Description
Book SynopsisMary Robinson’s work has begun again to assume a central place in discussions of Romanticism. A writer of the 1790’s—a decade which saw the birth of Romanticism, revolution, and enormous popular engagement with political ideas—Robinson was acknowledged in her time as a leading poet. Her writing exhibits great variety: charm, theatricality, and emotional resonance are all characteristics Robinson displays. She was by turns a poet of sensibility, a poet of popular culture, a chronicler of the major events of the time, and a participant in some of its chief aesthetic innovations. This long-awaited collection is the first critical edition of her poems.
Trade Review“Mary Robinson was one of the most significant authors of the Romantic era; her poetic vision is in many ways a counterpoint to that of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth. At last, this expertly edited, well researched and affordable edition makes Robinson’s innovative and influential poetry accessible again to a wide audience. It is a superb selection which gives a fully rounded view of Robinson’s poetic production.” — Paula Feldman, University of South Carolina
“This rich and varied selection of poems, letters and reviews, centered and guided by Judith Pascoe’s rich and sympathetic scholarship, amply illustrates why Mary Robinson is so crucial a figure for understanding the development of English verse between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. With its range and inclusiveness, its authentic artistic claims, and its scholarly weight, Mary Robinson: Selected Poems is an edition to be universally celebrated as repaying a long overdue debt, and with generous interest. Even in Broadview’s exemplary list of recovered literature, it is a standout, a truly major accomplishment.” — Stuart Curran, University of Pennsylvania
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements
A Note on the Texts and Illustrations
List of Illustrations
Introduction
Mary Darby Robinson: A Brief Chronology
From Poems (1775)
- A Pastoral Elegy
The Linnet’s Petition
Letter to a Friend on Leaving Town
From Poems (1791)
- Ode to the Muse
Ode to Melancholy
Ode to the Nightingale
Ode to Delia Crusca
Lines to Him Who Will Understand Them
Lines Inscribed to P. De Loutherbourg, Esq. R.A.
The Adieu to Love
Stanzas to Flora
Oberon to the Queen of the Fairies
Sonnet. Written Among the Ruins of an Ancient Castle inGermany, In the Year 1786
Ainsi va le Monde
From Poems (1793)
- Sight
The Maniac
A Fragment, Supposed to be Written Near the Temple, at Paris, on the Night Before the Execution of Louis XVI
Stanzas. Written After Successive Nights of Melancholy Dreams
Stanzas. Written Between Dover and Calais, in July, 1792
Marie Antoinette’s Lamentation, in Her Prison of the Temple
Ode to Rapture
Stanzas to a Friend,Who Desired to Have My Portrait
Sappho and Phaon (1796)
- Preface
To the Reader
Account of Sappho
Sappho and Phaon
Sonnet Introductory
Sonnet II
Sonnet III
Sonnet IV
Sonnet V
Sonnet VI
Sonnet VII
SonnetVIII
Sonnet IX
Sonnet X
Sonnet XI
Sonnet XII
Sonnet XIII
Sonnet XIV
Sonnet XV
Sonnet XVI
Sonnet XVII
Sonnet XVIII
Sonnet XIX
Sonnet XX
Sonnet XXI
Sonnet XXII
Sonnet XXIII
Sonnet XXIV
Sonnet XXV
Sonnet XXVI
Sonnet XXVII
Sonnet XXVIII
Sonnet XXIX
Sonnet XXX
Sonnet XXXI
Sonnet XXXII
Sonnet XXXIII
Sonnet XXXIV
Sonnet XXXV
Sonnet XXXVI
Sonnet XXXVII
Sonnet XXXVIII
Sonnet XXXIX
Sonnet XL
Sonnet XLI
Sonnet XLII
Sonnet XLIII
Sonnet XLIV. Conclusive
Lyrical Tales (1800)
- All Alone
The Mistletoe, a Christmas Tale
The Poor, Singing Dame
Mistress Gurton’s Cat, a Domestic Tale
The Lascar. In Two Parts
The Widow’s Home
The Shepherd’s Dog
The Fugitive
The Haunted Beach
Old Barnard, a Monkish Tale
The Hermit of Mont-Blanc
Deborah’s Parrot, a Village Tale
The Negro Girl
The Trumpeter, an Old English Tale
The Deserted Cottage
The Fortune-Teller, a Gypsy Tale
Poor Marguerite
The Confessor, a Sanctified Tale
Edmund s Wedding
The Alien Boy
The Granny Grey, a Love Tale
Golfre, a Gothic Swiss Tale
Uncollected poems from newspapers and magazines:
- To Sir Joshua Reynolds
Sonnet to Mrs. Charlotte Smith, on Hearing That Her Son Was Wounded at the Siege of Dunkirk
Stanzas
All For-Lorn
The Camp
Great and Small!
Poems that were incorporated into The Progress of Liberty
- The Birth-Day of Liberty
The Progress of Liberty
The Horrors of Anarchy
The Vestal
The Monk
The Dungeon
The Cell of the Atheist
The African
The Italian Peasantry
Harvest Home
From The Poetical Works (1806)
- Ode to the Snow-drop
Ode Inscribed to the Infant Son of S.T. Coleridge, Esq.
To the Poet Coleridge
The Savage of Aveyron
The Birth-Day
The Summer Day
The Wintry Day
On Leaving the Country for the Winter Season, 1799
Oberon’s Invitation to Titania
Titania’s Answer to Oberon
Jasper
London’s Summer Morning
The Poet’s Garret
January, 1795
Impromptu Sent to a Friend Who Had Left His Gloves, by Mistake, at the Author’s House on the Preceding Evening
Modern Male Fashions
Modern Female Fashions
Appendix A: Three letters of Mary Robinson
- To John Taylor, 5 October 1794
To William Godwin, 24 August 1800
To Jane Porter, 27 August 1800
Appendix B: Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poems in response to Robinson
- The Apotheosis, or the Snow-Drop
Alcaeus to Sappho
A Stranger Minstrel
Appendix C: Reviews of Robinson’s poetry
- Review of Poems (1791) in the Critical Review
Review of Sappho and Phaon (1796) in the English Review
Review of Lyrical Tales (1800) in the Monthly Review
Review of The Poetical Works of the Late Mrs. Mary Robinson (1806) in the Annual Review
Appendix D: Publication histories of Robinson’s poems
Bibliography
List of changes
Index of first lines
Index of titles
