Thomas Campion: Poems Literary Elements

Campion uses either omniscient third person or a focussed first person narration. "There is a Garden in her Face" would be an example of third person narration, "My Life's Delight" an example of first person narration. The point of view is mostly concerned with the internal feelings of the protagonists and the audience.

Campion uses quantitative verse.

Campion uses metaphors regularly, as they allow for a stronger emotional connection. "There is a Garden in her Face" uses the images of fruit and flowers to describe the beauty of a woman's face. The poem also contains references to war equipment to show the internal strength of the character.

Alliteration and Assonance are no common practices of quantitative verse. However, in "My Life's Delight" Thomas Campion uses the phrase "Love loves", utilizing both literary elements at the same time to show the strong emotion of the personified feeling.

In "Now Winter Nights Enlarge", the narrator talks about the nature of love. The end of the poem has the ironic twist that all of love is just a toy, but it can help to overcome some tediously long nights.

British quantitative verse poetry

Campion's poetry has not set time or place as they all are concerned with the emotions of the protagonists.

Deeply emotional, yearning

The protagonists of Thomas Campion's poems are often lovers or individual's who want to love. There is no clear defined antagonist in his poetry.

In "My Life's Delight", the major conflict lies in the separation of the narrator and his love. In "There is a Garden in Her Face", the conflict is between her outward beauty and the fact that she does not allow anyone to kiss her. One has to remember that a strong independent woman would is considered an oddity in these times.

While most of his poems have no clearly defined climax, as the emotion displayed does not change, it can be said that "There is a Garden in Her Face" has one. It can be found in the sudden stern third stanza, where the beautiful and soft nature of the woman is turned with imagery of weaponry and murder.

The poem "Now Winter Nights Enlarge" foreshadows the frivolity happening in the end by mentioning overflowing cups of wine in dark nights in the beginning.

Thomas Campion's poetry is too filled with emotion to utilize understatement.

The poem "Now Winter Nights Enlarge" alludes to the courtly behavior of young aristocrats, contrasting their revelry during the day with their lovely debauchery at night.

There is little evidence for the usage of metonymy or synecdoche in his poetry.

Thomas Campion's poetry is full of personifications. Almost every poem personifies one or more feelings. "My Life's Delight" personifies love and beauty. "Now Winter Nights Enlarge" personifies clouds, beauty and speech.

The whole poem "My Life's Delight" can be seen as one big hyperbole. The narrator is bursting with love and cannot contain his feelings, going beyond the scope of normal flattery to convince his lover to come to him.

While Onomatopoeia would be well suited to express some feelings, Thomas Campion's obsession with quantitative verse and purity of poetry is not conducive to the usage of any.