(_d_) _Miscellaneous Prose._ In this large and varied group may be included the pamphlets of Milton, Hobbes, Fuller, and many more; the attractive books of =Isaac Walton (1593–1683)=, whose _Compleat Angler_ (1653) is the classic of its kind; the interesting _Resolves_, short miscellaneous essays, of =Owen Felltham (1602–68)=; and the _Letters_ (1645), an early type of essay-journalism, of =James Howell (1594–1666)=. THE DEVELOPMENT OF LITERARY STYLE =1. Poetry.= In surveying the poetical style of the age one is aware of conflicting tendencies, a state of affairs quite in keeping with the transitional nature of the time. (_a_) The _lyrical style_ shows a decline from the natural splendors of the Elizabethan age; but it shows an increase in care, in polish, and in actual metrical dexterity. Moreover, in the best examples of the time we find a melodious resonance and beauty that is quite peculiar to the period. The lyric of Carew quoted on p. 172 illustrates this felicity both of sound and expression. The startling “metaphysical” quality of the works of many of the poets has been commented upon. It is revealed at its worst in the works of =John Cleveland (1613–58)=, whose more violent efforts came to be known as “_Clevelandisms_.” The following is a mild example of his manner: The flowers, called out of their beds, Start and raise up their drowsy heads; And he that for their colour seeks, Will find it mantling in her cheeks, Where roses mix; no civil war Between her York and Lancaster. The marigold, whose courtier face Echoes the sun, and doth unlace Her at his rise, at his full stop Packs and shuts up her gaudy shop, Mistakes her cue, and doth display: Thus Phillis antedates the day. _On Phillis, walking before Sunrise_ (_b_) In _blank verse_ conflicting movements are also apparent. In Milton the style reaches a magnificent climax. But in the drama, especially in the drama of minor playwrights of the ability of Suckling and Davenant, it becomes a huddle of verse and prose, so bad that one hesitates to say where the verse ends and the prose begins. It is the last stage of poetical decrepitude. (_c_) The _heroic couplet_ begins to appear, ushering in its long reign. We have it appearing as early as Spenser’s _Shepherd’s Calendar_ (1579) and Sandys’s _Ovid_ (1626); but the true stopped couplet, as used by Dryden and developed by Pope, is usually set down to the credit of Cowley’s _Davideis_ (1637), or Denham’s _Cooper’s Hill_ (1641), or the shorter poems of =Edmund Waller (1606–87)=, who wrote stopped couplets as early as 1623. The heroic couplet will receive further notice in the next chapter. TABLE TO ILLUSTRATE THE DEVELOPMENT OF LITERARY FORMS