That which her slender waist confined,
Shall now my joyful temples bind:
No monarch but would give his crown,
His arms might do what this has done.
It was my heaven's extremest sphere,
The pale which held that lovely deer.
My joy, my grief, my hope, my love,
Did all within this circle move!
A narrow compass! and yet there
Dwelt all that's good, and all that's fair:
Give me but what this ribbon bound,
Take all the rest the sun goes round.
Edmund Waller's "On a Girdle" stands as a masterful example of 17th-century Cavalier poetry, employing the seemingly simple subject of a lady's girdle to explore profound themes of love, desire, possession, and cosmic order. Through its mere twelve lines, the poem weaves together courtly love traditions with metaphysical conceits, creating a complex tapestry of meaning that rewards close analysis. This essay will examine how Waller transforms a personal token of affection into a meditation on the nature of love itself, while simultaneously engaging with the period's philosophical and astronomical debates.
Writing during the turbulent period of the English Civil War, Waller's position as a Cavalier poet influenced both his choice of subject matter and his treatment of it. The Cavalier tradition, with its emphasis on elegant wit and graceful expression of sentiment, provides the framework for this deceptively simple poem. The girdle, as a piece of intimate feminine attire, becomes a vehicle for expressing both courtly devotion and carnal desire, reflecting the sophisticated interplay between physical and spiritual love characteristic of the period.
The poem's structure mirrors its central conceit of containment and circumference. Composed of six rhyming couplets in iambic tetrameter, the verse form itself creates a sense of controlled, circular movement. The rhyme scheme (aabb) provides a predictable pattern that reinforces the poem's themes of enclosure and order. Notable is how Waller manages to maintain this strict form while allowing his ideas to flow naturally, creating what appears to be an effortless progression from the physical object to cosmic implications.
The poem's opening couplet, "That which her slender waist confined, / Shall now my joyful temples bind," establishes the central metaphorical transformation that drives the poem. The girdle's movement from the lady's waist to the speaker's head creates a complex chain of associations that merits careful unpacking. The verb "confined" suggests both limitation and protection, while "joyful temples" elevates the physical object to the realm of religious devotion.
Waller's use of astronomical imagery is particularly sophisticated. The line "It was my heaven's extremest sphere" draws on the Ptolemaic model of the universe, where nested spheres contained the movement of celestial bodies. This cosmic metaphor transforms the girdle from a simple fashion accessory into the boundary of the speaker's personal universe, containing within it all that he values ("all that's good, and all that's fair").
The poem's third and fourth lines, "No monarch but would give his crown, / His arms might do what this has done," introduce a complex meditation on power and possession. The comparison to a monarch's crown creates a hierarchy where the intimate possession of the beloved supersedes political power. The use of "arms" creates a deliberate ambiguity between military might and lovers' embraces, suggesting that the gentle constraint of the girdle accomplishes what force cannot.
The pastoral tradition emerges in the poem's middle section with the introduction of the "lovely deer" metaphor. This image draws on classical associations of deer with Diana, goddess of chastity, while also evoking the hunt as a metaphor for courtship. The "pale" (or fence) that contains the deer becomes another iteration of the girdle's function, suggesting both protection and capture.
The exclamation "A narrow compass! and yet there / Dwelt all that's good, and all that's fair" creates a paradox typical of metaphysical poetry. The contrast between the physical smallness of the girdle and the vastness of what it represents speaks to the period's fascination with the relationship between the microcosm and macrocosm. This paradox reaches its climax in the poem's final couplet, where the speaker would trade everything "the sun goes round" for "what this ribbon bound."
Waller's mastery of sound and rhythm contributes significantly to the poem's effect. The predominance of monosyllabic words creates a sense of simplicity that belies the complexity of the ideas being expressed. The alternation of hard and soft consonants ("crown"/"bound," "move"/"love") creates a musical quality that enhances the poem's emotional impact without descending into mere sentimentality.
The girdle itself functions as what modern criticism would term an "objective correlative," embodying complex emotional and philosophical concepts through a concrete object. Its transformation from fashion accessory to cosmic boundary to love token demonstrates the metaphysical poet's ability to find profound significance in everyday objects. The girdle's circular shape also serves as a symbol of eternity and completeness, linking the personal to the universal.
While the poem might initially appear to simply objectify the female body, closer analysis reveals a more complex treatment of gender relations. The girdle represents both constraint and freedom, protection and possession. The speaker's desire to possess it suggests both mastery over and submission to the beloved, creating a dynamic interplay of power relations typical of courtly love poetry.
"On a Girdle" exemplifies the best qualities of both Cavalier and metaphysical poetry, combining elegant expression with intellectual complexity. Through its exploration of a simple object, the poem creates a complex meditation on love, power, and the nature of desire. Waller's achievement lies in his ability to maintain multiple levels of meaning while preserving the seeming simplicity and directness of his verse. The poem continues to reward close reading, revealing new layers of meaning through its sophisticated integration of personal sentiment, classical allusion, and cosmic speculation. Its enduring appeal lies not just in its technical mastery but in its ability to transform a personal token into a universal statement about the nature of love and desire.