- the significance of Pope
- the importance of the "footman-poet" and printer, Robert Dodsley, who produced the important multi-volume, multi-edition anthology, A Collection of Poems in Several Hands
- the typical features of a C18 volume of poetry (preface, dedication, "Mezzo-Tint," list of subscribers)
- the nature of C18 patronage and court culture
Not all of these things are relevant to all of the poets we will be reading. Subscription publication (which we didn't quite get around to discussing) was starting to become more significant in bringing poets into print. Subscription publication still involved patronage, but patronage of a different sort.
Arguably, Jones's picture of patronage-seeking is something of a "straw man"--that is, a vision of publishing that isn't entirely accurate or realistic, but which gives her something to argue against as she articulates a positive vision of the audience and purpose for which she writes. Aristocratic/royal patronage looms large in Jones's self-presentation, but the assumption that poetry publication depended on the endorsement and support of a prominent noble was already starting to fade by the time she was writing. Moreover, as a means of bringing a poet's verses to print, it was never available to women writers in quite the way Jones depicts.
One question for you to consider: What, then, does this "straw man" do for Jones's poetic self-presentation? What is the positive view of her vocation that it helps her to advance?
Another issue for you to consider: How does Mary Leapor's depiction of her audience in "Epistle to Artimesia" differ from Jones's? How does Leapor depict her poetic ambitions? Does she differ from Jones in the degree of "agency" (to use Backscheider's term) that she asserts, or are they just articulating the same kind of artistic stance in different ways?
You don't have to answer all these questions! But offer your reflections here. Or create a post of your own to identifies issues that interest you in these two poems.
Deadline: Friday (2/13), noon.
1 comment:
Instead of a loss of agency that Mary Jones seems to fear, Mary Leapor's fear can be summarized more generally as a fear of fame. For Jones to gain fame one must debase themselves to gentry, something to be disdained. Leapor does not seem to detest the method of gaining fame, instead she seems to question the effect fame has on a person, and the cost of false words. She calls those who are famous “slaves”, and within the first two lines wonders whether she should pity or blame them. As the poem continues it becomes apparent that what Leapor is really discussing is the "Black slander" (18). Whether with clear malice, or merely spiteful envy, black slander, or gossip, rips apart one’s pride. It seems that Leapor fears putting her writing out in the spotlight where platitudes can be given, although not meant. She does not merely fear being insulted, she also fears false praise, and the effect both of these would have on her writing. Throughout the poem the false praise has made difference characters behave pompously. She fears the same effect in her writing. By the end of the poem she faces her cowardice, and with her muse deigns to continue scribbling, but to do so humbly. Both Jones and Leapor have deep-set issues with fame. Where Jones is unwilling to debase herself to gain fame, Leapor is unwilling to allow fame to change and enslave her.
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