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The Corvey Poets Project at the University of Nebraska —
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The Corvey Poets Project at the University of Nebraska —
British Poetry of the later Eighteenth and Earlier Nineteenth Centuries
Bibliographical and Contextual Apparatus
Hawkins, Susannah
The Poetical Works of Susannah Hawkins. Dumfries: [John M'Diarmid and Co.], 1829. Pp. vi + 56.
Descriptive Essay
This "Scottish Poetess" states in the epigraph to The Poetical
Works of Susannah Hawkins that her work is about singing the "praises
of the great God" and "the beauties of nature, love, admiration, and
curiosity." Her muse, she tells us, "whispered" in her "ear
to keep by the Protestant faith" and "to look around" (iii).
"Nature would tell" (iii) of the one God to serve and one faith to
believe. Susannah Hawkins and her collection of poetical works do indeed sing
the praises with recurring themes of God, moral lessons, and the wonders of
nature. As I read and examined this volume, I kept a tally to outline the themes
and subjects of these 33 poems and songs. Themes of morality, virtue, and religion
were prominent in about a third of the works, invoking nature in nine. The subject
of politics or the Royals were featured in five. Three prominently used the
regional dialect to illustrate several subjects. Two of the six songs spoke
of love. Susannah Hawkins was known to peddle her little books throughout the
border region of Scotland and England. She wanted to share her observations
and joys with everybody, thus her audience appears to have been broad.
The themes of morality and virtue are most prominent. The first poem in this
volume sets a high moral tone with the aptly titled "The Beauty of Virtue."
Nature is summoned right from the start and a beautiful scene is set, equating
a virtuous life with the sun shining brightly. The Marchioness of Queensberry,
to whom this volume is dedicated, is presented as the example of virtuous beauty:
"She to the poor is always kind, / To them she bears tender mind"
(10).
In addition, Hawkins makes considerable use of the Bible and its influence
is evident everywhere. "The False Swearer" is essentially an introductory
lesson on the third commandment, and "The Loss of Man's Happiness"
introduces Satan and his career ambitions. Additionally, we get lessons about
humility in "Self-Conceit," about jealousy in "Guilt and Innocence,"
and about the wrath of God and His chastening rod in "The Uncertainty of
Happiness":
Ye who do
fret when trouble comes,
Do ye not understand,
All must bear the
chast'ning rod,
By God's Almighty
hand" (27).
Hawkins took her religion and muse's whisperings most seriously.
Several of the morality poems predominantly utilize the formulaic deviceS of
allegory and personification. In addition to the aforementioned "Guilt
and Innocence," "Truth and Falsehood" is the morality tale of
a personified Envy, his spouse Cruelty, and their offspring Falsehood:
In a deep vale these
three met Truth,
And wounded him full
sore;
Falsehood put on Truth's
graceful cloak,
Then she did walk before"
(21).
Soon, these three nearly destroy an innocent man. Eventually Truth revives,
takes back her cloak, and scares the three of them away.
Still another set of opposites is featured in "Passion and Reason." The moral narrator here encounters a ghost-like man who names himself Passion. Next, "A maid called Reason did appear" (33). The poet then observes two other men as they get into a heated argument. These men pay little attention to Reason and, of course, Passion pretends to be on both sides.
The longest of these poetic moral narratives is entitled "Virtue and Vice."
Two youths are paired, respectively, with Virtue and Vice. Vice, along with
her accomplice, a "wither'd hag…called Infamy," go on to rob
the first youth of his "money, clothes, and bread" (49). Virtue, chosen
by the other youth, also has a partner labeled Fame. The lesson told here is
simple: if you pursue Virtue, you will have a much easier life and it
will be richer and more admirable. This is consistent with the other poems in
that high morals are presented as being unquestionably a good thing. So, do
not tell lies, listen to reason, and be virtuous.
Now, on the other hand, the narrative "Art and Nature" differs a
bit from the other allegories in this volume. All the senses are touched in
the opening stanzas; there is the shining sun, blooming roses, singing birds,
and mild breezes. The poet overhears two young lovers; one is a nymph called
Nature and the other a young lad named Art. Nature states,
By his great power;
You cannot imitate his
hand,
Behold that flower!"
