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Adumbration:
The act of giving the main facts and not the details about something,
or something that gives the main facts:
Ben Wiebracht of Stanford Online High School , Stanford
University, is the series editor for the “Forgotten Contemporaries of Jane
Austen.” In this first editon of the series Ben is the co-editor along with seven of his students, Joe,
Carolyn, Macy, Sophia, Kate, Lauren and Varsha. They chose to investigate a
poem by John Matthews (1755 – 1826), a contemporary of Jane Austen’s, that relates a day in the life of somebody enjoying the
delights of Bath in the 18th
century. The inspiration for this book was an article Ben and his students co
authored for ,"Jane Austens World," blog entitled, “A Day In Catherine Morelands
Bath.” This edition begins with an introduction to the series explaining the
premise, that this series, “ strives to see Austen in the same way that Austen
saw Elizabeth and Darcy , in Pride and Prejudice and also to uncover some of
the Gardiner’s (Elizabeth’s aunt and uncle) of Austen’s world.” In a sense it
is an attempt to see people and characters of the 18th century in a
context that helps us in the 21st century get at least a glimpse of how life and people
would have actually been in the 18th century. Ben and his students,
by comparing Austen and Matthews, provide us with an insight into their thoughts,
attitudes, interests and actions . Something
historians, film makers and us readers
try to do when we immerse ourselves in Austen.
Ben and his students use the Gardeners, as an example of the type of people, middle class, and quietly influential ,rising in society and who’s importance is not at first apparent to the plot, as a template for the type of people they want to write about. It is the Gardeners for instance who influence some of the main action within Austen's novel , but on the surface appear to be ancillary characters. At the end of the novel they are shown appreciation by the main protagonists. Ben and his students quote the finishing lines of Pride and Prejudice,
“With the Gardeners, they were
always on the most intimate terms. Darcy as well as Elizabeth really loved
them…. the persons who, by bringing her to Derbyshire, had been the means of uniting
them.”
In many ways this
series is about getting under the skin of the everyday people who make the
wheels of society work.
I think this first
edition, “Bath: An Adumbration In Rhyme,” is ground breaking work. First as I
have mentioned above it is an attempt to allow us to experience the 18th
century at a deeper level. Also from the
teaching point of view Ben has given his students a purposeful aim. They are
not merely writing an academic essay, introduction, key points with evidence
and explanation followed by a conclusion , the usual academic essay format written
for a tutor and never read again, a dry formal process. Through the creating of this book ,Ben has
given his students the opportunity to add something meaningful and important to
our understating of Jane Austen and the
18th century. The editing team have gained valuable experience in
researching, and choosing key evidence. They are also assured of providing
continued pleasure and gained understanding for their readers to come.
John Matthews by George Romney 1786 Tate Britain.
I have read Matthews
poem previously but knew very little about him apart from the obvious that you
can glean from his poem that the writer was part of the well to do, educated
middle classes. The activities and days events Matthews describes in his poem
need money to participate in. The fact that he is a competent poet, I won’t say
a great poet, and references Latin quotations reveals that he is educated to
the highest level of the 18th century. Ben provides us with a biography of Matthews. He was born in
Herefordshire in 1755 and appears to have lived in Herefordshire for the rest
of his life. He was also very lucky, or very canny, as far as money and fortune
goes. He married a wealthy heiress Elizabeth Ellis and later in 1784 an elderly
spinster Elizabeth Skinner left him her fortune of £80, 000. That was an
enormous amount of money in the 18th century. He was a rural
gentleman in the top 5% of the population. He was educated at Eton and
Oxford. He took up a medical career at St Georges Hospital in Westminster London
and later became a member of the Royal College of Physicians. He built a large estate
in Herefordshire. He funded charities. He founded and commanded the
Herefordshire Volunteer Corps in 1798. In 1793 he was The Mayor of Hereford and
in 1803 he represented Hereford in the House of Commons as their member of
parliament. His poetry appears to have been a form of relaxation and escape. He
published mostly anonymously. And, what I like particularly about Mr John
Matthews is his ability to be self-deprecating. One of his more well know poems
is about Cloacina the Roman Goddess of sewers and apparently he thought of his
own publications as worthy of being used as toilet paper. I think he is being
harsh on himself in writing that but you have got to smile or even have a laugh
along with him.
(As an aside, St Georges Hospital eventually moved to Tooting in South London in the 1970s. It is a university hospital and just happens to be my local hospital.)
