MINUTE PARTICULAR

Felicia Hemans and the Mythologizing of ’s Death

Paula R. Feldman

Blake/An Illustrated Quarterly, Volume 27, Issue 3, Winter 1993-1994, pp. 69-72 Winter 1993/94 BLAKE/AN ILLUSTRATED QUARTERLY 69

The very joyfulness with which this sin- Felicia Hemans and gular man welcomed the coming of death, the Mythologizing of made his dying moments intensely mourn- ful. He lay chaunting songs, and the verses Blake's Death and the music were both the offspring of the moment. He lamented that he could no longer commit those inspirations, as he Paula R. Feldman called them, to paper!.] "Kate," he said, "I am a changing man—I always rose and wrote down my thoughts, whether it rained, snowed, or shone, and you arose n February 1832, Felicia Hemans, at too and sat beside me—this can be no Ithat time Britain's most popular and longer." He died on the 12th of August, widely read poet, published in Black- 1828, without any visible pain—his wife, wood's Edinburgh Magazine a short who sat watching him, did not perceive when he ceased breathing. poetic drama entitled "The Painter's Last Work.—A Scene," confiding in a While Cunningham emphasizes conspicuous footnote that the piece Blake's cheerfulness in approaching was "suggested by the closing scene in death and the technical achievement the life of the painter Blake; as beauti- of his last drawing ("a fine likeness"), fully related by Allan Cunningham." Hemans responded to another aspect Though Cunningham's early sketch of of this account, one to which she was Blake in The Lives of the Most Eminent particularly attuned. Famous for British Painters, Sculptors and Archi- 1. Felicia Hemans (1828). Engraved by celebrating the "domestic affections," tects1 has received attention from al- Edward Scriven after a portrait by William E. West. Harriet Hughes, the poet's sister, Hemans had only recently published most all of Blake's biographers, used this engraving for the frontispiece Records of Woman (1828), high- Hemans's poem has been entirely to her 7-volume, 1839 edition of lighting the nobility and courage of overlooked; though it was frequently Hemans's Works. heroines in various difficult and often reprinted throughout the nineteenth melancholy circumstances; she was century in dozens of British and He had now reached his seventy-first year, and the strength of nature was fast herself still emotionally devastated American editions of Hemans's Poeti- yielding. Yet he was to the last cheerful and from having nursed her mother in her cal Works and was, therefore, a far contented. "I glory," he said, "in dying, and last illness. So her attention was drawn more widely disseminated account of have no grief but in leaving you, Katharine; to the suggestions in Cunningham's Blake's death that Cunningham's, we have lived happy, and we have lived account of Catherine Blake's extraor- modern scholars have been unaware long; we have been ever together, but we dinary character and the painfulness of of it, in part because Hemans's com- shall be divided soon. Why should I fear her situation; in Hemans's retelling, plete Works have not been reprinted death? Nor do I fear it. I have endeavoured the focus shifts from the painter and since they last appeared in an Oxford to live as Christ commands, and have his remarkable skills even at "death's University Press edition in 1914. sought to worship God truly—in my own house, when I was not seen of men." He door" to a valorization of his artistic Hemans spent most of her life in grew weaker and weaker—he could no subject—the woman he loves and ad- Wales and is unlikely ever to have met longer sit upright; and was laid in his bed, mires. William's declaration to Blake. She visited London only briefly with no one to watch over him, save his Catherine in Cunningham's account, as a child (in the winters of 1804 and wife, who, feeble and old herself, required "you have ever been an angel to me," 1805), never to return. What she knew help in such a touching duty. forms the subtext to Hemans's retell- of Blake before reading Cunningham was such a ing.5 To foreground this aspect of the is unclear; but her friend William favourite with Blake, that three days before drama, she takes her epigraph from Wordsworth might have mentioned his death, he sat bolstered up in bed, and Thomas Campbell's "Gertude of Blake to her on one of their walks tinted it with his choicest colours and in his happiest style. He touched and retouched Wyoming:" together in the Lake District where she it—held it at arm's length, and then threw vacationed during the summer of it from him, exclaiming, "There! that will Clasp me a little longer on the brink 1830, shortly before drafting her do! I cannot mend it." He saw his wife in Of life, while I can feel thy dear caress; 2 poem. Still, she was probably un- tears—she felt this was to be the last of his And when this heart hath ceased to beat, oh! think, aware of the errors, embellishments, works—"Stay. Kate! (cried Blake) keep just And let it mitigate thy woe's excess, and outright fabrications in Cunning- as you are—I will draw your portrait—for That thou hast been to me all tenderness, 3 you have ever been an angel to me"—she ham's account. Cunningham had And friend to more than human written of Blake: obeyed, and the dying artist made a fine friendship just. likeness. 70 BLAKE/AN ILLUSTRA TED QUARTERL Y Winter 1993/94

