Orchestra or a Poem of Dancing

by John Davies

Excerpt from Orchestra: Or a Poeme of Dauncing, by Sir John Davies

In 1606 Davies had been promoted to the Irish attorney-generalship and made an Irish Ser geant-at-law, and elected to the Irish Houseof Commons to represent F ermanagh County. In the next year, when Parliament met, he became once more the central figure in a scene of violence. A bitter struggle between the Catholic and Pro testant factions raged over the election of a new speaker. Davies was the Protestant candidate, but Sir John Everard, the Catholic nominee, fore stalled his opponent by getting into the speaker's chair, and clinging physically to his office before the election had been decided. Whereupon Oliver St. John and Ridgeway 'took Sir John Davys by the arms, lifted him from the ground, and placed him in the chair in Sir John Everard's lap, re quiring him to come forth out of the chair'. The poet in his later life was corpulent and heavy; his rival must have been exceedingly uncomfortable. Anyhow, Davies obtained the speakership.

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Genres: Poetry

55 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1596

About the author

Sir John Davies was an English poet, lawyer, and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1597 and 1621. He became Attorney General for Ireland and formulated many of the legal principles that underpinned the British Empire.

Reviews

[Olivia Wetzel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Didn't find out until the very end when I was returning to the introduction that the copy I was reading is edited and has a brief introduction by E.M.W.Tillyard!

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this as part of Early Modern Poetry Read Aloud group, and the convivial atmosphere possibly gives me a more positive feel than it maybe deserves, but this is a lovely poem, totally fluffy and accessible, and should be better known (and read out loud more often).

A dialogue between the "widowed" Penelope and the most ardent of her suitors, Antinous, where he tries to get her to dance with him, on the basis that EVERYTHING is a dance, from atoms to vines to the heavens, this is utterly unconvincing (I think it's supposed to be) but great fun.

The fact that Antinous is the one who gets most brutally killed by Ulysses on his return may give this some spice, but that might be reading more subtlety into the poem than it actually has.

James I liked this poem so much, he made Davies the attorney general of Ireland (like you do). More poets should be rewarded with senior legal positions.

[Vanessa Braganza · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven't felt the beauty of an early modern English poem this strongly in a long time.