The+Poetical+Works+of+Leigh+Hunt

The Poetical Works of Leigh Hunt (1860)



__ Who is Leigh Hunt? __

Leigh Henry James Hunt was born on October 19th in 1784 in Southgate, Middlesex England. He was a poet, journalist and literary critic. Hunt was active during the late romantic and early Victorian periods and aspired to be one of the great poets of the nineteenth century. He is often associated more with the Romantic period; however, his later works establish him as an influential Victorian poet. //The Poetical Works of Leigh Hunt// was a collection of poems published a year after his death, in 1859, as a tribute to his life’s work. Hunt’s poems “appeared widely in journals such as //The Morning Chronicle//, the //Monthly Mirror// and the //Poetical Register//” (ODNB). In 1808, he went on to work as an editor for a newspaper called //The Examiner//, which was founded by his brother John. It was during this time that Hunt wrote many of his infamous politically controversial poems that are featured in this edition. In fact, an article he wrote for the newspaper attacking Prince Regent resulted in his prosecution and imprisonment in 1812 as he was found to be “a foul, atrocious and malignant libel” (ODNB). Although “Hunt’s own poetry has not been widely read, poets have taken much from Hunt.” For example, his interest in Italian art was influential on the Pre-Raphaelites, and his Hampstead sonnets were adapted in the twentieth century by Philip Larkin and John Betjemen (ODNB). Ultimately, Leigh Hunt was an influential artist in both the Romantic and Victorian periods and therefore offers much to learn about poetry in this time.



__ The Book __ This particular edition of Leigh Hunt’s poems is available at the University of Victoria, under the call number PR4810 A2. Routledge,Warne, and Routledge published this edition of the book in 1860, in London. This publishing company was evidently wide reaching due to the fact that they published a series of different novels, anthologies, how-to books and critiques during the Victorian period (UVic Library). The 1860 edition of Hunt’s book of poetry was edited by his eldest son, Thornton Hunt, with illustrations done by Corbould. There is a book plate placed at the beginning of the edition that depicts a picture of a deer and a scroll that reads “Wilfred Storr Park.” A book plate is significant because it indicates a possible past owner of the book. The book appears to have retained the original binding and gold-rimmed pages. The type of binding used in the anthology is known as Coptic binding, that is, there is a visible thread sewn through sections of the folds, with the reinforcement of glue attaching the collection of paper to the cardboard. This is then attached to the leather spine of the book, which is known as “quarter bound with a flat back” (Johnson 74). The quality of the spine as well as the front and back covers tells the reader that the original owner of the book was most likely wealthy, as leather was expensive in this time period. The physical size of the book is quite small. The fact that the book is pocket-sized indicates it was probably used primarily for reading while travelling or to save money on the amount of paper used in the printing process. The illustrations placed throughout the book enhance the overall value, quality and meaning of the poems. For instance, at the beginning of //The Story of Rimini//, Corbould has drawn an image that portrays the procession of the Lord of Rimini who is about to meet his soon-to-be wife, Princess Francesca. The illustration provides a visual of the elegance described in the text, and assists the reader in imagining this elaborate, important opening scene. The decision to utilize illustration in this anthology is significant because other versions of this book do not include artwork. Therefore, it can be deduced the publisher of this edition found it beneficial to include illustration as an important enhancement to the poems featured in the book.

__ The Poem __ The poems in the anthology are divided into the following categories: Narrative Poems, Narrative Modernizations, Narrative Limitations, Political and Critical Poems, Sonnets, Blank Verse, and finally, Miscellaneous Poems.The unusual category of "Narrative Modernizations" includes poems that provide a modern take on classic texts. For example, Hunt's poem "Death and the Ruffians" claims to be modernized from Chaucer. Arguably, the most notable of all of Hunt’s poems is //The Story of Rimini//, which was dedicated to Lord Byron (ODNB). This poem falls under the ‘narrative poems’ category and is the first text that is featured in the anthology. It is quite a long poem as it contains four cantos, each with many lines. The poem features the characters of Paolo and Francesca taken from canto five of Dante’s //Inferno//, and focuses on their tumultuous marriage. (ODNB). Hunt wrote the majority of this poem during his imprisonment and reflected on this experience stating in his autobiography that “he look[ed] among his books for some melancholy theme of verse [and] I unfortunately chose the subject of Dante’s famous episode” (Eberle-Sinatra 120). This poem provides a fresh perspective on Dante’s classic story, although Hunt uses much of the same language seen in the original poem. Eberle-Sinatra argues that “by expanding and elaborating the background of the famous story…Hunt made the motivation of the characters more comprehensible and hence sympathetic to his audience (121). For example, Hunt characterizes Francesca as a commodity with the line “A bride to crown the comfort of the land,” which makes it clear that Francesca is an “object, a crown to be used for the benefit of the country” (Eberle-Sinatra 122). This poem is also a reflection of Hunt’s appreciation for Italian art and literature, and would have been studied and developed by the Pre-Raphaelites that came to fruition after his death. The sheer amount of poems listed in this edition is a good indication of Hunt’s talents as a poet, and ability to tackle subjects of any variety. Despite not achieving his goal of becoming the most famous poet of his time, Hunt certainly left a mark on the Romantic and Victorian periods, and will be remembered as an influential figure for many years to come.

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__ Works Cited __

Eberle-Sinatra, Michael. “From Dante to the Romantics: The Reception History of Leigh Hunt’s //The Story of Rimini//” //Charles Lamb Bulletin.// 2001. 120-143. Web.

Johnson, Pauline. // Creative Bookbinding //. Seattle: //University of Washington Press,// 1963. Print.

Roe, Nicolas “Hunt (James Henry) Leigh (1784-1859). //Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.// Oxford: OUP, 2004. Web.