Thomas Campion (1567–1620), whose time at Cambridge overlapped with that of his poetic contemporary Thomas Nashe, was a composer of lute songs and masques as well as, eventually, a practicing physician. In his 1602 treatise Observations in the Art of English Poesie, Campion inveighed against “the vulgar and artificial custom of riming,” while elsewhere he objected to the vain repetitive intricacies of the madrigal. “When to Her Lute Corinna Sings,” written about 1601, occurs in tetrameter couplets, of the sort that its author would have described as “ear-pleasing rimes without art.” Its subject reflects his preference for the simple treble vocal line and stringed accompaniment of the solo “ayre.”

When to Her Lute Corinna Sings
by Thomas Campion

When to her lute Corinna sings,
Her voice revives the leaden strings,
And doth in highest notes appear
As any challenged echo clear;
But when she doth of mourning speak,
Ev’n with her sighs the strings do break.

And as her lute doth live or die,
Let by her passion, so must I:
For when of pleasure she doth sing,
My thoughts enjoy a sudden spring,
But if she doth of sorrow speak,
Ev’n from my heart the strings do break.

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With “Poem of the Day,” The New York Sun offers a daily portion of verse selected by the Sun’s poetry editor, Joseph Bottum of Dakota State University, with the help of the North Carolina poet, Sally Thomas, The Sun’s associate poetry editor. Tied to the day, or the season, or just individual taste, the poems will be typically drawn from the lesser-known portion of the history of English verse. In the coming months we will be reaching out to contemporary poets for examples of current, primarily formalist work, to show that poetry can still serve as a delight to the ear, an instruction to the mind, and a tonic for the soul.