Swift's "Poems to Stella" / by Paul Michael Comeau
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
SWIFT'S POEES TO STELLA by Paul Micha5l Comeau BOA, Simcn Frasfr University, 1974 A TBESIS SUBHITTED IN PftRTIAL FULFILLRENT OF THE REQIJIREBEHTS FOR THE DEGBEE Of PIASTER OF ABTS in thz Department of English @ PAUL BICHAEL COHEBU 1977 SIBOW FRASER UNIVERSITY September, 7 977 All riqhts rsservsd, This work may not be reproduced in whole or in part by photocopy or other means, without permission of the author, APPROVAL NAME : Paul Michael COMEAU DEGREE: Master of Arts TITLE OF THESES: SWIFT'S POEMS TO STELLA EXAMINING COMMITTEE : Chairman: Dr. Jared Curtis, Associate Professor ~f English, Simon Fraser University Dr. Ann messenger, Associate Professor , 1 Dr. Temp1 e Maynard, Assistant Professor ,- Dr. Mason Harris , Associate Professor Dr. Philip Pinkus, Professor of English, U.B.C. Date Approved: September 6, 1977 PARTIAL COPYRIGHT LICENSE I hereby grant to Simon Fraser University the right to lend my thesis or dissertation (the title of which is shown below) to users of the Simon Fraser University Library, and to make partial or single copies only for such users or in response to a request from the library of any other university, or other educational institution, on its own behalf or for one of its users. I further agree that permission for multiple copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by me or the Dean of Graduate Studies. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Title of Thesis/Dissertation: SWIFT'S POEMS TO STELLA Author : (signature) Paul Michael Comeau (name) April 4, 1978 (date) iii --------ABSTXACT This thesis atteapts to view Jonathan Swift's poems to Stelfa fro% a nsw perspwtiv?. Critics genaraiiy have zcknowledged these poems to be admirable compositions, but the ~ertdcrncyhas hen to analyze thew categorically as zither love poems or as testimonials to the efficacy of Christian virtue. The problem with both approaches is that, whereas they explore important individual aspects of the poems, swiftas overall artistic achievemsnt is not sufficiently reveal&, The purpose of this study, thsrefore, is to analyzz the poems to Stella in as much individual detail as possiblz so that the acni~v~msntof 2ach is recogniz~dclearly, vhifo the intagrity of the group is maintained. More specificalf y, this study wifl demonstrate what exactly these elevqn poems say about Swift and why they are among the best poems h2 wrote. However, to gain even a superficial appreciation of Swift3s artistic achievewrit i~ the poems to StsPla, some familiarity with his viws or. language and postry is required. Accordicgfy, this study begins vith a review cf Swift% most important writings on lan~uageand pcetry, namely "'A Letter to a Young Gentleman, Lately Entsr" into naly Ordars," "b Letter of Advice to a Young Poet," -------------------Polite Ccnversation, and Wn Poetry: A Rapsody." Some attontion is also given to classical a3d eighteenth-century theories about poetry and about the sublime, especially as they relate to Swift's own id~ason these subj~cts, Turning to the poems to Stella th;mselvss, Swiftts styl? and msthodofogy are analyzed in some datail, as is the nature cf his rslationship with Stella, as it is r~vealedin the gcurnql_&e_Ste1leir in pafticular lstters and in other short prose pieces, and of course in the Stella poems, This detailed study of the poems to Stella revsals that, as metrical compositions, they ars technically precise and admirably contrived; fusth%rmore, as intimate poems to a #smos% valuable friend," they indirectly feveaf as much about Swift as they do about Stella. The poems reveal many of Swift's beliefs and even soEee of his hopes and •’tars as clearly as anything else he wrote. But, more than this, they illuminate a Lasting and powerful friendship, the stragth of which provides the emotional i~petusby which the plain, simple style of the powas is transformed into something more thau just '*proper words in proper places. ---------------BCKNOW LEDGEZENT f wish to acknowledqe a sinczre dzbt of gratitude to Professor Ann Wessenger, whose friendship, guidance, and support were of inestimable value to the cornplation of this uofk. &y thanks ase also due to Professor Teiaple aaynard and to Professor Hason ~arzisfor their helpful coaments and criticisms, And finally, X owe special thanks to my parents for their unfailing sncourage%ent, ----------For Judith, ........................whoss love and understanding ----------- have reallx ----------- made this ~ossible, ------- Page APPROVAL ABSTiaACT ACKNOWLEDGEMENT DEDIC&TI€lN INTRODUCTION CHAPTER Owe: Swift's Views on Poetry CHAPTER TWO: Style and Eethodology 5n the Poems to St5lla 68 CRRPTER TNSEE: Sw if tqsBelationship with Stella and His Presene in the Poems to Stella 98 CRAPTER FOUR: Swift's Last Poam to Stella 139 BIBLLOGBBPHY Ever since Patrick Delany declared in his Observations-g~mn &orB-Qr~srrls-2~marks~o~-tB2~46fz-aed-~~~nf-2rt-deeazhna Svift,-l~~~that the poems to Stella are "the finest in their kind, 'he friendliest, the best imagind, and the most truly elegant that ever any language produced,fs7 critics have, with fi3w exceptions, respctaded similarly to thase poegls. For ~xa~gpfe, in 1805 Mathan Drake ranked them among those of Swift's verses Iqwhich are not only free from any thing which ought to revolt a corr9ct tastE, kut exhibit much elegance, urbanity, and ~$11- turned c0mpliment.