Vocabluary
- Still– (Adjective) – Not moving or making a sound. Word changed over time becoming from “Still” to “Always “ and you can get the sense of it if you change “Still” to “always” ,it will help to understand the poem.
- Art – (Noun) – Shakespearean word meaning “Are”. The word changed meaning over time and used in the Shakespearean times instead of “Are”.
- Taketh– (Verb) – Shakespearean word meaning “Take”. Meaning changed over time into the present word used as “Take”.
“Still to be neat” by Ben Jonson
Still to be neat, still to be drest,
As you were going to a feast;
Still to be powder’d, still perfum’d:
Lady, it is to be presum’d,
Though art’s hid causes are not found,
All is not sweet, all is not sound.
Give me a look, give me a face,
That make simplicity a grace;
Robes loosely flowing, hair as free:
Such sweet neglect more taketh me
Than all th’adulteries of art.
They strike mine eyes, but not my heart.
Annotations:
Bathing – Bathing was not commonly practiced until the fifteenth century. Mostly the wealthy bathed almost every morning and could afford hot baths with clean water. But the middle class people took baths as often as once a week where the Monks would have a selected day to bath and Danes would normally bath once a week (Wiki.answeres.com). The middle class could not afford hot water because of the firewood being too expensive causing them to take less baths. They were forced to bath in barrels and sometimes families bathing in the same water. (Medieval-life.net)Seeing in this poem “Still to be powdered, still perfumed” you could imagine the women as a middle class women who probably didn’t bath as often like any other middle class women where they would need to be powdered and perfumed in order to cover up the smell of body odor and any other bodily smells. Perfumes were a large part of middle ages where herbs and flowers were used to create and used as perfume. Herbs like rosemary was used by royalties like Queen Philippa for its aroma but roses were commonly used. (triviumpublishing.com)
Robes – Clothes were a sign of reputation and social states as well as well. In the Elizabethan times dresses robes were not just a choice. These laws stated the colors as well as the type of clothing an individual was allowed to own and wear. These laws were called ‘Statutes of Apparel” and was enforced by the Queen herself in Greenwich on June 1574. The intent was to maintain social structure as well as to keep a firm restrain on the people’s expenditure towards clothing. (elizabethanlandlife.com)People were forced to wear cloths depending on their economic position in the society and the laws also prevented and fined people for impersonating or wearing cloths of a different class other than their own. (Library.thinkquest.org) These robes were worn with corsets tightly and kept the women covered. Women wore dresses which were so high enough to cover their neck until the 1500 where they started to uncover the neck to wear necklaces. Robes were long and tight to display the elegance of the women’s body form. (Middle-ages.org)Knowing this you can imagine the women in the poem with “Robes loosely flowing, hair as free” to see what the author of the poem was trying to imply about the women in the poem.
Sayam Sajjar
Introduction to Poetry: Envisioning Poetry
ENG 2003, section 1248
Prof Jody R. Rosen
Explication
“Still To Be Neat” Analysis
The poem “Still to be neat” By Ben Jonson is also titled as “Simplex Munditiis” in order to refer to the Latin poem by Horace. “Simplex Munditiis” translates to “so trim, so simple” or “plain in thy elegance” (Unix.cc). In this poem the author uses details to give us images to give a sense of what he is trying to portray in the poem. As he begins his poem by giving us a little detail by telling use “Still to be neat” .At first glance it may not sound that comprehensible but after reading it a few times you get the understanding that the word “Still” means always “Always”. The word “still” has changed meaning over time and Reading “Still” as “Always” gives the poem its true meaning. After switching out the words the first line becomes “Always to be neat, Always to be dressed” here he uses a judgmental tone where he is judging a women and asking “Do you need to always be clean?, Do you need to always be dressed?” and giving use the image of a women who is very neat, clean and always dressed. Also in line 2 the author uses a judgmental tone and says “As you were going to a feast”. People in the middle ages dressed up plentifully when attending an event or a feast (paigesbritlitblog). The author wants to give us the image of a woman’s appearance, in which she is very well dressed and decorated with jewels. Imagining a woman from the Elizabethan wearing a gown can help you to understand better (unix.cc). Line 3 talks about a women’s presence by makes points about her smell and her habits. As he says “Still to be powder’d, still perfum’d: “he tries to tell us about her habits. The author tries to tell us that she is always powdered and always perfumed like a royal women. He uses use the judgmental tone to give us his feeling towards her habits as if he is trying to say that it is not necessary (paigesbritlitblog). In line 4 the author tries to give us a hint of his point of view and what he thinks of the women. As he says “Lady, it is to be presum’d, “ as if he is saying “ want everyone to think you are a lady” or “looks like a lady” meaning she is just covering her true self as if the women isn’t actually a lady meaning civilized and sophisticated. Trying to give us the sense that the women really isn’t what she is trying to be and is actually the opposite of it. In line 5 the author trying to tell us what he thinks as he says “Though art’s hid causes are not found,” meaning “I do not know the reason why you hide your true self”. He gives us his opinion and tells us that she is not who she is trying to be by dressing up and being lady like. As he goes on in line 6 about her habits and dressing as he gives us his opinion about his idea of a lady. As he says “All is not sweet, all is not sound” meaning that not everything is perfect and sweet as if everything is not sound .He gives us his idea of perfect and beauty (courtneybritlit).
