Presenting a Self: the Polished Correspondence of Alexander Pope's 1737 Publication
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Presenting a Self: The Polished Correspondence of Alexander Pope’s 1737 Publication Vera Coenen s3045226 Master Thesis Letterkunde (Engelstalig) Supervisor: dr. N. Geerdink Second Reader: dr. M. Corporaal 24 December 2015 Abstract Although abundant scholarly research has been conducted into nearly every aspect of the life and works of Alexander Pope (1688-1744), the collections of his correspondence that were published in the 1730’s have been largely neglected. It has long been known that Pope thoroughly edited his letters before print and that his publication even contains fabricated material; a matter from which it may be inferred that he was extremely conscious about how his texts were to be received by his public. This research is focused on his 1737 publication and will closely examine a number of letters in light of the “posture” theory that was established by Jérôme Meizoz. The chapters of this thesis will delve into Pope’s relationships with the established literary figure Joseph Addison, the witty Lady Mary Wortley Montagu and his dear friend Martha Blount. Pope was a man who maintained many intimate friendships but who also made many enemies, and this publication enabled him to present a different side of himself. Keywords: Joseph Addison, Martha Blount, Correspondence, Jérome Meizoz, Mary Wortley Montagu, Alexander Pope, Posture, Self-presentation. Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 3 An Odd Man Out ................................................................................................................... 3 The Publication of Pope’s Letters .......................................................................................... 5 Posthumous Reputation and Past Research ........................................................................... 9 Present Study ....................................................................................................................... 13 Chapter I: Appendices and Observations ................................................................................. 17 Chapter II: The Literary Monarch and the Hunchback’d Toad ............................................... 23 The “Reality” of Their Acquaintance .................................................................................. 25 The Published Letters of Joseph Addison ............................................................................ 34 Chapter III: “To a Lady abroad” and To a Dear Friend ........................................................... 47 “Little Alexander the women laugh at” ............................................................................... 48 Lady Mary Wortley Montagu .............................................................................................. 52 Martha Blount ...................................................................................................................... 61 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 73 Appendix I ............................................................................................................................... 77 Appendix II .............................................................................................................................. 87 Appendix III ............................................................................................................................. 88 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................ 89 Coenen 3045226/3 Introduction “The life of a Wit is a warfare upon earth;” these famous words apply without doubt to the life of the man who wrote them (“Preface” Works). Alexander Pope (1688-1744) is often considered the greatest English poet of the eighteenth century, and according to The Norton Anthology of English Literature he was “the only important writer of his generation who was solely a man of letters” (Lipking and Noggle 2493). Although William Shakespeare had a century earlier already enjoyed a level of professional success that enabled him to retire comfortably, it should be noted that Shakespeare was an actor-manager as well as a playwright; Pope was therefore “the first English writer to build a lucrative, lifelong career by publishing his works” (2493). These works, as will be seen, were not limited to his strictly literary output but also included his personal correspondence. This present study will examine the self-presentation of Alexander Pope in the collection of letters he published in 1737. An Odd Man Out Despite the ultimate success Pope enjoyed, it cannot be said that his road to fame was easy. Pope encountered resistance on many fronts and for manifold reasons; the first of them being the very age in which he was working. The eighteenth century in English literature is generally denominated by many different terms – the Augustan Age, the Age of Reason, the Age of Neoclassicism – and no writer did more to distinguish this time than Alexander Pope. In fact, in modern criticism, the timeframe of this literary period is quite firmly fixed by the years of his birth and death. It was an age of wit, political engagement, social commentary, and, most of all, satire. Eighteenth-century writing was in constant dialogue; critical essays and reviews were gaining ground, plays or novels were written in reaction to previous plays or novels, and more often than not, writers were met with satirical publications which specifically targeted their works or affairs. Being one of the greatest satirists of his age, Pope was quick to offend others or reply to criticism of his own work, and was in turn open to harsh blows from his rivals. His genius led many of his contemporaries to view him with esteem and love, but his sharp wit and even sharper pen also meant that he made many enemies. Besides the polemic nature of Pope’s century and the consequences of his satirical talent, there were other factors of a more personal nature which can account for the continual Coenen 3045226/4 opposition to his career. As Pat Rogers asserts in his An Introduction to Pope, “The wonder is not that he became such a good writer, but that he became one at all” (1). Pope had inherited the disadvantage of being of Roman Catholic faith; in the year of Pope’s birth, the last Catholic to reign England, James II, was dethroned and expelled to France. Rogers elaborates on this matter in his essay “Pope and the Social Scene,” and explains that, within this political context, “Catholicism often connoted Jacobitism, which in turn spelt treason” (101). These political fears led to several anti-Catholic measures that were introduced in Pope’s youth and later life. One of the earliest laws entailed that Papists were expelled from the city, causing Pope’s father to retire from his linen business and move his family first to Hammersmith on the outskirts of London, and later to Binfield in Windsor Forest (“Social Scene” 101). An act of 1700 further determined that Catholics were forbidden to receive education; these conditions were in later years expounded to bar Catholics from voting and holding public office. An additional measure which affected Pope personally was one from 1715, which required all Roman Catholics to register their estates, so that additional land-taxes could be imposed on this class; taxes which were later on increased even further. In his pursuit of a literary career, it is noteworthy that Pope had from the start been removed “from the centre of things” (“Social Scene” 102) – quite literally in terms of location, but more existentially with regard to his position as a pariah. The fear of Catholicism that ruled the eighteenth century differentiated Pope from other men of letters, excluding him “from the sort of patronage that was bestowed by statesmen on many writers during the reign of Anne” (Lipking and Noggle 2493). Pope was thus left to his own devices in achieving his literary goals. In addition to the misfortune of the faith he was born into, Pope was soon to be afflicted by another distinctive problem. Probably in infancy, he contracted tuberculosis of the bone, or as it is now known, Pott’s disease.1 The symptoms from this condition first played up at the age of twelve or thirteen, and not only permanently fixed his stature to a height of about four feet six inches (1.37 metres) but ultimately crippled him in later life. Furthermore, the disease brought on numerous complications such as respiratory problems, fevers, and extreme sensitivity to cold. Indications of these ailments are often present in Pope’s personal correspondence, where he, for example, concludes his letter with a remark concerning his bad eyesight and the violent headache his writing has produced. As much as his ill health must have affected his spirits, what really added insult to injury was the fact that his critics and enemies were always quick to target his physique. 1 This diagnosis was made, with the help of medical experts, by Marjorie Nicolson and George Rousseau. See “This Long Disease My Life”: Alexander Pope and the Sciences. Coenen 3045226/5 While his Catholicism formed ample ground on which to condemn Pope from the start, this charge was further aggravated by his reputation as a crippled, hunchbacked dwarf. Joseph Spence, who knew the poet well and may be regarded as his first biographer,