''Trivia'' (
1716
Events
January–March
* January 16 – The application of the Nueva Planta decrees to Catalonia make it subject to the laws of the Crown of Castile, and abolishes the Principality of Catalonia as a political entity, concluding ...
) is a
poem by
John Gay
John Gay (30 June 1685 – 4 December 1732) was an English poet and dramatist and member of the Scriblerus Club. He is best remembered for ''The Beggar's Opera'' (1728), a ballad opera. The characters, including Captain Macheath and Polly Peac ...
. The full title of the poem is ''Trivia, or The Art of Walking the Streets of London'', and it takes its name from the Latin word for "crossroads" and from the "goddess of crossroads,"
Diana
Diana most commonly refers to:
* Diana (name), a given name (including a list of people with the name)
* Diana (mythology), ancient Roman goddess of the hunt and wild animals; later associated with the Moon
* Diana, Princess of Wales (1961–1997) ...
, whom the poet invokes in the opening stanza.
The poem, written in
heroic couplets, is loosely based on
Virgil's ''
Georgics'', yet attains a
Horatian satirical
Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or e ...
manner.
The length of the entire poem is approximately 1000 lines, and it is in three books.
Content
The poem describes the perils of walking in
London in the 1710s. It is a
topographical poem, taking the form of a walk through a day and night. It pretends to utmost seriousness in advising the reader on:
*how to dress properly
*what sorts of boots to wear
*how to survive falling masonry
*
chamber pots being emptied out of windows
*overflowing gutters
*
pickpockets
*wig thieves
*mud splashes
Gay also describes the characters of the city, including its ballad singers, chairmen, footmen, and toughs.
External links
The University of Toronto's Representative Poetry Page for ''Trivia''* {{librivox book , title=Trivia, author=Gay
1716 poems
British poems
British satirical poems
Works by John Gay