Peaceful Western Wind, Campion
The Peaceful Western Wind
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The peacefull westerne winde
The winter stormes hath tam'd,
And nature in each kinde
The kinde heat hath inflam'd :
The forward buds so sweetly breathe
Out of their earthy bowers,
That heau'n which viewes their pompe beneath
Would faine be deckt with flowers.
See how the morning smiles
On her bright easterne hill, 10
And with soft steps beguiles
Them that lie slumbring still.
The musicke-louing birds are come
From cliffes and rocks vnknowne,
To see the trees and briers blome
That late were ouerflowne.
What Saturne did destroy,
Loues Queene reuiues againe ;
And now her naked boy
Doth in the fields remaine, 20
Where he such pleasing change doth view
In eu'ry liuing thing,
As if the world were borne anew
To gratifie the Spring.
If all things life present,
Why die my comforts then ?
Why suffers my content ?
Am I the worst of men ?
O, beautie, be not thou accus'd
Too iustly in this case : 30
Vnkindly if true loue be vs'd,
'Twill yeeld thee little grace.
WHO
Thomas Campion was born in London, England February 12, 1567 and died March of 1620. Throughout his life he studied first at Peterhouse Cambridge to be a lawyer – going so far as to be accepted by the Gray’s Inn – but eventually switched to the University of Caen and earned his medical degree.
While in school, Campion wrote revels, plays, and poems (including poems in the “Songs of Divers Noblemen and Gentlemen” 1591, and Poemata, 1595). His works were heavily influenced by his passion of the quantitative versification of latin. His passion for poetry and academia lead him to publish “Observations in the Art of English Poesie”, which proceeded to insult the common English verse and use of poetry. Honourously, he himself often commits the same acts against poetry that he complained of in his paper.
Between 1600-1619, he published masques, books of songs, book of ayres, a book of counterpoint musical theory, latin poems and a book of epigrams. The man was well versed in music, a lover of the arts, and an unwitting accessory to murder.
That’s right, murder. Campion was exonerated, but he did deliver a bride for the death of Sir Thomas Overbury in September of 1613.
BONUS: The death of Thomas Overbury. A poet who insulted his friend Carr’s mistress, the married Countess of Essex, by publishing his famous “A Wife” in manuscript. The poem, laying forth the virtues of a good wife, was considered a slap to the face of the Countess, who convinced the royal Queen and James I to act. They tried to get rid of him by making him the Russian Ambassador, but when Overbury turned down James I he promptly locked Overbury in the Tower of London… where he died a few months later.
Carr convinced James I to annul the Countesses marriage on grounds of impotence (about the time Overbury died in prison), then married the woman. Two years later the crimes came to light, and even James I didn’t avoid the great scandal.
WHAT
“The Peaceful Western Wind”, as lyrically provided on the first page, is a song released in the Two Books of Ayres, by Thomas Campion, in 1613. The Ayres were intended to be of one voice with a lute or viol (Campion, Two Bookes of Ayres, 1613).
I would speak first on the entertaining wit of Thomas Campion, who readily invites the reader to understand that the songs found in these Two Bookes of Ayres are old. They are things ‘by me long since composed', and so it is truly unknown where they first were sung. “The Peaceful Western Wind” is in the second Booke, which Campion calls his songs that are ‘amorous and light’. Campion also explains, in his ‘to the Reader’, that he expects the songs to be performed - and perverted – as they have been in the past. That, he explains, no matter the Ayres were for one voice and accompaniment, in all likelihood the nature of mankind will rise up, and when one voice sings a popular song, many voices (some untrained as he refers truly to ‘perversing’) will affect the harmony.
In the second Booke, of which “The Peaceful Western Wind” can be found, he expresses a hope that the songs will appeal because they are ripe with consonants, “as that they will hardly keep company with swift notes”.
He leaves us with his personal thoughts on the matter:
Omnia nec nostris bona sunt, sed nec mala libris ;
Si placet hac cantes, hac quoque lege legas.
Or
Rely entirely nor were our men they are good, but not both
evil books; If you are willing thou mayest sing, this, this, too, the law of
pick up.
HOW
quot coelum stellas tot habet tua roma puellas
After reading Campion’s “Observations in the Art of English Poesie”, and William Gardner Hale’s “The Quantitative Pronunciation of Latin, and it’s meaning for Latin Versification”, I can only say that Campion obsessed over an interesting nuance of poetry – enunciating as much of each part of every word.
Trying to destroy the creeping lilt in my own vocal range has been an on-going battle, one I didn’t know how to apply when singing my chosen Campion piece: “The Peaceful Western Wind”. The interesting thing found in his work is the concise note associated with each section I find I would otherwise struggle to resist a trill. The emphasis on each vowel, and the numeric association of Iambick forced through use of music over simple rhyme left me curious what considerations I would find in his other written works. The answer, he explains, is the English poetic sense of a mixture of Iambick, Spondee, Tribrack, and Dactil, but rarely an Anapestick foote (Campion, 1601).
