An early, forgotten poem of Ann Radcliffe (?)
Back in 2011, I started to identify all quotation insets and chapter epigraphs of Ann Radcliffe novel, in order to find about which authors she had read, and liked, as we know so little about her.
While trying to trace down a quotation inset, still unidentified, from
While trying to trace down a quotation inset, still unidentified, from
1987 [1794] The Mysteries of Udolpho, London, The Folio Society
volume 4, chapter 12, page 633
While the fancy thus wanders over landscapes partly of its own creation, a sweet complacency steals upon the mind, and
"Refines it all to subtlest feeling,
Bids the tear of rapture roll"
I chanced upon the following poem, in
The London Magazine, Or, Gentleman's Monthly Intelligencer, Volume LII
for the year 1783 - January to June - p296-297 (June)
Written on the sea-shore by moon-light
When still at eve the moon ascending,
Thro’ the Heav’ns pathless wide,
From a cloud of silver bending,
Pours her radiance o’er the tide,
While with slow and measur’d motion,
Hark ! awhile the dashing oar,
Cleaves the bosom of the ocean,
Echoes round the winding shore.
Rocks their lengthening shadows casting,
Far convey the hollow sound,
While circling white-wave, white-wave chasing,
In dying murmur breaks around.
When nature thus all softly pleasing,
Steals upon the gen’rous soul,
Refines it all to subtlest feeling,Bids the tear of rapture roll.
Vainly force of words, of language,
Seek the thought with sound t’invest.
Ah no ! the keen the rapt’rous anguish,
Glows but in the feeling breast,
Go catch the moon stream in the waters,
Arrest the trembling star of even,
And then with words, with voice that faulters
Fritter in sound the finest touch of Heaven.
This is the pdf scan available from google books
(Due to the bad quality I have small doubts here and there)
I then entertained the secret idea, for those few years, to have unearthed a early poem of Ann, signed simply "A." ; published in this magazine when she was 19 years old. I want to believe that this is true though.
Somehow, it was so straightforward to find the poem that I was sure somebody would shortly after. Now, I thought it was time to share it and make it easier to find by writing it down here.
Somehow, it was so straightforward to find the poem that I was sure somebody would shortly after. Now, I thought it was time to share it and make it easier to find by writing it down here.
So let's start to speculate :) What are the chances that Ann, then 19 years old, would be the author ?
We know that Ann did publish anonymously poems in magazines 'like "Song of a Spirit" in The Gazetteer, so it might be the case here as well.
From then doing a superficial similarity search of the poem terminology in Ann Radcliffe novels/poems, the following analogies may be found:
In her poem "TO MELANCHOLY." Ann makes "dashing oar" rhyme with "winding shore", like in the moon-light poem above
To Melancholy.
[...]
Or guide me where the dashing oar
Just breaks the stillness of the vale;
As slow it tracks the winding shore,
To meet the ocean's distant sail:
[...]
In prose also, the moon-light poem finds many echoes in the works of Ann Radcliffe:
It is indeed almost a passage obligé indeed that Ann's young melancholic heroines would indulge, one after the other, in the tranquil observance of such a scene, lulling their mind into a state of gentle sadness, or simply lost in reverie.
Ann would use often the very same words/terminology as in the poem:
the bosom of the ocean, the sound of the waves are measured, we hear their dying murmur or the ocean/lake hollow sound, we also hear the dashing of oars ; for the moon, one sees its radiance over the waves, etc
Here are the passages:
Julia,
Here are the passages:
Julia,
(Chapter 3, SR)
"The night was still, and not a breath disturbed the surface of the waters. The moon shed a mild radiance over the waves, which in gentle undulations slowed upon the sands. The scene insensibly tranquillized her spirits. A tender and pleasing melancholy diffused itself over her mind; and as she mused, she heard the dashing of distant oars."
Adeline,
"The night was still, and not a breath disturbed the surface of the waters. The moon shed a mild radiance over the waves, which in gentle undulations slowed upon the sands. The scene insensibly tranquillized her spirits. A tender and pleasing melancholy diffused itself over her mind; and as she mused, she heard the dashing of distant oars."
Adeline,
(Ch17, Vol3, RF)
(Ch5, Vol2, Italian)
"(...) which broke in dark waves upon the shore, mingled its hollow sounds with those of the wind (...)"
"Of all the grand objects which nature had exhibited, the ocean inspired her with the most sublime admiration She loved to wander alone on its shores, and,when she could escape so long from the duties or the forms of society, she would sit for hours on the beach watching the rolling waves, and listening to their dying murmur, till her softened fancy recalled long lost scenes (...)"
(Ch18, Vol3, RF)
"She continued to muse till the moon arose from the bosom of the ocean, and shed her trembling lustre upon the waves (...)"
(Ch18, Vol3, RF)
"She continued to muse till the moon arose from the bosom of the ocean, and shed her trembling lustre upon the waves (...)"
Part of the SUNSET poem by Adeline, is also reminiscent of the moonlight poem...
Blanche,
(Ch10, Vol3, MU)
"The low murmur of waves, breaking on the shore, came in the breeze, and, now and then, the melancholy dashing of oars was feebly heard from a distance."
Ellena,
(Ch7, Vol2, Italian)
"The moon, rising over the ocean, shewed it's restless surface spreading to the wide horizon; and the waves, which broke in foam upon the rocky beach below, retiring in long white lines far upon the waters. She listened to their measured and solemn sound, and, somewhat soothed by the solitary grandeur of the view, remained at the lattice till the moon had risen high into the heavens (...)"
"The low murmur of waves, breaking on the shore, came in the breeze, and, now and then, the melancholy dashing of oars was feebly heard from a distance."
Ellena,
(Ch7, Vol2, Italian)
"The moon, rising over the ocean, shewed it's restless surface spreading to the wide horizon; and the waves, which broke in foam upon the rocky beach below, retiring in long white lines far upon the waters. She listened to their measured and solemn sound, and, somewhat soothed by the solitary grandeur of the view, remained at the lattice till the moon had risen high into the heavens (...)"
(Ch5, Vol2, Italian)
"(...) which broke in dark waves upon the shore, mingled its hollow sounds with those of the wind (...)"
Finally, we know that Milton was a poet that might have been, in Ann's heart, second to none, if it weren't for the Bard of Avon. And the first quatrain of the poem is a thinly veiled reference to Il Penseroso, Milton, around line [70]
To behold the wandering Moon,
Riding near her highest noon,
Like one that had been led astray
Through the Heav'ns wide pathless way; [ 70 ]
And oft, as if her head she bow'd,
Stooping through a fleecy cloud.
[...]
This is so far I got recently about this text. I hope that someone will take this further, that this post will ease the finding of the poem firs of all, and then that studies would be made that would contradict or confirm, identify authorship, locate other poems from "A." in the London magazine, etc !
I'd like to thank J. for having shared part of my enthusiasm (and having confirmed that a few days ago still, the quotation inset was very probably yet unidentified)
Your comments are most welcome !
Comments
Post a Comment