The Poetry of Mary Robinson: Form and Fame

Bell’s Laureates I 61

to Wordsworth’s disavowal of the “gaudiness and inane phraseol-

ogy of many modern writers” in the advertisement to Lyrical Ballads

(1798), most of the decade appears to be devoted to marshaling pow-

erful forces against the preservation of this poetry. But, as Jacqueline

Labbe suggests, a few choice phrases from “Gifford’s jeremiad” have

done the work of actually reading Merry’s poetry (39). Edward E.

Bostetter made a similar point in 1956 (277). The image of the Della

Cruscans as “a particularly affected and silly group of sentimental ver-

sifiers” is part of the lore (Bostetter 277); but, as this chapter asserts,

“sentimental” is imprecise, if not wildly inaccurate. Now that we have

recovered Robinson for feminist and historicist purposes, we must

come to terms with Merry’s inf luence on her poetry. The study of her

poetry reveals a remarkable lyrical ebullience that comes from Della

Crusca and t he ludic nature of t his net work. Once we orient ourselves

to t he poet ics of ly r ic, lud ic, a nd erot ic ext ravaga nce t hat cha racter izes

her work, we will recognize these elements as essential to appreciating

it. In a way, Robinson’s lyrical extravagance is part of the sociability

of literary exchange. This social exuberance, as the next chapter will

explore, is also deeply rooted in Robinson’s enthusiasm for humani-

tarian and political causes. This is why she became such good friends

with John Wolcot, who wrote excessively silly yet vitriolic satirical

poetry as “Peter Pindar.” In fact, Wolcot and William Godwin were

the only mourners to attend her funeral. Moreover, it was actually

Merry who introduced Robinson to William Godwin (Paul 1: 154).

Merry, Godwin, Wolcot, and Robinson, later, participated ultimately

in a network of disenfranchised radicals who had associations with

Coleridge, Wordsworth, Southey, and Morning Post editor Daniel

Stuart. But Merry was first, and her poetic correspondence with him

established patterns of professional and poetic networking she would

follow until the end of her career.

9780230100251_03_ch01.indd 619780230100251_03_ch01.indd 61 12/31/2010 4:20:17 PM12/31/2010 4:20:17 PM

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