Reprobates

by John Stubbs

In the followup to his "vivid, ardent, and engaging" John Donne: The Reformed Soul (New York Review of Books), John Stubbs finds his next subject in the turbulent period of the English Civil War. With a centuries-old conflict between the monarchy and Parliament threatening to explode, a group of poets known as Cavaliers emerged to defend the king against the Protestant reformers and, in doing so, defined an artistic movement exemplified by lines such as Robert Herrick's "Gather ye rosebuds while ye may." Often imagined as elegant gentlemen, chivalrous and dandified, they were just as likely to be found in the form of the degenerate Sir John Suckling or the syphilitic William Davenant. Biographer Stubbs sheds light on this groundbreaking group of men, on their world and their journeys through it, in peace and war, from the Blackfriars Playhouse to the battlefields of King Charles's kingdoms.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, British Literature, 17th Century, Books About Books, Biography

560 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2011

About the author

John Stubbs received his PhD in Renaissance literature from Cambridge University. His biography John Donne: The Reformed Soul was shortlisted for the Costa Award and won the Royal Society of Literature Jerwood Award. He lives in Slovenia.

Reviews

[Kate · Rating 1 out of 5]

OH DEAR GOD!!! THIS IS SUCH A BORING BOOK!!! Granted, I don't know much about the English Civil War, but I do know that it was a very exciting time in history. This writer wrings all the life out of this story. It's DRY DRY DRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The author is obviously very knowledgeable and I give him credit for that, but it just goes to show you that you can be a world class Cambridge scholar and still not be a good writer. It really is fascinating how you can take a really interesting subject and make it the most boring thing on God's green earth just by bad writing. There is no flow...no story. Not even an argument (what you might expect in an academic book). At first, I thought his prose was nice, but the more I read, the more pedantic I realized he was. He gets so wound up in self-admiration that his syntax is clumsy. Definitely not recommended.

[Lauren Albert · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the book lacked a core--this can happen with group biographies. Even he sees that they are a diverse group that, by chance, received a group name. But as a topic, the demonstration of the diversity of a group of people that history has lumped together, obviously poses a problem for the unity and organization of a book. The other weakness was Stubbs' failure to show historical events. At one point, he jumps from Cromwell to the Restoration with no explanation.

[Sarah W. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book left me with the impression of a literature grad student wandering around a 17th-century battlefield. I'm not certain exactly what the author was trying to accomplish, but I felt like I was reading a strange mixture of literary history and military history along with 17th-century politics. I know the basics of 17th-century Britain, so I wasn't completely lost, but I struggled with this book. The author's passion clearly lies with the literary figures of this era, but for the life of me, I could understand why these men (they were all men) had been chosen for inclusion and also why others were passed over. The way the history unfolded feels barely coherent - the dramatic politics and battles of the English Civil War emerge as background noise to literary pursuits. I'm not a specialist in the 17th-century British literature, so it's quite possible I missed some brilliant insights, but those more interested in the history of this era would be better served by other books.

[Jennifer (JC-S) · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘For the People are naturally not valiant, and not much cavalier’ (Sir John Suckling)

Despite the sub title, the English Civil War is not the primary focus of this book: it's more about the context than the conflict. In this book, John Stubbs combines literary biography with political and social history to look at members of a group of royalist writers who gathered around Ben Johnson during the late 1620s and 1630s before seeking their fortunes at court. Those writers - including Thomas Carew, William Davenant, Sir John Denham, Robert Herrick, Richard Lovelace and Sir John Suckling - became known as `The Sons (or Tribe) of Ben' and later as the Cavalier Poets.

Most of these men are minor figures in history, remembered for a single poem `Cooper's Hill' (Sir John Denham) or, a single line: `Stone walls do not a prison make' (Richard Lovelace) and 'Gather ye rosebuds while ye may' (Robert Herrick). William Davenant introduced a number of innovations to the stage and and was also known as a rake who had a disfigured nose as a consequence of treatment for syphilis..

`The title `cavalier' became a badge of partisan pride and the mark of a royalist gentleman; but it is important to remember that it started political life, in the early 1640s, as a term of abuse and reprobation.'

