost like telling the audience that perhaps not being perfect is perfection in itself.

Simranpreet Kaur

Turbulent

Lauren Hamilton

“Delight in disorder” by Herrick, talks about how disorder of dressing in women can be beautiful, artisy, and should be encouraged. It shows off the beauty of staying with a similar pattern of rhythm and meter throughout. That is up until line 10 where its as turbulent, in the rhythm, as the words of the line. By doing this little rebellion, it reinforces what is being described throughout the poem, a little rebellion in style is a good thing. It even goes meta a little and points it out in line 12 that it was wild to do so. With it being crazy, for the time, and labeled as such, it is something nice to see and watch but something not to touch or mess with, because art is “too precious in every part”. (line 14)
“Still to be neat” by Johnson, it seems as though the author is frustrated with a lady who is still nicely and formally dressed; almost as if they wanted the other to have some kind of imperfection to be able to delight in it. They want the “Robes loosely flowing, hair as free”(line 9), instead of what is being presented to them. This poem was difficult for me to scan and believe I may of messed it up. It seems to me that the pattern for it is that there is no real pattern and it adds to the feeling of frustration that author is feeling.
The two authors seem to have a similar take on how women should dress for artistic purposes, due to women being so pretty and all. According to them women should be well dressed with a small flaw or two to make them as beautiful as art. Another thing that they seem to agree upon is that if something is so beautiful to be considered art then no one should interact with it, physically or emotionally.

Your mind is a canvas

Sofia Garcia

During the scan of their poems, “Delight in Disorder” by Robert Herrick and “Still to be Neat” by Ben Jonson, I picked up that both poets were speaking about women. Robert Herrick describes how a woman makes feel in the last two lines of his poem, “Do more bewitch me than when art/Is too precise in every part” (Herrick). He describes the woman with simplicity as if someone was explaining the way looking at a hamburger makes them feel (that is of course if they enjoy hamburgers). Even his style is simple which shows by his use of iambic tetrameter throughout the entire poem. Seemingly he doesn’t change patterns to keep that effect of simplicity. Similarly, Ben Jonson also uses iambic tetrameter as his rhythmic pattern.

When Jonson describes the woman, he is writing about he directly addresses, “Lady, it is to be presumed, /” (Jonson). Both poets seem to see the actions the women are preforming as art forms. Their word choices are the ones that bring these simple actions from written words to a vivid image in your head. The way they look such as when Ben Jonson describes the way the woman’s “Robes [are] loosely flowing, hair as free (Jonson). In Herrick’s eyes, “Ribbons to flow confusedly/…In the tempestuous petticoat;/” (Herrick). Herrick saw beauty in this. It is not neat like Jonson’s view, but they both had different views on how the ordinary views they had and turned them into something so artistic. For poets like these our mind is their canvas because their written words come to life in our minds.

Similar theme, different approach

After reading Robert Herrick’s “Delight in Disorder” and Ben Jonson’s “Still to Be Neat” for the first time, I was oddly more fascinated by and drawn to Ben Jonson’s method of tackling the “natural beauty is true beauty” theme.  I took a closer look into both poems and noticed that the prosodies (iambic tetrameter) were the same, but Herrick’s poem stuck more to the rhythm than Jonson’s poem.  For me, I found more enjoyment in Jonson’s poem because I thought that it effectively broke down the rhythm with its frequent use of punctuations and changes in meter.  In line 4 (Lady, it is to be presumed), for example, Jonson starts the line by using a trochee followed by a comma.  The change in meter and the punctuation broke the flow of the poem and caused me to slow myself down.  Another example of change in rhythm/flow is in line 11 when Jonson uses the world th’.  When I read through this part, the unique punctuation of the word (I still do not know how to say it) caused me to slow myself down.  I think that Jonson’s approach of making the reader stop and read every word is more effective because it helps the reader imagine the women described— which helps get the “natural beauty is true beauty” theme across.

Just to touch on Herrick’s poem, I thought that his poem was too playful and easy to skim.  Almost all of the poem is in iambic tetrameter (lines 2 and 8 start with trochees), and if you read the ends of words in a way that makes it rhyme, then you can breeze past the poem without truly understand the difficult vocabulary and the poet’s message.