The Poetry of Mary Robinson: Form and Fame

Notes 251

to Petrarch, which would seem to be worth attempting given Pope’s

adoption of Eloisa as his subject.

18. Philips’ translation first appeared in Addison’s discussion of Sappho
    in Spectator 229 (22 November 1711). I quote from that text; see
    below.


19. The full Spectator text of Philips’ translation appears below:
    Blest as th’ immortal Gods is he,
    The Youth who fondly sits by thee,
    And hears, and sees thee all the while
    Softly speak, and sweetly smile.
    ’Twas this depriv’d my Soul of Rest,
    And rais’d such Tumults in my Breast;
    For while I gaz’d, in Transport tost,
    My Breath was gone, my Voice was lost.
    My bosom glow’d; the subtle Flame
    Ran quick thro’ all my vital Frame;
    O’er my dim Eyes a Darkness hung;
    My Ears with hollow Murmurs rung.
    In dewy Damps my Limbs were chill’d;
    My Blood with gentle Horrors thrill’d;
    My feeble Pulse forgot to play,
    I fainted, sunk, and dy’d away. (229 [22 November 1711])


20. Christopher C. Nagle reads Sappho and Phaon differently, as less
    decidedly heteronormative than I do, arguing that Robinson
    “recuperates” and “celebrates” the “distinctive power” of Sappho’s
    “ambiguous, sexually saturated Sensibility” (61). See 55–62.


21. Curran calls Sappho and Phaon a “sonnet sequence à clef” (“Mary
    Robinson’s” 21).

4 Stuart’s Laureates I:

Poets and Politics Perplext

1. To be fair, Taylor did not allow his politics to interfere with his
   friendships, for he remained friends with John Wolcot, who, as the
   satirical poet Peter Pindar, was indefatigably hostile to Pitt and to the
   Tor ies. A nd no ev idence suggests t hat Taylor was ever publ icly cr it ica l
   of Robinson.


2. Godwin’s political philosophy had an immediate inf luence on
   Robinson, as William Brewer demonstrates in his article on
   Robinson’s novel Hubert de Sevrac (1796).


3. As Craciun observes, both January poems are liberal antidotes to the
   obsequious drivel Poet Laureate Pye was obliged to compose for every
   New Year’s Day (74–7). In addition to Craciun, for other readings of

9780230100251_08_not.indd 2519780230100251_08_not.indd 251 12/28/2010 12:31:43 PM12/28/2010 12:31:43 PM

10.1057/9780230118034 - The Poetry of Mary Robinson, Daniel Robinson

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