"The Four Ages of Poetry", an essay of 1820 by
Thomas Love Peacock
Thomas Love Peacock (18 October 1785 – 23 January 1866) was an English novelist, poet, and official of the East India Company. He was a close friend of Percy Bysshe Shelley and they influenced each other's work. Peacock wrote satirical novels, ...
, was both a significant study of poetry in its own right, and the stimulus for the
Defence of Poetry
"A Defence of Poetry" is an essay by the English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, written in 1821 and first published posthumously in 1840 in ''Essays, Letters from Abroad, Translations and Fragments'' by Edward Moxon in London. It contains Shelley's ...
by Shelley.
Setting and tone
Much of the ‘Four Ages’ is an attack from a
utilitarian
In ethical philosophy, utilitarianism is a family of normative ethical theories that prescribe actions that maximize happiness and well-being for all affected individuals.
Although different varieties of utilitarianism admit different charac ...
standpoint on the
Romantic poets
Romantic poetry is the poetry of the Romantic era, an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. It involved a reaction against prevailing Enlightenment ideas of the 18t ...
with whom Peacock was closely associated, and whom indeed he defended publicly from criticism elsewhere. But, ever the parodist, Peacock's argument cut both ways. As
M. H. Abrams
Meyer Howard Abrams (July 23, 1912 – April 21, 2015), usually cited as M. H. Abrams, was an American literary critic, known for works on romanticism, in particular his book ''The Mirror and the Lamp''. Under Abrams's editorship, ''The Norton An ...
put it, “If he was a poet who mocked at poets from a Utilitarian frame of satirical reference, he was a Utilitarian who turned into ridicule the belief in utility and the
march of intellect”. Nevertheless, while humorous, Peacock's essay also raised several serious critical points.
Poetic origins
Peacock offered a mocking account of how poets originally developed a claim to be historians or moralists, seeing the first poetry as created by a bard “always ready to celebrate the strength of
he king’sarm, being first duly inspired by that of his liquor”. As the inflater of royal ‘credit’, the poet was thus placed as precursor to contemporary speculators in paper money and financial credit.
Primitivism
"
Mr Scott digs up the poachers and cattle-stealers of the ancient border.
Lord Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...
cruises for thieves and pirates on the shores of the
Morea
The Morea ( el, Μορέας or ) was the name of the Peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece during the Middle Ages and the early modern period. The name was used for the Byzantine province known as the Despotate of the Morea, by the Ottoman ...
….
Mr Wordsworth picks up village legends from old women". Peacock concluded that the present-day poet was a regressive influence opposed to progress and development, and (herein Peacock was outdoing
Jeremy Bentham
Jeremy Bentham (; 15 February 1748 Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">O.S._4_February_1747.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. 4 February 1747">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.htm ...
himself) of no utilitarian merit whatever.
[D Hay, ''Young Romantics'' (London 2011) p. 207]
See also
References
External links
Overview
English essays
1820 essays
Essays about poetry
Essays in literary theory
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