Caitlin Jafolla
Miramar College
26 September 2007
 
"How Many Paltry Foolish Painted Things"
      Poet Michael Drayton expounds on his love for one woman in his sonnet entitled "How Many Paltry Foolish Painted Things." The poem calls on the themes of love, transcendence, and immortality through poetry. Drayton utilizes the standard rhyme scheme and organization for an Elizabethan sonnet.
      The stage is set in the first quatrain with Drayton painting an unflattering picture of the women of his day:
           How many paltry foolish painted things,
            That now in coaches trouble every street,
            Shall be forgotten, when no poet sings,
            Ere they be well wrapped in their winding-sheet!
The word choice in this first passage shows his distaste. The use of "paltry," "foolish,""painted," and "things" opens the sonnet with a dismissive tone. The phrase "how many" expresses a questioning frustration, and it is expanded to a universal criticism with women "troubling every street." The image of the poet’s voice being an instrument of remembrance is introduced but only to note that, in the absence of this attention, their bodies will be buried and their memory forgotten. Alliteration is used in the first and fourth lines of the quatrain for emphasis.
      Drayton then calls out the woman he loves from this despised group:
           Where I to thee eternity shall give,
            When nothing else remaineth of these days,
            And queens hereafter shall be glad to live,
            Upon the alms of thy superfluous praise.
The subject of the poem is identified in the first line of this quatrain and we understand the sonnet is addressed to a single person. The tone is much lighter, with the imagery turning from death to exaltation. The change in mood also serves to emphasize the difference in his feeling for this one woman versus his disdain for the rest of her sex, as introduced in the first passage. Thematically we again see time presented, but the focus shifts away from memories fading into the past. Instead, Drayton offers the idea of eternity for his love as he celebrates her through poetry. The scope of this quatrain is also more concentrated; Drayton whittles down the group he compares his love to from all women to the royal class. This image again represents his subject being above society, because even the elite would gladly accept gifts of praise from her. Drayton also draws on the images of "queens" and "alms" to create a sense of holy reverence of his subject.
      The third quatrain extends the comparison of his subject’s greatness over all other women:
           Virgins and matrons, reading these my rhymes,
            Shall be much delighted with thy story,
            That they shall grieve they lived not in these times,
            To have seen thee, their sex’s only glory:
In citing "virgins and matrons" Drayton refers to all women and to "these times" to show his subject’s legacy living through the ages. This revisits the theme of immortality awarded through the written word and draws the thread through all three quatrains. The tone is admiring, as seen when Drayton refers to his subject as the "sex’s only glory."   Drayton reinforces the idea of her dominance over the rest of womankind, describing the women’s sorrow at not knowing her and their delight in reading her story. The final couplet concludes by drawing a final distinction between common women and his love:
            So shalt thou fly above the vulgar throng,
            Still to survive in my immortal song.
To close the poem, Drayton again chooses two contrasting images – describing women as a "vulgar throng" while his love transcends the masses. The tone is light, with the images of flight and immortality.
      Throughout the sonnet, Drayton is very direct with his metaphors. He first introduces the women of his day as "paltry foolish painted things" and ends by referring to them as a "vulgar throng." These demeaning descriptions provide a critical portrait of the women Drayton is not attached to. However, this negative imagery does not serve to dampen the poem’s overall celebratory mood. This unflattering base impression of the general population is then used to uplift the image of the woman he cares for by comparison. The three quatrains and couplet each present the central theme of poetry as a means to alleviate its subject from time’s effects.
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