Ebenezer Jones: a Study

EBENEZER JONES: A STUDY fey ROGER KEITH BROOKES B.Ed., University of British Columbia, 1969 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF Master of Arts in the Department of English We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY.OP BRITISH COLUMBIA April, 1971„ In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the Head of my Department or by his representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Department of The University of British Columbia Vancouver 8, Canada Date A series of misfortunes had the effect of limiting Ebenezer Jones' verse publication to a single volume. Although many notable writers of the time found merit in the work, Studies of Sensation and Event, it was not a popular success? however, Dante Gabriel Rossetti prophesied that one day it would be recovered from its undeserved obscurity. Stimulated by Rossetti, several persons made an attempt to revive interest and the volume was re-issued, posthumously, in 1879. It again failed to generate much interest, however, and it has continued its decline into obscurity to the present. It has been common in the past for critics to dismiss Jones' poetry as "Spasmodic," or "Chartist" labels that are not only inaccurate but, in focussing upon a single aspect, overlook the significance of the whole work. Ebenezer Jones' book is largely signifi• cant as a response to the period of crisis during which he lived. In a period of rapid change and grave uncer• tainties, Jones exemplifies the transitional poet who, adhering to the romantic literary tradition, tries to come to terms in his art with contemporary issues. Many of the foremost writers of the time shared Sossettl's appreciation of Jones' talent. They recog• nized that many of the faults and weaknesses of Jones' poetry resulted from his attempts to analyze and describe sensation in an original and meaningful way; disatis- faction with conventional diction led Jones to experi• ment with words in an effort to achieve the desired effect. The revolutionary nature of his work, the choice of unconventional subjects and their treatment in strange and exciting ways, occasionally results in "jaggedness" or obscurity? on the other hand, he frequently succeeds in conveying powerful sensations with clarity and force. Critics in the past have tended to discuss Jones' poetry within the context of his biographical misfortunes. These seriously affected Jones' work and for this reason require* discussion, but it will be the intention of this study to indicate that many of Jones' poems may be en• joyed as works of art without recourse to his biography. This thesis, therefore, will consist of two parts: the first three chapters will relate the known facts of Jones' life and the circumstances surrounding the two editions of his Studies of Sensation and Event; and chapter four will examine his poetry as tolts, original aspects and as sensitive response to the period. Introduction Chapter 1. Biographical background and critical reception of Studies of Sensation and Event. 2. Events following the appearance of the book to i860. 3. Circumstances surrounding the issue of the 1879 edition of the Studies. 4. I, A discussion of characteristic poems. ii. Jones'poetry as a response to the age. Conclusion Footnotes Bibliography Appendix 1. Four poems omitted from the second edition ii. 5 unpublished letters relating to the 1878 revival of interest iii. Poems by Jones that have been anthologized. INTRODUCTION Ten years after the death of Ebenezer Jones, and nearly twenty after the publication, In 18^3, of his single volume of verse, Studies of Sensation and Event, Dante Gabriel Rossetti wrotei His poems . had been published some five years before my meeting him, and are full of vivid dis• orderly power . these "Studies" should be, and one day will be, disinterred from the heaps of verse deservedly buried.1 An attempt to realize Rossetti*s prophecy created a flurry of Interest in 1879 # "but it ultimately proved abortive; and, despite Theodore Watts' (later Theodore Watts-Dunton) assertion that Jones* influence upon other writers was so great that "no student of nineteenth century poetry can leave him unread," his work once more was cast into obscurity. Apart from passing remarks, frequently erroneous, in literary histories, Jones' poetry has excited little interest in the present century. It is true that Ramsay Colles, in August 19C4, wrote a longish monograph for the Gentleman's Magazine entitled "Ebenezer Jones," but it is merely a reworking of material from the intro• duction to Heme Shepherd's I879 edition of Studies of Sensation and Event with some of Watts-Dunton*s2 earlier observations. In 1909 # a Reverend T. Mardy Rees, exiled in Chelsea, wrote a single page introduction to two pages of