Critical Appreciation
Tichborne's Elegy uses two favorite Renaissance figures of speech - antithesis and paradox - to crystallize the tragedy of the poet's situation.
Antithesis means setting opposites against each other: prime of youth / frost of cares (from the first line). This is typical of Renaissance poetry, as for example in Wyatt's "I find no peace, and all my war is done", with the lover freezing/burning. We also see it in the poem by Elizabeth I, "I grieve and dare not show my discontent", e.g., "I am and not, I freeze and yet am burned."
A paradox is a statement which seems self-contradictory, yet is true, e.g., "My tale is heard, and yet it was not told", or "My glass is full, and now my glass is run."
Often a Renaissance poem will begin with antithesis to establish circumstances and reveal its themes through paradox.
The Elegy is remarkable for being written almost entirely in monosyllables with the possible exception of the word "fallen". However in early editions it was written as "fall'n" which is monosyllabic.
The Housedove exploits a popular image from the period: Tichborne sees himself as an innocent dove caught among his fellow conspirators, (see Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet 1.5.48). The 'crafty fowler' is probably Sir Francis Walsingham, the spymaster who manipulated the Babington plot.
The Elegy has inspired many homages and 'answers' including those by Jonathon Robin at allpoetry.com ; a rap version by David A More at www.marlovian.com ; After Reading Tichborne's Elegy by Dick Allen (2003) and an affecting reworking by Nick Montfort called Tichborne's Lexicon, which is an alphabetical list of the words in the Elegy (http://nickm.com/poems/#riddles).
The Elegy has also been set to music many times from the Elizabethan era to the present day by, among others, Michael East, Richard Alison (fl1580-1610, in An Hour's Recreation in musicke, 1606), John Mundy (1592) and Charles-François Gounod (1873) and more recently Norman Dello Joio (1949) and Jim Clark (see http://wn.com/Tichborne's_Elegy_Poem_animation).
Read more about this topic: Chidiock Tichborne, Tichborne's Elegy
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