Writing Romanticism: Charlotte Smith and William Wordsworth, 1784–1807

229 Pages·2011·0.98 MB·English

by  Jacqueline M. Labbe (auth.)

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Jacqueline M. Labbe
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Charlotte Smith and William Wordsworth, 1784–1807
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Writing Romanticism
Charlotte Smith and William Wordsworth,
1784–1807
Jacqueline M. Labbe
Palgrave
macmillan
© Jacqueline M. Labbe 2011
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2011 978-0-230-28549-1
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Labbe, Jacqueline M., 1965–
Writing romanticism: Charlotte Smith and William Wordsworth,
1784–1807/Jacqueline M. Labbe.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Smith, Charlotte Turner, 1749–1806—Criticism and interpretation.
2. Smith, Charlotte Turner, 1749–1806—Contemporaries. 3. Wordsworth,
William, 1770–1850—Criticism and interpretation. 4. Wordsworth,
William, 1770–1850—Contemporaries. 5. English poetry—18th
century—History and criticism. 6. Romanticism—Great Britain. I. Title.
PR3688.S4Z75 2011
823'6—dc22 2011012056
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11
To my children, Indie and Nathan

Contents
Acknowledgments viii
List of Abbreviations x
Introduction 1
1 Writing the Lyrical Ballad: Hybridity and
Self-Reflexity 19
2 Mediating History: War Poetry 49
3 Subject to Place, Subjected by Poetry 78
4 Modeling the Romantic Poet 106
5 1807: The Art of Poetry on a New Plan 146
Conclusion 175
Notes 180
Bibliography 206
Index 215
vii
Acknowledgments
This book is deeply indebted to all the scholars of Smith’s and
Wordsworth’s work who have established the depth and the durability
of their poetry. In researching it I have learned vaster amounts than
have made it into this study. As literary fashions have come and gone,
what is remarkable is the enduring consensus about Wordsworth’s pre-
eminence. The corollary is Smith’s centrality to the study of Romantic-
period women’s writing, which found its own consensus as soon as
feminist literary critics found her. It is my fervent wish that this book
will do something to merge these agreements and place Smith and
Wordsworth on the same page, critically, thematically, poetically.
As always, I am immeasurably grateful for the tutelage and scholarly
example shown by Stuart Curran. By asking me to edit Smith’s poems
for the Pickering and Chatto Works of Charlotte Smith, he allowed me
to get inside her poetry. I am grateful, as well, to Stephen Gill for his
edition The Oxford Authors: Wordsworth, and to the varied editors of
the Cornell editions of Wordsworth which have given all readers and
scholars of Wordsworth such confidence in the texts they study.
Some portions of this book have already appeared in print. I am grate-
ful to the following, both for publishing the work in the first place, and
for allowing its revision and republication:
• A section of Chapter 1 appeared as “The hybrid poems of Smith and
Wordsworth: Questions and Disputes.” European Romantic Review 20
(2009), pp. 219–26.
• A section of Chapter 3 appeared as “At the Intersection of Artifice
and Reality.” Romantic Localities, eds. Jacqueline Labbe and Christoph
Bode. London: Pickering and Chatto, 2010, pp. 25–38.
• Versions of Chapter 4 appeared as “Revisiting the Egotistical Sublime:
Smith, Wordsworth, and the Romantic Dramatic Monologue.” Women
and Men Romantic Poets. Ed. Beth Lau. Aldershot: Ashgate Press,
2009, pp. 17–38; and as “Smith, Wordsworth, and the Model of the
Romantic Poet.” Romanticism and Victorianism on the Net 51 (2008);
http://www.erudit.org/revue/ravon/2008/v/n51/index.html?lang=en.
As I have worked on this book I have benefited tremendously from
the insightful comments of colleagues who have listened patiently at
viii
Acknowledgments ix
North American Society for the Study of Romanticism conferences,
British Association for Eighteenth-Century Studies conferences, British
Association for Romantic Studies conferences, and other venues. I am
extremely grateful to the two anonymous readers for Palgrave, whose
generous and intellectually challenging responses have made this
book more than it otherwise would have been. I am also indebted to
Anne Mellor and Cliff Siskin, not only for their scholarship, which has
enriched Romanticism, but for accepting this book for their series.
Finally, as both Smith and Wordsworth would say, this book is dedi-
cated to my children, Indie and Nathan, who so carefully “watched out
for the books!”; and as Wordsworth might say but Smith most definitely
would not, to my spouse, Rod, who always makes the time.
Jacqueline Labbe
Coventry, April 2011