Exeunt the Kit-Cats, Pursued by Pope, Reviewed by Johnson

Abstract

ABSTRACT The two great literary events of 1721 were the death of Matthew Prior and the publication of the Works of Joseph Addison, the beloved public figure who had died in 1719. These events are representative of a turning point in the history of authorship in Britain, which was accompanied by a change in the nature of poetry. Authors became more professional and specialised, less dependent on patrons and social connections. At the same time the genres of panegyric and epic were largely abandoned in favour of satire and mock-epic. The history of these changes is complicated, however, as this essay shows in an examination of Addison’s celebration of the Battle of Blenheim, The Campaign (1705), and Prior’s celebration of the Battle of Ramilies, An Ode, Humbly Inscrib’d to the Queen on the Glorious Success of Her Majesty’s Arms, 1706.