Frequency

Abstract

Although it is generally accepted that the verse epistle was a popular form in the eighteenth century, precise evidence to confirm such an impression is surprisingly sparse. Jay Arnold Levine cites two pointers: Raymond D. Havens’s remark that ‘Dryden’s Miscellany (1684–1709) contains but ten verse epistles, while Dodsley’s (1748–58) offers forty-five specimens’; and a claim deriving from statistics in a study by Calvin D. Yost that the epistolary content of the Gentleman’s Magazine declined ‘from a peak of thirty-nine in 1731–40 (the period of Pope’s activity) to a low of eleven in 1771–80’.1 This chapter begins by reconsidering the evidence presented by Havens for the two miscellanies and for the Gentleman’s Magazine by Yost. It then analyses evidence from one printed and one online source in order to estimate approximately what proportion of verse printed in the eighteenth century was epistolary; and it closes with a series of case studies. These analyse the contents of Roger Lonsdale’s two anthologies of eighteenth-century verse, along with those of various collections from the period, mostly single-authored and produced by writers of both sexes and various social ranks. The findings demonstrate not only the popularity of epistolary verse in the period but also its special attractiveness for marginal writers; and they outline its growth and decline.KeywordsEighteenth CenturySocial RankWoman WriterBritish VersePrint PublicationThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.