While the archetypal cavalier, Prince Rupert of the Rhine, and other royalist stalwarts such as Henry Jermyn and Endymion Porter appear, the English Civil War occupies a relatively minor part of the book. The Cavalier Poets are great supporters of the Stuarts and their belief in the divine right of kings. As Robert Herrick writes: `Twixt Kings and Subjects ther's this mighty odds,/Subjects are taught by Men; Kings by the Gods.' This loyalty is often accompanied by a romanticised immaturity: these men see themselves as heroes and they often act impulsively.
In many ways, William Davenant is the central character of this book. He was knighted in 1643 by Charles I for his services in the royalist cause. By the time of his death in 1668, he had succeeded Ben Jonson as poet laureate, had acted as an agent for Henrietta Maria during her exile in France, and staged the first English opera (`The Siege of Rhodes'). Davenant had also become a successful theatrical manager.

This book took me into an aspect of the history of the English Civil War I'd not previously thought much about. These were not the cavaliers I had in mind when I first picked up the book: I learned that in John Stubbs's view, being a cavalier is more about outlook than philosophy. For a different perspective on the English Civil War, this book about the Cavalier Poets is well worth reading.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

[Jessica · Rating 1 out of 5]

All I could think whilst reading this book was that perhaps the cover quote was meant to read "Stubbs writes in fizzling prose." Because really, truly, this book was hideously boring. Stubbs skips around so much and tries to cover such an enormous cast of characters that it was almost impossible for me to keep track of who he was talking about. Davenant was the only one I managed to piece together any kind of coherent biography for, and that was only because his syphilitic nose was constantly mentioned, so I could at least remember who he was. This book had a lot of potential, but it did indeed, just "fizzle" due to Stubbs's over-ambitious and clunky prose.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not for the casual student, nor even the Sunday Scholar, this in-depth study of the poets and wits of the English Civil War is both pedantic and detailed beyond belief. A fine academic treatise for anyone who wants to truly understand both the Cavalier and the Puritan, but turgent with detail at times.

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a history of Britain in the lead up to the English Civil War through the Civil War and out the other side to the Restoration of Charles II. It is told through the stories of the men - and the occasional woman - who were the Cavaliers.

They were wealthy (if still spending above their means), they were licentious, ribald, drunk, and they were poets, playwrights, and pamphleteers. The advised the King, they fought for the King, the died for the King either in battle, or in exile. Although several of the people mentioned here were against the King, like Milton who was definitely not a Cavalier. Those men suffered when the King was restored.

Stubbs tracks how their fortunes and reputations rose and fell whilst interweaving the political and military conflicts of the time. There are probably three figures central to Stubbs' book: John Suckling, William Davenant, and Edward Hyde, later the Duke of Clarendon.

This is a literary history. Stubbs' uses quotations from poems, plays, letters, and all to illustrate themes and personalities. His main point is often that these people are more complex than their reputations suggested.

I picked up this book because I read an anthology of the Cavalier Poets that made me want to know more about them and that combined with my fascination with the English Civil War, which started when I studied the causes of the war at University. This seemed the perfect book and it turned out it was. The combination of literary analysis and narrative history is wonderfully crafted. The research is deep and you get a sense that Stubbs is doing his best to put these men into context without judgement. Even Charles I comes out of this book a better, if still hapless, man than I'd previously thought.

[Toby · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Stubbs is perhaps best known for his biographies of John Donne and Jonathan Swift. Covering the period between these two writers, Stubbs in Reprobates turns his attention to the Cavaliers of the mid seventeenth century and does so especially through the eyes of poets and playwrights. There is no one figure who Stubbs concentrates upon, but William Davenant (1606-68) is the writer who begins and ends the book and whose twisting and turning fate seems to typify the lives of many of the Cavalier faction (if faction is an appropriate word for a disparate group of people mostly united for taking the King's side in the Civil War). John Suckling (1609-41) also travels with us through the first half of the book and Edward Hyde, the Earl of Clarendon (1609-74) for the latter.

This gives the book some anchors which can hold the readers attention whilst numerous other diversions and side roads are explored. For a reader unaccustomed to the mid-C17th history this could be off-putting, as is also the frequent quoting of poetry to back up a point. The focus is very much on the particular individuals chosen and so the history of the times is not delved into in particular detail. This is not a history of the English Civil War or the Restoration. For me, the strength of the book is introducing me in detail to names that I had heard of but knew little about. Stubbs successfully puts flesh on bones even, one might say, on Davenant's missing nose.

