108 The Poetry of Mary Robinsonit argues that the Revolution has not been worth the cost: “Heav’n
forbid... That Liberty, immortal as the spheres, / Should steep her
Laurel in a nation’s Tears!” (465–8). Despite its antagonism toward
the Revolution, the Monody, unlike Modern Manners, resists jingo-
ism. Instead, Robinson concludes with a rumination on “Immortal
GENIUS” that recalls her phrase from the dedication of Sight to
Taylor—the “Aristocracy of Genius.” Robinson’s poem oddly recalls
the conclusion of Pope’s Eloisa to Abelard, which must have been her
favorite poem considering the number of times she alludes to it. In
Pope’s poem, Eloisa imagines the poet who will one day sing of her
ill- fated romance with Abelard, as Pope thus reminds the reader that
he is indeed that poet. Robinson similarly adopts Eloisa’s immortal-
izing conceit, except that she applies it more to herself than to the
French Queen. It is the “votive line”—the poem itself—that is the
manifestation of immortal genius, so Robinson commands that the
“MUSE’S LAUREL, and her FA ME” belong to the poem itself (509–10).
Robinson’s principle of equality does not extend to everyone when it
comes to merit: She asks Genius to “twine round Merit’s brow the
wreath of Fame, / And give Nobility a loftier name!” (531–2). Thus,
the Monody asks to exchange hereditary eminence for the favor of the
Muse. The apotheosis is Robinson’s own—she achieves the laurel. It is
Robinson’s “tribute just, / The POET’S NUMBERS” that “consecrates”
the “dust,” the remains of Marie Antoinette, whose fate ultimately
will serve as “An awful lesson for each future age!” (533–4, 548).
By the end of 1793, the Oracle, the Tr u e B r iton, and the Morning
Post all had personal and professional claims on Robinson. To them
she was one of the greatest poets in the English language. Several of
Robinson’s personal letters to Taylor have survived and attest to a
deep and sincere friendship between them. Davenport presumes that
Robinson did not know about his propagandizing (7: 395), but his
involvement with the Tr u e B r iton, a professed instrument for gov-
ernment propaganda, would have made it abundantly clear. And she
would have known about his shenanigans in Edinburgh in 1792,
where he was tried for inf laming anti- government rioters, but acquit-
ted when he was revealed to be working for the Ministry (Barrell,
Imagining 393). Robinson must have countenanced or overlooked
these activities. No letters written after Taylor’s appearance against
Thelwall in November of 1794 survive, so it is hard to know how
that might have affected their friendship. Only a month before in
October, Robinson wrote to Taylor about her conf licted relationship
with her “Muse”: “I swear every day to quit her for Ever; and am,
every day, as constantly forsworn” (7: 306). In the same letter, she9780230100251_04_ch02.indd 1089780230100251_04_ch02.indd 108 12/28/2010 11:08:32 AM12/28/2010 11:08:32 AM
10.1057/9780230118034 - The Poetry of Mary Robinson, Daniel RobinsonCopyright material from www.palgraveconnect.com - licensed to Universitetsbiblioteket iTr
omso - PalgraveConnect - 2011-04-13