Shy Lover - Uchikinakoibito

Lyric poetry, which contains infinite shades of meaning, such as "The Garden," "Singing of Appleton House," and "Nymphs Lamenting the Death of a Fawn," can be said to have been a means of maintaining a complex and delicate emotional balance between opposing elements such as Puritanism and Anglicanism, political participation and seclusion, and nature and the artificial. Also, in "The Coy Lover," which is counted among the most perfectly witty poems in the history of English poetry, the intellectual image manipulation of "metaphysical poetry" that began with Donne and the sense of balance of classical literature are in perfect balance, showing the pinnacle of the maturity of poetic sensibility. This is probably why it attracted the acclaim of T.S. Eliot and others in the 20th century.

*Some of the terminology explanations that refer to "The Shy Lover" are listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…《庭》《アップルトン屋敷を歌う》《子鹿の死を悲しむニンフ》など，無限の陰影を含む抒情詩は，清教主義と国教会主義，政治的参加と隠棲，自然と人工等々の対立的要素の中間で，複雑で微妙な心情的バランスを保つ手段であったといえる。また英詩史上もっとも完ぺきな機知の詩の一つに数えられる《内気な恋人》では，ダンに始まる〈形而上詩〉の知的なイメージ操作と，古典文学的な平衡感覚がみごとなバランスを保って，詩的感性の成熟の極点を示している。20世紀になってT.S.エリオットらの絶賛を集めたゆえんであろう。…

※「《内気な恋人》」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報