[Ken Sampson · Rating 3 out of 5]

[8 May 2019] The Sunday Telegraph's Jonathan Bate says 'Stubbs writes in fizzing prose', which was quoted on the front cover of the edition I read and a comment that, in effect, drew me in. However after reading it I struggled to agree with him. The subtitle of the book is 'The Cavaliers of the English Civil War', as I have an interest in this period I thought I would read about the events of these turbulent times. However, I was left disappointed as the civil war features minimally and for much of the book not at all. The book is, in fact, an in-depth, meticulously researched, account of the literary movement of this century - the poets, the writers and the authors, of the seventeenth century and takes you into much detail of a small number of them - their supposed inner worlds, their creative urges, their thoughts and feelings. It is undeniably well written and absolutely packed with details of the literary circle that was around at the time. They were the people who indirectly gave their collective descriptive name 'Cavaliers' to one side in the civil war. But pretty much nothing to do with the civil war.

If you are interested in English Literature of the seventeenth century then this book is for you. Do not get me wrong - its very well-written and highly detailed. However if you want to know anything about the civil war then there are better sources out there. I guess because English Literature is not my passion, and I was disappointed that I had been 'duped' into a book that failed to deliver what I thought it might, I struggled with its 470-pages. Not really a book for the general reader and one that needs a better description. I found it hard work.

[Brian Willis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a much needed book on a section of poets that usually are relegated to compilations and read by English majors but little discussed anywhere else. The cavalier poets do not merit individual biographies (except in the case of Andrew Marvell) but do deserve our attention as a group. William Davenant, Robert Herrick, John Suckling, Richard Lovelace and many others wrote poems of the "carpe diem" variety with famous lyrics such as "Gather ye rosebuds while ye may", but did so within the context of the turmoil of the English Civil War. This book places them within that context, with a large focus on the politics and religious perspectives of the age while adopting Davenant as a central figure. Although I enjoyed his book on John Donne, the perspective and focus is much more diffuse and scattered here, leading me to skim sections of the book. Important if you want to investigate these poets and this age, and Stubbs is a good writer, but the focus wasn't there for me.

[Diana H. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't expect non-fiction titles to be fast-paced and so enthralling that I stay up all night reading, I really don't. However, Stubbs reaches an all-time low for me with this book. The pacing of this title is so slow that by the time you get to the end you have forgotten who all the characters are and why they were important enough to be included in the book in the first place.
I have read quite a number of non-fiction tomes dealing with the English Civil War, so I expected this to be full of interesting information about the Cavaliers and their contributions to history. Instead, the author had difficulty taken the information he collected and making a good story out of it - very sad.
Don't waste your time. Very boring.

[Hettie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was very readable and nicely balanced, remembering how the English Civil War is badly named and a lot took place in Scotland. I took forever to read it however, mainly because work has been so busy and that spoiled me properly having the chance to enjoy it

[Zandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stubbs is interested by the natures - very human - of those writers who supported Charles I. In this book he tries to understand their mindset, what attitudes they held and defined and how they responded to their turbulent times. He claims that London was a place of filth and corruption, full of drunks, prostitutes and gamblers. Fighting men who had no outlet for their bellicose natures became 'reprobates'. Puritans took up extreme stances in opposition to their degenerate times. Stubbs gives an interesting explanation of how theatres were regarded as immoral, a risk to social stability and orderliness.

I was impressed by Stubb's commanding, scholarly knowledge of so many writers' works. However sometimes I felt he digressed into telling irrelevant, bawdy stories in an attempt to be 'popular'. And often he explained his stories with the vital details all in the wrong order, so I would have to re-read paragraphs to get the sense of his writing. Many times I felt his writing made little sense at all, or jumped around quite illogically.

[Jason Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was it an upgrade to go from Reprobate to Privateer? What happened on the sea also happened on land. In the time between crowns highway men had the forgivance of the protectorate. Many things changed in 1607. This book looks at the time up until that time and a few years past.

[Ginger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wish I could give it 3 1/2 stars. Slow to start, but 4 stars if you're interested in the English Civil Wars and the poetry of the period, otherwise probably not your cuppa.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, well researched and provides a good basis for trying to understand the difficulties of drawing clear lines of loyalty in the civil war. The more I read about this period the more I want to find out but some of the text can be 'heavy going' and at times this book did drag but overall worth reading.