Robinson is one of the accomplished writers of blank verse in the 1790s (as in "London's Summer Morning") as well as one of the most irrepressibly musical in many different forms of rhyme. Outspokenly liberal in its politics, good-humored, satirical, and sentimental by turns, her late verse in particular exemplifies what Stuart Curran calls "the new realism that will impel English poetry into the nineteenth century." Lyrical Tales (1800), the final volume of Robinson's poetry to be published in her lifetime, appeared the month before the second edition of Wordsworth and Coleridge's Lyrical Ballads�from the same publisher and printer and in exactly the same format and typography (Wordsworth, in reaction, tried to change his own title to Poems by W. Wordsworth). Robinson's "The Poor Singing Dame" is modeled on the most popular of Wordsworth's 1798 ballads, "Goody Blake and Harry Gill." Wordsworth in turn based one of his pieces ("The Seven Sisters; or, The Solitude of Binnorie") on the elaborate metrical scheme of Robinson's "The Haunted Beach," a poem that prompted Coleridge to exclaim to Southey, when he first saw it in the Morning Post, "the Metre�ay! that Woman has an Ear." Coleridge admired her "undoubted Genius," and Robinson returned the compliment in one of her last poems, "To the Poet Coleridge," a shrewd reading of "Kubla Khan" sixteen years before it first got into print.
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68 / MARY ROBINSON
January, 17951
Pavement slipp'ry, people sneezing, Lords in ermine, beggars freezing; Titled gluttons dainties carving, Genius in a garret starving.
5 Lofty mansions, warm and spacious; Courtiers cringing and voracious; Misers scarce the wretched heeding; Gallant soldiers fighting, bleeding.
Wives who laugh at passive spouses;
10 Theatres, and meeting-houses; Ralls, where simp'ring misses languish; Hospitals, and groans of anguish.
Arts and sciences bewailing; Commerce drooping, credit failing;
15 Placemen" mocking subjects loyal; Separations, weddings royal.
Authors who can't earn a dinner; Many a subtle rogue a winner; Fugitives for shelter seeking;
20 Misers hoarding, tradesmen breaking.0
Taste and talents quite deserted; All the laws of truth perverted; Arrogance o'er merit soaring; Merit silently deploring.
25 Ladies gambling night and morning; Fools the works of genius scorning; Ancient dames for girls mistaken, Youthful damsels quite forsaken.
Some in luxury delighting;
30 More in talking than in fighting; Lovers old, and beaux decrepid; Lordlings empty and insipid.
Poets, painters, and musicians; Lawyers, doctors, politicians: 35 Pamphlets, newspapers, and odes, Seeking fame by diff'rent roads.
Gallant souls with empty purses; Gen'rals only fit for nurses; School-boys, smit with martial spirit,
40 Taking place of vet'ran merit.
1. First published in the Morning Post as the work of "Portia." political appointees
going bankrupt
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L ONDON'S S UMMER M ORNING / 69
Honest men who can't get places, Knaves who shew unblushing faces; Ruin hasten'd, peace retarded; Candor spurn'd, and art rewarded.
1795 1806
London's Summer Morning
Who has not wak'd to list the busy sounds Of summer's morning, in the sultry smoke Of noisy London? On the pavement hot The sooty chimney-boy, with dingy face
5 And tatter'd covering, shrilly bawls his trade, Rousing the sleepy housemaid. At the door The milk-pail rattles, and the tinkling bell Proclaims the dustman's0 office; while the street trash collector's Is lost in clouds impervious. Now begins
10 The din of hackney-coaches, waggons, carts; While tinmen's shops, and noisy trunk-makers, Knife-grinders, coopers, squeaking cork-cutters, Fruit-barrows, and the hunger-giving cries Of vegetable venders, fill the air.
15 Now ev'ry shop displays its varied trade, And the fresh-sprinkled pavement cools the feet Of early walkers. At the private door The ruddy housemaid twirls the busy mop,1 Annoying the smart 'prentice, or neat girl,
20 Tripping with band-box2 lightly. Now the sun Darts burning splendor on the glitt'ring pane, Save where the canvas awning throws a shade On the gay merchandise. Now, spruce and trim, In shops (where beauty smiles with industry)
25 Sits the smart damsel; while the passenger" passerby Peeps through the window, watching ev'ry charm. Now pastry dainties catch the eye minute Of humming insects, while the limy snare3 Waits to enthral them. Now the lamp-lighter
30 Mounts the tall ladder, nimbly venturous, To trim the half-fill'd lamp; while at his feet The pot-boy4 yells discordant! All along The sultry pavement, the old-clothes-man cries In tone monotonous, and side-long views
35 The area for his traffic: now the bag Is slily open'd, and the half-worn suit (Sometimes the pilfer'd treasure of the base Domestic spoiler), for one half its worth, Sinks in the green abyss. The porter now
40 Bears his huge load along the burning way;
1. An echo of Jonathan Swift's urban pastoral "A 2. Box for hats, gloves, etc. Description of the Morning" (1709), in which Moll 3. Sticky substance used to catch insects. whirls "her mop with dex'trous airs" (line 7). 4. Servant from a nearby pub.
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70 / MARY ROBINSON
And the poor poet wakes from busy dreams, To paint the summer morning.
1795-1800 1800
The Camp1
Tents, marquees, and baggage waggons; Suttling houses,2 beer in flaggons; Drums and trumpets, singing, firing; Girls seducing, beaux admiring;
5 Country lasses gay and smiling, City lads their hearts beguiling; Dusty roads, and horses frisky; Many an Eton boy in whisky;3 Tax'd carts full of farmer's daughters;
io Brutes condemn'd, and man�who slaughters! Public-houses, booths, and castles; Belles of fashion, serving vassals; Lordly Gen'rals fiercely staring, Weary soldiers, sighing, swearing!
15 Petit maitres� always dressing� fops In the glass themselves caressing; Perfum'd, painted, patch'd and blooming Ladies�manly airs assuming! Dowagers of fifty, simp'ring 20 Misses, for a lover whimp'ring� Husbands drill'd to household tameness; Dames heart sick of wedded sameness. Princes setting girls a-madding� Wives for ever fond of gadding� 25 Princesses with lovely faces, Beauteous children of the Graces! Britain's pride and Virtue's treasure, Fair and gracious, beyond measure! Aid de Camps, and youthful pages� 30 Prudes, and vestals0 of all ages!� virgins Old coquets, and matrons surly, Sounds of distant hurly burly\ Mingled voices uncouth singing; Carts, full laden, forage bringing; 35 Sociables,4 and horses weary; Houses warm, and dresses airy; Loads of fatten'd poultry; pleasure Serv'd (TO NOBLES) without measure. Doxies' who the waggons follow; 40 Beer, for thirsty hinds0 to swallow; farm boys