(31).
Their lengthy discussion results in the conclusion that since God created Man,
man cannot match the perfection of Nature's (i.e. God's) work.
The subjects of the Royals, the aristocracy, and politics are featured in several
poems. The poems "On the Death of Princess Charlotte" and "The
Death of Our Late King" are dedicated to the memories of Princess Charlotte
and George III, respectively, and not only celebrate their lives but additionally
Hawkins's pride in being a Briton. This poetess, a member of the working class,
appears to have had very llittle problem expressing her opinions. In "Lines
on the Royal Family," a suggestion for the Royals states "May all
the blood royal in virtue increase," in effect telling George IV, the successor
to the throne, to shape up (Mandell). In the narrative of "The Death of
Thomas Stoddart," the poet examines the local politics and criticizes the
court for releasing the young female suspect who is obviously freed by a partial
jury.
As per the standard of this era of poetry, much of the poetry in Hawkins's
volume is written in King's English although some are written, most interestingly,
in the local Scottish dialect. One example of the dialect poem features the
Devil who appears again in "Address to Satan," blamed for many of
the local ills. Murderers, robbers, liars, thieves and
The hypocrites wi' blunt-like
een,
Were unco laith they
should be seen" (36).
"Blunt-like een" are literally dull eyes, figuratively one who is
slow to perceive or understand. "Unco laith" means uncouth loath,
or possibly a strange reluctance (Lancashire, dictionary.com). Two additional
works, "Address to Doggerels" and "The Miser's Glundie Wife,"
are a challenge for the modern reader to read; with a manual to interpret Scottish
phrases at one's fingertips, however, they are enhanced immensely. Here is one
example from the latter:
She o'er the stock, in
haste doth strunt,
And syne she gars
her cutty lunt,
A singed collie
when its burnt,
Will bark an yowl;
Like grumbles this
auld reeker runt,
She'll grane and
growl.
With the aid of the Dictionary of Broad Scots, the stanza roughly translates
to this:
As she oversees
the cooking of cabbage root, quickly with vigor she walks away,
Since then she causes
her short, broken match or lighting device to ignite.
A charred black
dog when it is burned,
Will bark and cry;
She, too, will complain
about this old smoking stem of cabbage,
And she will groan
and speak in an angry or surly manner about it.
The use of the dialect in these three poems suggests that Hawkins is speaking
to her peers, talking to them in their own local tongue. The tone and objectives
of these three poems should reach those also engaged in crude verses, misers,
and hypocrites. Perhaps they will then take note of her moral works.
Hawkins concludes her volume with a half a dozen songs. "Shepard's Song"
is a melodic waltz and ode to nature; likewise, the one simply entitled "Song"
(51) sings of nature's beauty. "The Banks of Milk" and "Cupid's
Garden" are simple nature narratives. The former concerns and warns about
potential danger in nature, the "prickling briers that wounded me"
from the "lovely…hawthorn blossom" (51). The latter work warns
of the "cunning Cupid's fatal dart" should you steal away the flowers
in his care. The song section has a different feel; plus the names of the melodies
to which they follow are listed for most.
Interestingly, the remaining two songs in this section are about love. In modern
poetry, that of the twentieth century, the topic of love is perennially popular.
One could conclude that a poet of the limited reputation (or notoriety) of Hawkins,
had she been married or had children, might have written more poetry about a
love interest or offspring. "Song" (the second song with the same
simple title, 53-54) is about a love interest a "pretty maid" named
"Jeannie." It pours on the sentiment of the encounter and their eventual
marriage. "Fair Newbie," the last song in the volume laments the departure
and separation of the poet's love interest. It is difficult to know if these
two songs were written for someone, or perhaps a personal-but-public response
to private relationships.