~*2 And in 1966, one hundred and sixty yaars after Drake's appreciation, Maurics Johnson noted that Swift *s poems to Stella "contain his most gravely musical, most a•’fecxing phrasas,"3 an observation which he has subsequsntly rrsiterat 3d in an article entitled t*Swiftts Poetry Raconsidered, *' adding there that "it is not very surprising after all that Swift's mst private and personal poeas are his most ur,ivarsal.t*4 Other critics have used different language to describe Jonathan Swift's poems to Esth5r Johnson but thair santiments ass generally the same: the poeBs are among Swift's iaost nsr-1 0 I-" \' t3 w rtmc iD t+ ct. P PJ aor(0 m ~-r $24 CI, Ut * rt. G w(l[n CUYk" i4 3 $3 n tnoct 4wrt P 'a a. MO* P; - w iu rn ('iJ 3 a cl~ -a4 0 m ru ICSPb rf-il,wI wrn, cCr+Cf 0) r") a. * p. in 5 m a pl m 3 4 rt P Z P- r4. rl I m wogrn !I) GO* if; *n, C, Z tJ7 (I? 004 Y E3 tE) c=+ *or 9 n it) (D P. I--' rctm rJI #'rimP* Ym* rt, LC 3' I-'. pls w C w rlr rt. fD 9 iD as a poet in particular. Little or no effort is made to adopt as a critical guideline the Aristotelian maxim expressed so competent1y by Alexander Pope in Bp E~sqy-on criticism: Io evtry Work regard the WEitgr*~Egq, Since now can compass more than they Intend; And if the Means be just, tho CeqdgEr true, Applause, in spit2 cf faults, is due.7 And* through it all, the inconsistency betraesn the level of: praise accorded the poems to Stella by Delany, Draka, and evec Johnson himself and thr juc3grner.t that Swift's poetry is anti-poetic goes unna ticed. Looking not only to Swift's intentions in his poetry but also to nurnzrous literary convanticns and precedents, Rob~~rtUphaus has capably disputed the anti-poe try theory in 3SSui.f tls Poetry: The ~akingof fleaning,N Hs demonstrates convinciagly how Svift "ialters or reshapes postic conventions,~8and how, at the sania ti@@, hi3 c~nsistently'*aligns his verse with, rather than agaiust, tht traditional uses of poetry.*t9 The effect of this fine of argum~tton the poems to Stella is to place them sclidly within thp conventions of amatory vcrse. But even as Uphaus* brisf anafysFs of the st~llapoems further lagitimiz+s Swift's poetic vision in a general way, it fails to r~v~aleither the richness or the complexity of the posms themselves, For example, or, the surface, the sarly posms to Stella appear to be on1y playful com~ositions,replete with clsver puns and dexterous simiies and aflusions. ~uta close reading of these early po2ms reveals an underlying tone of seriousness which is consistent with that fouqd in the later poems. The later poems, on the other Eand, are acre lpparently pgento mqrls aimed at fortifying arid consoling Stella, In the poems from 1719 through 1725, Stella's virtues ars enumerated and praised, In ths final two po~ms, and in "stall2*s ~irth-Day 1726/27" especially, those virtues must servc as htr psychoioyical and spiritual atainstays in the face of death. Furthermore, it becomes appilrant that all eleven poems were perhaps of more importanca to Swift than has yet been realized, The purpose of this study, than, is to analyze the po91~sto Stella as carefully as ~ossibleso that the achievement of each is recognized clearly, while th3 intsgrity of the group is waintair~ed. My specific oh jectives are to dzmonstrate ghat exactly these eleven paws say about Swift and why they are among the best poems h~ wrote, Ths best way to accomplish these objzctives is to shift the critical focus, which has traditionally been or, Stella, to Swift: his views on po2try, his style ar,d rtlethodology of writing in th2 poems, and his special fclationship with Stella, keeping In mind the while that these poems ars neither repses~ntatlvenor typical of the majority of his paems to or about women, For it seems to Be that the two greatest obstacles in viewing the poems to Stella in a proper perspective are the critics* inclinations, whethar they are intent on characterizing the naturz of Swiftts love for Stella10 or on establishing a spfcific philosophical context far the poems, 11 to assume that Stella's wsifare is Swift's only coxern ic the poems and to allow their readings of the poems to be colour%d by speculations about Swift's aisogyny arising from his depiction of various Daphnes, Chloes, and Corinnas, On the contrar y, however, when S wiftls correspondence betseen July 1726 ar,3 Cecernber '1727 is considered in conjunction with The Stella poems, the misogyliy issuiz and the idea that Stelfa is the only beneficiary of the poems are dispelled innadiatsly.