Proficient in Italian, Hemans Teresa. probably set her poetic drama in Italy SCENES AND HYMNS OF LIFE Oh, Francesco! because of her great admiration for What will this dim world be to me, Italian art and literature.6 It seems like­ Francesco, When wanting thy bright soul, the life of ly that she gives the Italian name "Fran­ all—

cesco" to the character RELIGIOUS POEMS. My only sunshine!—How can I bear on? to underline his frankness, sincerity, How can we part? We that have loved so and openness ("franchezza"), to sug­ well, gest the spiritual freedom he embo­ With clasping spirits link'd so long by

dies, and perhaps to point towards the grief— H'.I.H'IA HEMAN8 By tears—by prayer? reassurance he gives his wife ("fran­ cheggiare"). Similarly, it appears she Francesco. '■ !!.»* IHJUIMIUI ih . .!•> I h4 Ev'n therefore we can part, names the Catherine Blake character \n<\ tin . n.t lull., in HU.tuftlion II v il \l thy mmmiii.t, how awful I sh;tl! th.­ m l With an immortal trust, that such high Minium am! IMI.WMI. rr|,ott ,.l I ]„ , "Teresa" to suggest at one and the same love time the earthly region ("terra") she Is not of things to perish. must continue to inhabit and her fear Let me leave ("tcrrore") of approaching widowhood. One record still, to prove it strong as death, Following is the text of Hemans's dra­ Ull.UAM I I \l KM'ilol). KIllMlIltl.ll \M> T < ADIil.l., MIMKIS Ev'n in Death's hour of triumph. Once matization of the death of Blake as it again, was first published in 1832. It is worth Stand with thy meek hands folded on thy quoting in its entirety because all sub­ breast,

sequent appearances reprint a sub­ 2. Title page to the first of Hemans's And eyes half veil'd, in thine own soul absorb'd, books to include "The Painter's Last stantially revised, inferior text. As in thy watchings, ere I sink to sleep; Work," a poem about the death of And I will give the bending flower­like Scene—A Room in an Italian Cottage. The Blake. This 1834 version differed sig­ grace Lattice opening upon a Landscape at sunset. nificantly from the text that appeared Of that soft form, and the still sweetness two years earlier in Blackwood's Edin­ throned Francesco—Teresa. burgh Magazine. On that pale brow, and in that quivering Teresa. smile The fever's hue hath left thy cheek, Farewell to earth, Teresa! not to thee, Of voiceless love, a life that shall outlast beloved! Nor yet to our deep love, nor yet awhile Their delicate earthly being. There thy

Thine eyes, that make the day­ in Unto the spirit of mine art, which flows head

my heart, Back on my soul in mastery!—one last Bow'd down with beauty, and with

Are clear and still once more. Wilt thou work! tenderness,

look forth? And I will shrine my wealth of glowing And lowly thought—even thus—my

Now, while the sunset with thoughts, own Teresa! Clinging affection and undying hope, low­streaming light— Oh! the quick glancing radiance, and All that is in me for eternity, The light thou lov'st—hath made the All, all, in that memorial. bright bloom chestnut­stems That once around thee hung, have All burning bronze, the lake one sea of now Teresa. melted gold! Oh! what dream Into more solemn light—but holier far, Wilt thou be raised upon thy couch, to Is this, mine own Francesco? Waste thou And dearer, and yet lovelier in mine eyes, meet not Than all that summer flush! For by my The rich air fill'd with wandering scents couch, Thy scarce­returning strength; keep thy and sounds? In patient and serene devotedness, rich thoughts Or shall I lay thy dear, dear head once Thou hast made those rich hues and For happier days! they will not melt away more sunny smiles, Like passing music from the lute;—dear On this true bosom, lulling thee to rest Thine offering unto me. Oh! I may give friend! With vesper hymns? Those pensive lips, that clear Madonna Dearest of friends! thou canst win back brow, Francesco. at will No, gentlest love! not now: The glorious visions. And the sweet earnestness of that dark My soul is wakeful—lingering to look eye,

forth, Francesco. Unto the canvass—I may catch the flow

Not on the sun, but thee! Doth the light Yes! the unseen land Of all those drooping locks, and glorify

sleep Of glorious visions hath sent forth a voice With a soft halo what is imaged thus—

So gently on the lake? and are the stems To call me hence. Oh! be thou not But how much rests unbreathed! My

Of our own chestnuts by that alchemy deceived! faithful one! So richly changed?—and is the Bind to thy heart no earthly hope, Teresa! What thou hast been to me! This bitter orange­scent I must, must leave thee! Yet be strong, world, Floating around?—But I have said my love, This cold unanswering world, that hath farewell, As thou hast still been gentle! no voice Winter 1993/94 BLAKE/AN ILL USTRA TED QUARTERL Y 71

