A New Poem by Thomas Chatter Ton

8/2/2019 A New Poem by Thomas Chatter Ton

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A New Poem by Thomas ChattertonAuthor(s): Thomas Ollive MabbottSource: Modern Language Notes, Vol. 39, No. 4 (Apr., 1924), pp. 226-229Published by: The Johns Hopkins University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2914965

Accessed: 12/12/2010 12:29

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226 MODERN LANGUAGE NOTESdeservingnlycontemptnd detestation.One mayconclude hattheAun story ot ts tone, t least,fromGeatish ather hanfromSwedish ources.

What, hen,was thedevelopmentfthestory? The identifica-tionofgreat-grandfatherndgreat-grandsonroduced compositefigure ftrulyprodigiouslongrevity,nd this ongevityecame hedeterminingactor n thegrowth fthetale. To accountfor t,a beginining as made by greatlyengthening he periodofexileamong heGeats. But since his did notsuffice,hesacrificehemearose. At first he sacrificeswereconnectedwvithhe period ofexile, the only eventful eriod of Eanmunid'sife (and niaturallythegreat-grandson,eingcloser t hand,fur-nishedhle ulk, f lnotall, ofthehiistorical aterial). But as timewent oln,Aun's greatage came to dominate he storymore and more,untilhis violentend was crowded ut, inconsistents it was with the conceptionof himas a personwhohad attained xtreme ld age. Further-more, hescene of actionwas transferredo Uppsala-a very ldman'sproper lace is clearly t home,notabroad. The exile storythus ostground ontinually,nd in theYnglinga ingers s a sur-vival,no longer nharmony ith he tale in itsdeveloped orm.

KEMP MALONE.University of Mlinnesota.

A NEW POEMI BY THOMIAS CHATTERTONAmong the treasuresbequeathedto the Libraryof ColumbiaUniversity yStephenWhitneyPhoenix,1s a smalloblongvellum-boundnotebook,n whichThomasChatterton i-roteeveralpoemsin theautumn f 1769. The parchmentoverbearsChatterton'snameand severalrudeheraldicdrawings imilarto thoseon the"Rowley" docuiments.Of the originaltwventyeavesthreehavebeenlcutout, and on thestubsnothings legiblesave in oneplace

"To Dr... " The remainingeventeeneaves conitainleveralpoemswhichSouthen, ublishedfrom ranscriptsuppliedby T.Hill, Esq., wi-howniied he book in 1803, and in additiononeuifinishedndhithertonpublished oem,wihich,ythekindper-'TThePhloenix ollection ontains ver5,000volumesmainlydevoted otraveland literature,nd includingomeautographrss.


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A NEW POEM BY TH-OMAS CHATTERTON 227mission ftheLibrary uthorities, now givein full,withChat-terton's haracteristicpigramof comment. The subjectof theelegywas probablyChatterton'seacher,T. Philips,but the poetlater revisedthe first hree ines for use in his Elegy on MIr.Williammith.2 The niew oemreadsas follows:

ELEGY OCT 29.Muse ascend on Sorrowvs able PluneSoar like the heavn ascending WingOf the great Bard you singWith twisted WVireathf silverd YewDeck the laureld Poets Tomb,The bard wlhosetotal Soul was God.[Sickness prevents the grateful LayI End unknowving hat to sayTo speak his worth; my feeble LyreCannot to such a Pitch a.spire.]

A careful xaminationf theMis.revealsmany rrorsn thever-sionis outheyprinted ftheotherpoems (vol. i, 203-223) and astudy f thetexts f theRiversidedition, oston185a,theAldine,London 1890, and Roberts, ondon 1906, convincesme that alllaterversions ase their extofthesepoemson Southey, nd thatall changes re misprints r conjectures. I recordSouthey'sver-bal errors, ivinghis readings n italics, nd those of theAris.nparentheses. Chattertonmade fewchanges,whenhe did change,he usually erased a faultywordwitha pen-knifend wvroteverthe space. Wherethe earlierreading is in any way legible, Irecord t, like theerrors.

I. The poembeginning Interest, houuniversal od ofmen"-atthehead Chat'terton rites he date "27 Oct[ober1769]."Southey's itleFragment s unhappy or hepoem s complete.ERRRORS. L. 4 Jail.s(JTayl);. 7 its(me); 1. 24 Chapman(Chap--men) 1. 28 (Friendshipwvithquals only can 'bemade); 1. 22

traffictraffic ).CHANGES. T. 10 bed [First readingrlleg,ible,econdreading,](girl) ; 1. 34 Turtle([sheri]ffs).II. Elegy written t StantonDrew-dated in ms. "27 [Oc-toberl"2 Soiuthey, , 355.