To explain reading verse using his words:
· “first, second and fourth place we may vse a Spondee”. A Spondee is a latin metric foot consisting of two long syllables.
· a Tribrack may be very fomally taken, and first in the third place. Consisting of three unstressed syllables.
· “for in the third and fift place we must force hold the Iambick foot”. A reference to forced blank verse, or licentiate Iambrick (Milton, 1892).
· the natural breathing place of our English Iambrick verse is in the last sillable of the second foote.
· and in the third place any foote except a Trochy. His use from the latin Hendecasyllabic a trochee-dactyl-trochee-trochee-trochee, trochee being a combination of unstressed to stressed syllable.
· therefore reiect the Dactil as vnfit for our vse. Specifically, in quantitative verse a dactyl is a long syllable with two short syllables following.
But what does this mean, you ask. It means that Campion devised rules based on the findings of his comparison with quantitative latin verse and English prose.
The rules:
1. The nature of the accent, which we must euer follow.
2. Position, which makes euery sillable long… wherein it is to be noted that h is no letter. Position being the vowel that falls before two consonants, where over one word or two.
3. A vowell before a vowell is alwaies short… vnless the accent alter it. Ie. Go-ing vs Deny-ing.
4. The dipthong in the midst of a word is alwaies long, as plaiing deceiuing.
5. Auoid the hollownes and gaping in our verse as to… let us becomes let’s.
6. We must esteeme our sillables as we speak… for perfect, perfet, for little, littel.
7. Deriuatiues hold the quantities of their primatives… prophane, prophanelie, and so do the compositiues, as deseru’d, undeseru’d.
8. Two sillables that in their last haue a full and rising accent that sticks long vpon the voice, the first sillable is alwayes short. (Unless affected by position or dipthong)
9. Beginning double consonants of the same kind, we may use the first sillable as common (short), atend… and melting consonants melt together, as address, redrest, oprest.
10. Words of two sillables that in their last sillable mayntayne a flat of falling accent, ought to hold their first sillable long, as rigor, glorie, spirit.
a. Any, many, prety, holy, and their like, are excepted.
11. The first of shadie must be long, so true, trulie, haue, hauing, tire, tiring. This is reflecting alterations from the rules.
12. Words of three sillables… as deriued from words of two sillables… take the quality for their first sillable, as florish, flourishing long, holie, holines short, but mi, in miser being long, hinders not the first of misery – because the ‘i’ sound is altered.
13. De, di, and pro, in trisillables (the second being short) are long, as desolate.
14. Re is euer short.
15. Trisillables is short… that yeeld the like quickness of sound. Referencing benefit, hideous, memorie, numerous, various etc…
16. All words of two of more sillables ending with a falling accent in y or ye, as fairelie, demurelie… or in e, as parle… or in a, as Manna, are naturally short in their last sillable.
17. All monasillables that end in a graue accent are euer long, as wrath, hath, these, those.
18. The like rule is to be obserued in the graue falling sound, as fortune, pleasure.
19. A double consonant lengthing them, as warre, barre, starre… appear to me rather long.
20. If the word following do begin with a vowell are short, as doth, though, thou…
21. These monasillables are alwayes short, as a, the, she.
22. But if ‘i’ or ‘y’ are ioyn’d at the beginning of a word with any vowell, it is not then held as a vowell, but as a consonant, as ielosy, iewse, ioy.
23. All monasillables and polysillables that end in single consonants, either written, or sounded with single consonants, hauing a sharp liuely accent and standing without position of the word following, are short in their last sillable, as scab, fled, parted, God.
24. The last sillable of all words in the plurall number that haue two or more vowels before ‘s’, are long, as vertues, duties.
“These rules concerning the quantity of our English sillables I haue disposed as they came next into my memory, others more methodicall, time and practise may produce. In the meane season, as the Grammarians leaue many sillables to the authority of Poets, so do I likewise leaue many to their iudgements: and withal thus conclude, that there is no Art begun and perfected at one enterprise.” (Campion, 1601)
WHY
I loved listening to the late Owain Phyfe, and Michael Kelly, sing this song, and wished to take a turn at it. I learned the chords and notes on harp, piano, guitar, and ukulele, but I decided that the act of reading aloud – though period – is less the impact I desire. In the future I would like to have it fully memorized on each instrument.
Bibliography
Campion, T. (1601). Obseruations in the Art of English Poesie. London: Richard Field.
Campion, T. (1613). Two Bookes of Ayres. London.
Daniel, S. (1603). A defence of ryme against a pamphlet entituled Oberuations in the art of English poesie. Cambridge: University Press.
Milton, J. (1892). Paradise Lost . Cambridge: University Press.
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