To greet the heavenly spirit—that drives Retaining the name "Teresa" for the back All Birds of Eden, which would sojourn Catherine Blake character, she alters here •J>i>aj'J20iiX 'WOIBX* the name of the William Blake charac- A little while—how have I turn'd away ter to "Eugene," an even more forceful From its keen soulless air, and in thy statement about his value, for it recalls heart, the Greek terms for "generous" or Found ever the sweet fountain of MRS. FELICIA HEMANS: response, "noble" (literally "well-born"). While To quench my thirst for home! twentieth-century critics have found The dear work grows fault with Blake's view of women, it is Beneath my hand—the last! Each faintest worth noting that his contemporary, a line poet who championed the female per- With treasured memories fraught. Oh! weep thou not spective, often in subtly subversive Too long, too bitterly, when I depart! With x Critical JJrrf.irr. ways, drew an unqualified positive por- Surely a bright home waits us both—for trayal of him, much more approving in I, many respects than Cunningham's. In all my dreams, have turn'd me not Though there are minor revisions from God; And Thou—oh! best and purest! stand throughout this second version, the thou there— Mill.AHEI.I'll I A. major alteration is to the conclusion. There, in thy hallow'd beauty, THOMAI r. \MI. I III:S\I r •TKKBT. Hemans deletes the last stanza—the shadowing forth final nine lines of her earlier version— The loveliness of love! and adds the following: 3. "The Painter's Last Work" appeared Francesco's answer to Teresa's fear in this 1836 American edition of Teresa, of impending loss, her apprehension Hemans's Poetical Works and in dozens (falling on his neck in tears.) of life's painful mutability, is to create, of other collections published Eugene, Eugene! throughout the nineteenth century on Break not my heart with thine excess of as his last tangible gift, a portrait of her both sides of the Atlantic. love!— own face. He offers this declaration of Oh! must I lose thee—thou that hast his love and this testament of his admi- been still Blake character, with his verbal tribute ration and gratitude as a consolation, The tenderest—best— to Teresa, is as much poet as painter. an immortal remnant of their mutual, It is hard to escape the implicit parallel Eugene. enduring love. Hemans's work ends, between the portrait drawn by the dy- Weep, weep not thus, belov'd! not like Cunningham's with the focus Let my true heart o'er thine retain its ing Blake and Hemans's own creative firmly on William Blake, but instead in power act, here and elsewhere, of fore- Of soothing to the last!—Mine own a celebration of Catherine Blake, her grounding and celebrating the quiet Teresa! virtue, strength, and beauty. Trans- dignity and heroism of women. In fact, Take strength from strong affection!—Let formed into an icon of "the loveliness our souls, Francesco's chief virtue would seem to of love," Teresa/Catherine is deified as Ere this brief parting, mingle in one strain be his capacity for appreciating Tere- the Madonna of the home, halo and Of deep, full thanksgiving, for God's rich sa's enormous worth and his skill in boon— all, the sunny solace of Francesco/Wil- immortalizing her in art, even on his Our perfect love!—Oh! blessed have we liam in a "cold unanswering world." deathbed.7 been Together husband and wife become a Two years after its first publication, In that high gift! Thousands o'er earth single emblem of love's perfection and may pass Hemans included "The Painter's Last of its eternal character. But the iconog- With hearts unfreshen'd by the heavenly Work," substantially revised, in Scenes raphy is every bit as much verbal as dew, and Hymns of Life, with Other visual; as Francesco draws, he elo- Which hath kept ours from Religious Poems* Her own health was withering.—Kneel, true wife! quently describes the qualities he sees by this time seriously deteriorating, And lay thy hands in mine.— in Teresa's face. The poem itself be- and the nature of her poetry was be- [She kneels beside the couch; he prays.] comes a verbal painting, as Hemans, O, thus receive coming increasingly devotional. Her like Francesco, describes the process Thy children's thanks, Creator! for the shifting poetic focus leads her to in- of artistic creation in the very act of love clude three more lines from Campbell creating. Though Cunningham tends Which thou hast granted, through all in the epigraph: earthly woes, to dismiss much of Blake's poetry as To spread heaven's peace around them; "utterly wild" and emphasizes Blake's Oh! by that retrospect of happiness, which hath bound achievement as a visual artist, Hemans And by the hope of an immortal trust, Their spirits to each other and to thee, clearly reached a different conclusion God shall assuage thy pangs when I am With links whereon unkindness ne'er laid in dust! after reading the poems he quotes; her hath breathed, 11 BLAKE/ANILLUSTRA TED QUARTERL Y Winter 1993/94