In the next stanza the author or speaker of the poem tries to tell us about his feeling and what he prefers as he says in lines 7 and 8 “Give me a look, give me a face, That make simplicity a grace;”. He tries to tell us that he prefers true and natural beauty over the fictitious unnatural beauty which is created from clothing and accessories. He says “give me a face, That make simplicity a grace;” as he is trying to say “Show me a face that makes graced with simplicity” gives us the idea that he wants simplicity and natural beauty. In line 9 the speaker of the poem tells us more about the women as he says “Robes loosely flowing, hair as free:” .Telling us that the women tries to be lady like on the outside but she is something else inside. That she is a seducer trying to seduce the speaker or other men with her “loosely” dressed robes. As he goes on about her trying to seduce the speaker by ignoring her as he says “Such sweet neglect more taketh me” on line 10. He is trying to say that her ignoring him takes his or captures his attention as she is trying to get his attention because she is an adulteress as he says on line 11 “Than all th’adulteries of art.” He is trying to imply that she is an adulteress trying to seduce him but she captures his attention unlike the rest of the adulteresses. But in line 12 he tells us his feelings about the women as he says “They strike mine eyes, but not my heart” meaning “they may catch my eye but cannot catch my heart or make me fall in love” (paigesbritlitblog). That the other adulteresses may not have caught his heart maybe the women in the poem has or he could be telling us that they all have caught his eyes never his heart including the women described in the poem. It could be so because he asks for natural beauty but the women in the poem is described as someone who is superficial. He may be trying to warn us and give us a lesson through the poem in which he tells us not to “judge a book by its cover” or to not get fooled by what you see (engl125002). Maybe from his own experience and he personally has gone through this and was mistaken but now trying to warn us about the reality and what we should really be looking for.
Work cited
Resource # 1
- Hodson, Jacquelyn. “The Smell of the Middle Ages.” Trivium Publishing. 2002. Web. 11 May 2012. <http://www.triviumpublishing.com/articles/smellofthemiddleages.html>.
Resource # 2
- “Bathing during the Middle Ages.” Bathing during the Middle Ages. 2000. Web. 11 May 2012. <http://www.medieval-life.net/bathing.htm>.
Resource # 3
- “How Did People Bath in Middle Ages?” WikiAnswers. AnswersTM. Web. 11 May 2012. <http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_did_people_bath_in_middle_ages>.
Resource # 4
- Andrea. “Medieval Clothing.” ThinkQuest. Oracle Foundation. Web. 11 May 2012. <http://library.thinkquest.org/J002390/clothing.html>.
Resource # 5
- “Middle Ages Ladies Dresses.” Middle Ages Ladies Dresses. Web. 11 May 2012. <http://www.middle-ages.org.uk/middle-ages-ladies-dresses.htm>.
Resource # 6
- “Elizabethan Era Clothing,Clothes,Costumes,Men,Women,Kids,Children.” Elizabethan Era Clothing,Clothes,Costumes,Men,Women,Kids,Children. Web. 11 May 2012. <http://www.elizabethanenglandlife.com/clothing-in-elizabethan-england.html>.
Resource # 7
- Venessa. “English 125 Section 002.” : “Still to Be Neat”–Ben Jonson. Web. 11 May 2012. <http://engl125002.blogspot.com/2011/03/still-to-be-neat-ben-jonson.html>.
Resource # 8
- “Ben Jonson.” Jonson’s “Still to Be Neat . . .” Web. 11 May 2012. <http://homepages.wmich.edu/~cooneys/poems/jonson.neat.html>.
Resource # 9
- Teves, Paige. “BritishLiterature.” : Still to Be Neat Analysis. Tuesday Nov. 2010. Web. 11 May 2012. <http://paigesbritlitblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/still-to-be-neat-analysis.html>.
Resource # 10
- Muraoka, Courtney. “British Literature.” : “Still to Be Neat” Analysis. Tuesday Nov. 2010. Web. 11 May 2012. <http://courtneybritlit.blogspot.com/2010/11/still-to-be-neat-analysis.html>.
