Symbolic Consumption and the Rebellious Belly: Demystifying Hunger in Caroline Poetry

Abstract

This essay aims to explore the treatment of hunger in Caroline poetry. The discussion initially pays attention to some of the canonical poetry of the period where the issue of hunger is largely effaced. Examples are found in the country house poems of Thomas Carew and Robert Herrick where the social relations of exploitation between rich landlords and the labouring poor are typically mystified, but also in the devotional poetry of George Herbert where consumption has a merely symbolic function and hunger is employed as a metaphor for spiritual yearning. These texts are then juxtaposed with a range of broadside ballads where, far from being mystified, themes like hunger and landlords' lack of charity provide persistent concerns. As argued here, these non-canonical texts do not simply give expression to hunger but they also articulate a forceful critique of the upper classes and envision the possibility of social struggle and subversion.