Sexual Imagery in the Verse Epistles of Robert Burns and Anna Louisa Karsch

Abstract

The verse epistle has suffered fate of occasional poetry as a whole: it tends to be ignored or demoted because it fails to satisfy a normative notion of pure art.1 This holds true despite fact that two of these standards are completely non-literary: circumstances under which poem originated and its purpose or social function. Because it depends on person to whom it is addressed and has clear designs on reader, verse epistle is not free, which might disqualify it as high art. Yet charm of epistles I will discuss here is directly related to their various purposes and social con tingencies. Indisputably epistles, a popular verse form during eighteenth century, work differently than poems of romantic cannon. Anna Louisa Karsch (1722-1791) and Robert Burns (1759-1796) found epistle form attractive precisely for its affinity with occasional poetry. The fact that the projection of epistolary audience [...] unmistakably insists on engagement between poetry and world2 appealed to poets like Anna Louise Karsch and Robert Burns. In fact, some of best poetry of these two artists is to be found in their epistles.3 The dialogic interplay Karsch and Burns cultivate with addressee and general audience contrasts with abstract intellectuality of Augustan epistle and studied introspection of romantic poetry, which shunned epistle genre. In ad dition to providing entertainment, Burns and Karsch congratulate, praise, advise, instruct, or express friendly solidarity in their epistles. What one critic said of Burns's epistles is true of countless others of eighteenth century, including Karschs: To its recipient, a verse-epistle from Burns could be a lifeline, a challenge, a source of humor, an appreciative thump on back, or a considered appeal for support.4