Thomas Campion

by Thomas Campion, Charles Simic (Editor)

In this series, a contemporary poet selects and introduces a poet of the past. By their choice of poems and by the personal and critical reactions they express in their prefaces, the editors offer insights into their own work as well as providing an accessible and passionate introduction to the most important poets in our literature.

Thomas Campion (1567-1620) was born in London and educated at Cambridge. He studied law at Gray's Inn, and was both a poet and composer - a contemporary not only of Shakespeare, Drayton, Marlowe and Jonson, but also of Byrd, Morley, Gibbons and Dowland. Campion wrote over one hundred lute songs, published between 1601 and 1617 in four Books of Ayres, as well as a treatise on The Art of English Poesie, and a number of masques. His work was not rediscovered until the nineteenth century; since then, whoever dreams of a poem where language begins to resemble music thinks of Campion.

Genres: Poetry, Classics, Music

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1619

About the author

Thomas Campion (aka Campian) was an English poet, composer, and physician.

Reviews

[Francisca · Rating 2 out of 5]

like i said before, i was never planing on reading all five hundred pages of this book. my main interest were the "songs and poems" section and the short essay on rhyme and metre.

that being said, i feel quite intrigued with thomas campion's work. he was a deeply musical poet, not only focused on writing poetry that would rhyme (following the idea of harmony to the ear) but in musicalising his works alongside other collaborators. that sounds very modern to me and even though my knowledge on reading musical sheets is rusty at best, i did enjoy most of his songs. his short essay was much more technical than i was anticipating and feels like it would be useful under a very specific type of investigation but it is a good resource to bear in mind for future research nonetheless.

[Michael P. · Rating 3 out of 5]

So much to say but so little interest in saying it all. Briefly, this collection was selected by the poet Charles Simic and leans heavily to Campion's love poetry and poems of thwarted love. Simic includes the lyrics to many of Campion's songs and, frankly, those lyrics seem better when sung than they seem out of context. Not much in this collection spoke to me, partially for that reason, but really, I am open to a proper Campion collection. Nevertheless, Simic's introduction is excellent.

[Grady Ormsby · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thomas Campion: Poems Selected by Charles Simic is another volume from a collection of books from Faber and Faber called The Poet-to-Poet Series. The collection features poems of notable poets selected by contemporary poets. A contemporary of Shakespeare, Jonson and Marlowe, Thomas Campion was a physician, composer and poet. Most of his poems were actually songs composed to be sung accompanied by the lute. He achieved considerable acclaim during his lifetime, but after his death, his work was almost entirely forgotten. Most assume that it was because lute-accompanied songs had fallen from popularity. It was only after A. H. Bullen published a collection of the Campion’s works in 1889, that his genius was rediscovered and his place among the greatest Elizabethan lyric poets was restored. I found his poetry a bit too flowery for my taste. His metaphors seem over-contrived and ponderous. Of course, most of my objections can be written off as stylistic conventions of his time. Much of Campion’s work has been lost but what remains often includes the intended musical notation making it possible for us to hear modern renditions of his work. Without much trouble I located an assortment of songs. I found them to be rather screechy and formalistic, the sort of music the Marx brothers used to parody so well.