Caroline Age

History
The reign of Charles I, 1625-49 is called the Caroline Age; the name is derived from “Carolus,” the Latin version of “Charles.” This was the time of the England civil was fought between the supporters of the king (known as Cavaliers) and the supporters of the parliament (known as Roundheads, from their customs of wearing their hair cut short).

John Milton began hi writing during this period; it was the age also of the religious poet George Herbert and of the prose writers Robert Burton and Sir Thomas Browne.Associated with the court were the cavalier poets, writers of witty and polished lyrics of courtship, and gallantry. The group included Richard Lovelace, sir john suckling and Thomas crew. Robert Herrick, although a country person, is often classified with the Cavalier poets because, like them, he was a son of Ben—that is, an admirer and follower of Ben Jonson—in many of his lyrics of love and gallant compliment. Thomas Carew may be called the first poet of the Caroline age; perhaps the best lyric poet if the lot of Cavalier was Robert Herrick, who was neither angelic like the romantics nor a believer in the golden mean. His definition of beauty can be taken as he true measures of the man: “Beauty no other thing is than a beam Flash’d out between the Middle and Extreme.” but Herrick is popularly known as lover of nature that is why Baugh aptly remarks “he is a poet of strawberries and cream, of fairy lore and rustic customs, of girls delineated like flowers and flowers mythologized into girls”, which can be noticed in “Gather Ye Rosebuds.” The cavalier poetry remained in the seventeenth century before the Restoration Age, a stream of poetry parallel to the metaphysical, maintaining along the purity of Jonsonian lyric marked by chaste diction and direct style.  A group of poets in the reign of Charles I who stood loyal to him, like cavaliers, were ready to sail and sink with him in the times of good as well as bad came to be called cavalier poets. They wrote largely on the themes of love and war in gentlemanly manner, were largely influenced by the poetry of Ben Jonson, important among these poets were John suckling (1609-42) john Cleveland (1613-58) Richard Lovelace (1618-58) and Robert Herrick (1591-1674). The cavalier poetry remained in the seventeenth century before the Restoration, a stream of poetry parallel to the metaphysical, maintaining along the purity of Jonsonian lyric marked by chaste diction and direct style. Of all the cavalier poets, Suckling had the strongest personalities for poetry, although most of his lyric poetry is written on the familiar Cavalier themes of love and loyalty, yet it does not display any depth of passion: “out upon it, I have love    there whole days together,   

        And am to be love there more,   
        if it rove fair weather,”       
despite this lightness in much of his poetry, he did have always something serious to say, such as: “heaven were not heaven  if we knew what it were.” The next in the line was Cleveland, whose style is rather coarse, which no longer appeals to the modern reader, but in his own time it was greatly popular. Perhaps the best Cavalier was Robert Herrick, who was neither angelic like the romantics nor a believer in the golden mean. His definition of beauty can be taken as he true measures of the man:   
        “Beauty no other thing is than a beam   
        Flash’d out between the Middle and Extreme.”   
but Herrick is popularly known as lover of nature that is why Baugh aptly remarks “he is a poet of strawberries and cream, of fairy lore and rustic customs, of girls delineated like flowers and flowers mythologized into girls”, which can be noticed in “Gather Ye Rosebuds”.