necessitated these occasions of profound reverence and occasional
enlightenment, in a journey through their own spirituality. Poetry
was writing for private readership, a confessional in the form of a
diary, debating with themselves and God. The status of body, that of
men and women, the relationship between themselves with one another,
and God were all predominati! ng factors in their writing. Poetry was
written private realms for a private readership with no public address.
A parody may even be draw between Milton circumstances and his vision
of Satan, during on of his profound moments of reflection:
Me miserable! which was shall I fly
Infinite wrath, and infinite despair?
Which way I fly is hell; myself am hell;12
I may be useful to think of Satan in the light of ‘likening spiritual
to corporal forms’, partly as representative of the public world of
politics and rebellion, and his presentation as an exploration of the
ambitions and failures, the egotism and despair, that public life
offers. In this his role is therefore complemented in the poem by the
private, domestic world of Adam and Eve, in whose interpersonal
relations are enacted the possibilities and problems of freedom and
self-restraint. In metaphysical poetry the body was seen as a secular
vessel, embodied with a spiritual love of the world, attached to a
humanist concept that pre mined to embody God within the
body of man. Colonialism expanse across the America’s induced imagery
through language; exploring, discovery, conquering, divine protection,
geometry, geography, astronomy, navigation and science were the
foundations on which metaphysical poetry evidently propelled itself to
growing popularity at a time of general social, political and religious
unrest. The Sunne Rising also created by Donne was slightly more
satirical, yet maintaining that man was ultimately the ruler of his own
world, and God being embodied in wherever he be therein. The sun is
employed as a metaphysical conceit, with man being able to block it
and the other element with a single wink.
Thy beams, so reverend and strong
Why shouldst thou think?
I could eclipse and cloud them with a winke,13
With reference of imperial history he no longer needs to explore to
India, for it is already traced and recorded on a map before him. His
self-elevation and lack of humanity are comparable to that of Milton’s
Satan. Around the same period other works of post-colonial art were be
developed, no doubt heavily influenced by contemporary issues. One
such example is Shakespeare’s final work and tragi-comedy The Tempest
(1611), interposed and concerned with the theme of the elevation of one
myth above another, recurrent impact of colonialism, morality and the
loss of innocence. Shakespeare’s unique style of writing is as a
direct result of a plethora of influences, one of which was
‘Montaigne’s essay Of Cannibals which discussed the value and the way
of life of societies which had not been affected by civilisation of a
European type. In addition to this essay a pamphlet circulate called
The Discovery of the Bermudas , otherwise called the Isle of Divels,
may have played a crucial role. This pamphlet described the bold
adventures of a religious group of colonist travelling in a convoy of
ships from London to Virginia. However during the voyage, the flagship
was separated from the remainder! of the convoy in a storm. The
maverick ship inadvertently blew towards Bermuda before being tossed
onto some rocks. The colonists lived on the islands until they had
built boats in which to continue their voyage. The story of their
almost miraculous survival aroused considerable interest in England and
echoes of their adventure can be found in The Tempest. With little
regard of the more elaborate themes images the tale is one of a landing
on a island, a veritable paradise, already inhabited by Caliban (often
spelt ‘canibal’ by Elizabethans by transposing the letters ‘n’ and ‘l’)
a wild, deformed uncivilised beast (representative of native settlers),
who is quickly manipulated, overthrown and enslaved by Prospero (King
of Milan). Caliban and his environment are parallelled to those of the
Garden of Eden and Caliban himself is elemental. As the story
progresses and the tyrannical relationship between the two continually
increasing, Caliban’s intellect is worthy of argument against Prospero
for having denied him his birthright. Prospero’s aim of teaching
Caliban was to increase his indisputable control over him, by
subverting him into an incomplete and image of his master, defective of
all other attributes ie of magic. Caliban, similar to every colonised
people before him adapted his adopted culture and power of speech
inflic! ted upon him as a weapon to communicate his own indignation
and animosity towards his oppressor. And despite being frequently
referred to as a crude savage, disfigured, and evil Caliban exemplifies
a better set of values than most of the ‘civilised’ characters in the
play. This image derives from speculation regarding the popular
English belief that uncivilised pagans were below their civilised
counterparts in the hierarchy which had God at its apex and inanimate
nature at it base. However a few individuals were beginning to
question this assumption and ‘there is evidence in the play that
Shakespeare believed that the corruption in a civilised man was more
abhorrent than any natural albeit uncivilised behaviour.’14 At a time
when many books and sermons, effected a characteristic Renaissance
union between moral and political implications, and concerned
themselves with the task of persuading the public that exploration was
an honourable and indeed a sanctified activity and Drake was compared
to Moses, combining voyaging and mystagogy a practical justification
of “the lawfulnesse of Discovering”. It was a somewhat sophistical
argument by Purchas, in favour of the propriety of usurping the
rights of native populations, and an insistence, half-mystagogic,
half-propagandist, on the temperate, fruitful nature of the New World,
and the unspoilt purity of its inhabitants. ‘The True Declaration
defends colonizing, on the ground that it diffuses the true religion
and has authority from Solomon’s trade to Ophir (whether it lay in the
East or, as Columbus thought15 in the West Indies). There is room for
all; and in any case the natives cannot be regarded as civilized
people.’16 The revelations of The Tempest of watching Caliban suffer at
the hands of Prospero affords interesting material for examination.
Caliban endures his abuse and insistent that he has deprived him of
what is rightfully his, and this perhaps may have been Shakespeare’s
way of confronting his contemporary pro-colonising audience with the
problems of ownership of newly discovered lands.
32c