The structure of this volume of poetry is evenly distributed, utilizing three
basic poetic forms: 1) the ballad stanza: quatrains rhyming abcb and alternating
four-stress and three-stress lines, 2) an assortment mostly based on four-line,
four-beat ballad stanzas, rhyming aabb or abab, and 3) the Burns stanza or meter:
a six-line stanza with the rhyme scheme aaabab, with a's as tetrameter lines,
and b's the dimeter lines (Lancashire). The influence of Robert Burns most likely
had the greatest impact on Hawkins, sharing a common cultural heritage and helping
her to find her voice (Mandell).
With the continued increase in literacy rates, more and more people were reading
(and writing) poetry. Reading poetry leads to composing poetry. Therefore, if
a poet reads and studies poetry, that reading and study should then reflect
itself in the poet's work. By imitating other poets' styles (Burns et al.) and
techniques - e.g. the use of euphemisms like "vegetable tribe" (13)
for plants - Hawkins can only enhance her own stature and influence as a poet
from this era. By way of her wandering around the countryside selling her books,
the poetess tradition and self promotion also produced the byproduct of educating
her audience, inducing them "in a high culture otherwise closed off to
its readers" (Mandell).
The muse may have first inspired Ms. Hawkins as she "tended her master's
cattle" and she was inspired and motivated to "sing the praises of
the Great God" in poems and songs. One can not help, however, to recall
John Gibson Lockhart's comments in 1818 concerning the Cockney school of poetry.
Lockhart spoke of all "the manias of this mad age…the most incurable,
as well as the most common seems to be no other than the Metromaine." This
"passion for versifying" permeated Great Britain. "The just celebrity
of Robert Burns and Miss Baillie has had the melancholy effect of turning the
heads of we know not how many farm servants and unmarried ladies" (Mellor
159). Susannah Hawkins appears to be one of many poets, competent and determined,
yet lost with scores of other versifiers of the early 19th century.
Works Cited
Dictionary.com. 2004. Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. 1 Dec. 2004. <http://dictionary.reference.com/>
Dictionary of Broad Scots. 1999-2005.
Family-Crests.com. 1 Dec. 2004. <http://www.family-crests.com/coat-of-arms-library/family-crest/dictionary-scots.html>
Lancashire, Ian. "Glossary of Poetic Terms." University of Toronto
Libraries. 1999-2002. 1 Dec. 2004. <http://eir.library.utoronto.ca/rpo/display_rpo/poetterm.cfm>
Mandell, Laura. "Introduction: The Poetess Tradition." Romanticism
on the Net, "The Transatlantic Poetess." Issues 29-30, February-May
2003. Université de Montréal. 1 Dec. 2004. <http://www.erudit.org/revue/ron/2003/v/n29/007712ar.html#no1>
Mandell, Laura. Hawkins, Susannah, 1781-1868. Critical Essay.
Scottish Women Poets of the Romantic Period. Eds. Stephen C.
Behrendt and Nancy J. Kushigian. Biography. 2001. 1 Dec. 2004. <http://www.alexanderstreet2.com/SWRPlive/bios/S7034-D001.html>
Mellor, Anne K., and Richard Matlak. British Literature 1780-1830.
Boston: Heinle & Heinle, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc., 1996.
Additional Links to The Poetical Works of Susannah Hawkins.
Blackmask Online. 2002. 1 Dec. 2004. <http://www.blackmask.com/books90c/sushawkdex.htm?http://www.blackmask.com/books90c/sushawkcon.htm>
British Women Romantic Poets Project. The University Library.
29 October 2004. University of California-Davis. 1 Dec. 2004. <http://old.lib.ucdavis.edu/BWRP/Works/HawkSPoeti.htm#p37>
Scottish Women Poets of the Romantic Period. Kushigian, Nancy,
and Behrendt, Stephen, eds. Alexander Street Press. 2001. The University of
Chicago. 1 Dec. 2004. <http://www.blackmask.com/books90c/sushawkdex.htm?http://www.blackmask.com/books90c/sushawkcon.htm>
Prepared by Kim R. Theesen, University of Nebraska, December 2004.
© Kim R. Theesen, 2004