poetry, under the title Ebenezer J ones, the Neglected Poet. The Mardy Rees article left Jones no less neglected than previously, for the only original aspect of the piece Is his effort to "repatriate" "this notable Welshman." Unfortunately, the contemporary critic, Jack Lindsay, decided not to continue with his plans for publishing his The Starfish Road, for which he had already written a chapter on Ebenezer Jones,3 and thus, the most extensive reference to the poet in recent times remains the following imaginative treat• ment of an episode belonging to his boyhood days. John Betjeman, under the title "An Incident in the Early Life of Ebenezer Jones, Poet, 1828," quotes the follow• ing extract from Sumner Jones' "In Memoriam" notice in the 1879 edition of Studiesi We were together at a well-known boarding school of that day (1828), situated at the foot of Highgate Hill, and presided over by a dis• senting minister, the Rev. John Bickerdike, whose peculiar nasal feature had earned for him among us boys the appellation of "Snipe." It was a theme of frequent discussion among us whether the worthy man had ever found that out - which some of us believed and some not. We were together, though not on the same form? and on a hot summer after• noon, with about fifty other boys, were listlessly conning our tasks in a large schoolroom built out from the house, which made cover for us to play under when It was wet. Up the ladder-like stairs from the play• ground a lurcher dog had strayed Into the schoolroom, panting with the heat, his tongue lolling out with thirst. The choleric usher, who presided, and was detested by us for his tyranny, seeing this, advanced down the room. Enraged at our attention being distracted from our tasks, he dragged the dog to the top of the stairs, and there lifted him bodily up with the evident Intention - and we had known him do similar things - of hurling the poor creature to the bottom. "YOU SHALL NOT'." rang through the room, as little Ebby, so ex• claiming at the top of his voice, rushed with kindling face to the spot among all the boys - some of them twice his age. But even while the words passed his lips, the heavy fall was heard, and the sound seemed to travel through his listening form and face, as with a strange look of anguish In one so young, he stood still, threw up his arms, and burst out Into an uncon• trollable passion of tears. With a coarse laugh at this, the usher led him back by hi s ear to the formi and there he sat, long after his sobbing had subsided, like one dazed and stunned. The Incident Inspired the following poem by Betjemani The lumber of a London-going dray, The still-new stucco on the London clay, Hot summer silence over Holioway. Dissenting chapels, tea-bowers, lovers* lairs, Neat new-built villas, ample Grecian squares. Remaining orchards ripening Windsor pears. Hot silence where the older mansions hlde? On Hlghgate Hlll*s thick elm-encrusted side, And Pancras, Homsey, Islington divide. June*s hottest silence where the hard rays strike Yon hill-foot house, window and well alike, School of the Reverend Mr. Bickerdike. For sons of Saints, blest with this world's possessions (Seceders from the Protestant Secessions), Good grounding in the more genteel professions, A lurcher dog, which dray men kick and pass Tongue lolling, thirsty over shadeless grass, Leapt up the playground ladder to the class. The godly usher left his godly seat, His skin was prickly in the ungodly heat, The dog lay panting at his godly feet. The milkman on the road stood staring In, The playground nettles nodded "Now begin" - And Evil waited, quivering, for sin. He lifted it and not a word he spoke, His big hand tightened. Could he make It choke ? He trembled, sweated, and his temper broke. "YOU SHALL NOT!" clear across to Highgate Hill A boy's voice sounded. Creaking forms were still. The cat jumped slowly from the window sill. "YOU SHALL NOT!" flat against the summer sun, Hard as the hard sky frowning over one, Gloat, little boys! enjoy the coming Fun! "GOD DAMNS A CUR. I AM, I AM HIS WORD!" He flung it, flung it and it never stirred, "You shall not! - shall not!" ringing on unheard. Blind desolation! bleeding, burning rod! Big, bull-necked Minister of Calvin's God! Exulting milkman, red-faced, shameless clod. Look on and jeer! Not Satan's thunder-quake Can cause the mighty walls of Heaven to shake As now they do, to hear a boy's heart break.* In one of the few recent references to Ebenezer Jones, Rosalie Glynn Grylls (Lady Mander) recalls Watts- Dunton's pronouncement by referring to Jones as an in• fluence on the early Rossetti.5 The influence is not, however, readily discernible, and unfortunately Miss Grylls makes no further allusion to the connection.

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