Nor wandering thought. We thank thee, 1 6 vols. (London: John Murray, 1830) 2: gracious God! 140-79. The Image of Canada For all its treasured memories! tender 2 Henry Crabb Robinson records reading in Blake's America a cares, Blake's Songs of Innocence and of Ex- Fond words, bright, bright sustaining perience to Wordsworth on 24 May 1812 Prophecy looks unchanged and notes, "He was pleased with some of Through tears and joy. O Father! most of them, and considered Blake as having the all elements of poetry a thousand times more Warren Stevenson We thank, we bless Thee, for the than either Byron or Scott." priceless trust, 3 Some early reviews did take notice of Through Thy redeeming Son the unreliability of certain aspects of he theme oi ' vouchsafed, to those Cunningham's account. See, for instance, is less the emergence of a new That love in Thee, of union, in Thy sight, The Athenaeum for Saturday, 6 February T And in Thy heavens, immortal!—Hear 1830 and the London University Magazine nation—about whose post-revolu- our prayer! for March 1830. John Linnell also made no tionary course, involving as it did the Take home our fond affections, purified secret of his dismay at the liberties Cunning- persistence of slavery, Blake had To spirit-radiance from all earthly stain; ham took with the truth. [G. E. Bentley, Jr., major reservations—than the downfall Exalted, solemnized, made fit to dwell, BlakeRecords (Oxford: Clarendon P, 1969) of tyranny as a prelude to the millen- Father! where all things that are lovely 395.] Mona Wilson believes that the speech meet, beginning "I glory in dying" and the other nium. More than any of the other And all things that are pure—for beginning "I am a changing man" are English romantics, with the possible evermore, Cunningham's own inventions. See The exception of Shelley, Blake had a With Thee and Thine! (New York: Cooper global perspective, reflected in his fre- Square Publishers, 1969) 191, 301, This melodramatic prayer of thanks- 370n372. quent use of the term "America" and giving changes the final emphasis of « Blake died in 1827, and was 69, not 71. its cognates with reference to a hemi- the poem from a celebration of 5 She also draws on Cunningham's later sphere comprising two continents. Catherine/Teresa to a more conven- observation: "The affection and fortitude Blake's earliest such reference is the of this woman [Catherine Blake] entitle her tional celebration of God the Father— one in The Marriage of Heaven and to much respect. She shared her husband's Hell (pi. 13) to the "North American from a matriarchal to a patriarchal lot without a murmur, set her heart solely vision, from the human to the divine. upon his fame, and soothed him in those tribes"; in Visions of the Daughters of The painter/poet now becomes priest hours of misgiving and despondency (\ :20) , epitome of Bri- as well. Hemans revises Cunning- which are not unknown to the strongest tish imperialism, exclaims to Oothoon, intellects." "Thy soft American plains are mine, ham's construct this second time to 6 One of her earliest books was The and mine thy north & south"; and in reflect the way in which her own agen- Restoration of the Works of Art to Italy: a da and notion of her poetic role had Poem, 1816. Milton (35:17) the similar phrase changed toward the end of her life. But 7 Disconcertingly, life has a way of im- "America north & south" occurs, con- in both of her retellings, Blake is itating art. Only three years after the first tinuing the continental emphasis. neither the wild eccentric nor the mad publication of "The Painter's Last Work," Compare Jerusalem (58:43): "Britain is Hemans was herself dying, writing until painter, but a sensitive, generous, and ' Forge; / America North & South nearly the end. Biographers and contem- 2 talented artist/poet with a nobility of porary readers would make much of her are his baths of living waters." spirit and an enormous capacity for last poem, "Sabbath Sonnet," dictated from In America a Prophecy, notwith- love. That Felicia Hemans, a poet who her deathbed, amid fever and delirium. standing the poem's revolutionary bias, 8 probably sold more books than Byron, Published in 1834, in Edinburgh, by one notes the continental drift of such William Blackwood and in London by T. identified with Blake and mythologized Cadell. lines as, "Then had America been lost, his death in such a positive way to a o'erwhelm'd by the Atlantic" (14:17). large general reading public only four And in the text of the Preludium, in and a half years after the event, sug- which the "shadowy daughter of Ur- gests that the story of Blake's early thona" confronts Ore, her sibling posthumous reputation may be far more ravisher, in addition to the former's complex and interesting than biogra- curious use of the Bromionesque phrase phers have so far acknowledged. "my American plains" (2:10), there is reference to Canada (twice), Mexico, Peru, and Africa. The atypical doubling of the Cana- dian reference is particularly intrigu- ing. In his most pointed overture during the aforementioned verbal ex- change, Ore tells the unnamed "Dark virgin," his sister-love, "anon a serpent