Journal 12 - When to Her Lute Corinna Sings

In the poem, “When to Her Lute Corinna Sings” by Thomas Campion, there is a wonderful use of word play used. The entire poem explains how every time Corinna sings to her own lute playing it challenges every other beautiful sound there is. At the same time, whenever Corinna sings of unhappy times, such as songs of sorrow, the speaker explains that if her words don’t break the strings of the lute they break the strings of your heart.

The use of sound to give an image of the poem works wonders in this particular piece of work. At the beginning of the poem the speaker mentions that, “And doth in highest notes appear/ As any challenged echo clear;”, explaining that any other sound is but a weak echo in comparison to the sound of Corinna’s voice (Campion, ll. 3-4). Throughout the poem though, Campion has the lines of the second stanza almost in mimicry of the first. By using similar final lines, it’s as though the poem itself is an echo, and attempted copy, of Corinna’s beautiful voice.

With the description of the lute having “leaden strings” and Corinna compensating with her high notes allows the reader to feel the poem while they’re reading it (l. 2). By using such adjectives Campion allows for our own experience of what those words mean to fill the poem with our own life. Someone who has played a stringed instrument, or sung to an accompaniment, will know the feeling of such heavy music along with a light, nearly whispered voice. As well, anyone who has been audience to such a performance knows how the emotion portrayed by the words, sound, and expression used by the performers will be able to put themselves in the place of the speaker, with nothing but admiration for the performer.

Campion, Thomas. “When to Her Lute Corinna Sings”. The Norton Introduction To Literature. 10^th ed. Ed. Alison Booth and Kelly J. Mays. New York: Norton, 2010. 1016. Print