Abstract
ABSTRACT Oliver Style, the son of a Kentish baronet, was working in Smyrna, Turkey, when in 1688 the port city was devastated by an earthquake. Thousands were killed. Style survived (though apparently seriously injured), returned to England, and wrote a descriptive, deeply personal ‘Advice to a painter’ poem about the event. Over the years until his death in 1703 he composed more than twenty other poems, which reflect on his life and inevitable death, and, with considerable bitterness, survey the folly, cruelty and suffering of mankind. This body of work, scarcely studied, survives in a single contemporary manuscript held in Leeds University Library. The essay discusses Style’s life and family background, describes the manuscript, appraises the poems in some detail, and places Style’s description of the Smyrna earthquake in the context of contemporary prose accounts. It concludes with an annotated edition of his 139-line earthquake poem.
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