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228 MODERN LANGUAGE NOTESERRORS.L. 3 Fool(foot); 1. 32 Coppice-valley(Coppic'd al-ley); 1. 38 Thee thine).C}HANGES. L. 2f6When As).III. The poem beginning Far from he reachof critics ndreviews" has no titlein the MS., but is dated" 27 Oct." Lines47-50 form n epigramof commentwhich houldbe regarded sa kind of footnote, nd before . 51 is a second date," 2,8 Oct."There s no reason o call the poem a Fragment; t is complete.ERRuORS.L. 33 Maro Miaro's); 1.41 medicine(medicines); . 59G-d(God).CHANGES. L. 41 Anti was inserted ater,medicines(medicineslying); 1. 70 five(four); 1. 84 Hair(Air).IV. Elegy on T. Phillips. There are two versions of thispoem, hat in the ColumbiaMS. beingan early draft, s is provedbythe dates annexedby Chatterton,3nd bya studyof the vari-ants. Editorsshouldprintfrom he other opy,or like Southeyand Roberts, ive bothversions. Althoughprinted s one poem,the composition alls ntothreedistinct arts.(a.) Three heroiccouplets t the beginnling,n invocation othe muse without itle. There are neither rrors or changes.(b.) The elegy proper,called in the MS. simplyElegy, anidated "28 [October]." 'This version onsists f 33 quatrains, fwhichChattertonas markedwith a crossfor deletion he follow-ing stanzas, n some cases addinghis reasons,which give-vii" Expunged as unconnected";xv "Too plain" (?); xxvi "Ex-

pungedas too floweryorgrief ; xxxii; xxxiii. Beside xiv, 3-4he wrote alter."ERRORS. vii, 3 vallies(Valley); xxiii, 1 in(at); in xxvi, 4Chatterton rote darkned,"n xxvii, " negromantic."CHANGES. i, 4 stringring); iv, 4 temnpestWinter) xxiii, 2Ill(Ills) ; xxv,1 Here(Here . . .); xxxii,4 Comfort(Comforts).(c.) An epigram f comment adly misprinted itheAto,hichreadsas follows nd is notsigned T. C."3Southey, i, 22, and Roberts, i, 189; the latter gives the date December5th to the otherMS. This elegy is one of the best of Chatterton'smodernpoems and I cannotbut think that some of the stanzas have influenced heOde to Autumn of John Keats.


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REVIEWS 229To THE READEIL.Observe in favor to an hobblingstrainNeat as Exported fromnhe Parent brainAre each & evry Couplet I have pend:But little labord & I never mend.

V. Then follows he newpoem giveni t thebeginniiig f thisarticle,-it showsno changes ut thepoet has drawnhis pen acrossit, as a markof cancellation.VI. The poem beginning" Herveniis, arpingon the hack-neyed ext is headed n theAis." Suiiday 29 " which eems essa titlethan a date,forOctober 9, 1769,fell on Sunday. Thatthe poem is complete, nd not a Fragment s shownby the inkstainson the ast pageof 1iS. from hecontemporaryrawings nthe back coverof the notebook.ERRORS. L. 16 in(a) ; 1.39 There(Here) 1. 50 Corset's(Cors-lets). In 1.31 thewordtheir s probably orrect houghnot veryclear. In 1.49 bel is quitedistinctn the Nis., or do I agreewithone editor who says it makes nonsense,but believeChattertonmeant bell" as an architecturalerm.CHANGES. L. 31 their(the). THOMAS OLLIVE MABBOTT.Columbia University.

REVIEWSFerdinandBrunot, a Pensee et la Langue,Methode, rincipes t

plan d'une the6orieouvelledu langageappliqueeau frangais,Paris,Massonet Cie, 1922,xxxvi+ 954 pages n 8?.I1 y a une belle virilitedans l'Introductiondu Doyen de laFaculte des lettresde l'Universite e Paris au volumede plus de900pages qu'il consacre un plan de reforme ans 'enseignementde la langue. I1 est piquant de voir ce grandpontife a Pariss'elever ontre a " bureaucratie niversitaireet 'inertie ouverne-

mentaleet les timiditesde diversconseils. " Mais quand il e'utfallu imposer,elle [l'universite]tolerait. Elle acceptait uneameliorationomme npardonne ne faute. Un moment n a puespererque 1'ftat allait trancher ans le vif, que l'orthographe,fleau de l'educationgrammaticale, llait etre reformee. Sur cepoint essentielpourtant,a peur de l'opposition, t des coalitions

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A New Poem by Thomas Chatter Ton