Matthews attitudes to society , his rejection of democracy as
pursued by The French Revolution and his opposition to the levelling of society
are all suggested in the poem. A comparison to Jane Austens attitudes to
class and movements between classes can be made . For instance the attempts of
Isabella Thorpe to marry up, the misguidedness of Emma Woodhouse trying to
marry off Harriet Smith and Catherine Moreland’s relationship with Henry
Tilney. Austen was testing the boundaries between
classes whereby Matthews merely disagrees with the blending of society. This shows Matthews as a man of his
time, conservative in his beliefs and with
little desire for the world to change.
As a poet his style
was boisterous and earthy. It is pointed out that many of Matthews views are shocking to
our modern sensibilities. His cruel lampooning of spinisters for instance, who
came to Bath just to enjoy themselves and have a good time.
His poetry catches us out by making quirky contrasts, This
is an example from The Adumbration,
”So the beaux in their boots, the belles in their slippers
Come to walk up and down and peep at the dippers.”
Something elegant turns into something salacious and saucy. He
has a naughty sense of humour. I think this appears again when he is walking
up, or down, Milson Street.
“When you’ve with politics done, the beauties to meet,
You may stroll for an hour up and down Milson Street
Where the misses so smart, at ev’ry fine shop.
Like rabbits in burrows, just in and out pop,”
Burrows, rabbits; this is suggestive of the sexual appetite of
rabbits of course and the ,”misses,” are there just for breeding. The misogyny
is palpable. We can find further examples.
Later, the Victorian
music hall tradition and the advent of the Victorian seaside piers with their peepshow
machines, “ What the butler saw,” are further example of this saucy earthy
humour. It took generations to become unacceptable. Our cinema was at a low
point, depicting this saucy humour, up to the 70s with the very popular ,”Carry
On,” series of films. British seaside
postcards had this saucy side to them also before women’s groups and society as
a whole decided they could not tolerate this blatant misogyny and sexism any more.
Matthews was an early protagonist of a very long tradition of British earthy
humour.
What I found most interesting in the discussion about
Matthews poetry was the analysis of the poetic structures Matthews uses. The
rhythm is an anapaestic rhythm rather than the more common iambic pentameter.
If we think of the iambic pentameter in terms of our heart beat, our most
personal rhythm, it is the essence of our life. Shakespeare and all the great poets use it.
Comedians on the other hand tend to disrupt natural rhythms to catch us out.
The anapaestic beat is our heart beat with an extra soft beat catching us out,
almost tripping us up. It lends itself to satire and humour and this is what
Matthews uses.
Matthews himself had been influenced by
the first writer of these type of Bath satires, a gentleman called Anstye who wrote, “ The New
Bath Guide,” a similar sort of satire to Matthews and from which Matthews probably drew inspiration.How
much Austen herself was influenced in her writing by both Anstey and Matthews
is open to debate but there are strong links.What I find that connects Austen,
Matthews and also Anstey strongly is the geography and the geology of Bath. Matthews
describes a day in Bath , meeting friends and acquaintances at The Pump Room
where the health giving waters from the spring could be drunk,(although
Matthews is not sure about the health giving properties of the water for certain
reasons), shopping on Milsom Street, walking around The Royal Crescent and
Landsdown Hill, and attending balls at the Assembly Rooms in the evening. The landscape,
buildings, venues, activities are the same as we find in Persuasion and Northanger Abbey. Some of the types of characters can
be compared too. The difference being is how Austen makes
them live as flesh and blood through their interactions and their humanity. In contrast the essence of Matthews and Anstey is the
superficial with amusing anecdotes, about people in general.
Ben and his students
have kept the somewhat archaic spellings and punctuation where the metre and rhythm would be affected if
these were changed. Our understanding is not hindered though. Some words and
punctuation have been modernised to help us where it doesn’t affect the flow.
The annotations to the text Ben and his students have
produced are excellent. As we read through this edition the left hand
page is Matthews poem and the right hand page are the annotations explaining
words and phrases and providing detailed information. Also, alongside the
annotations are references to Jane Austen where they are applicable, referencing Persuasion and Northanger Abbey.
This is the first time this has been done with this text. It extends our
understanding of 18th century Bath and also illuminates Austen's achievements.
This is a wonderful piece of work. I can’t wait to read the
other editions referencing other authors from the time of Austen. I certainly feel that my understanding of Austen’s
works and her world has been enriched by this first edition.
Further Reviews:
Vic Sanborn at Jane Austen's World has also written a review of this edition. We both had some input into Ben's work with his students, Vic more so than myself.
https://janeaustensworld.com/
References:
John Matthews: Bath An Adumbration in Rhyme, Series Editor
Ben Wiebrecht, Pixelia Publishing 2021
You can buy the book at Amazon UK:
A DAY IN CATHERINE MORELANDS BATH
This article was
researched, written, and designed by LiYuan Byrne, Josephine Chan, Ariana
Desai, Carolyn Engargiola, Ava Giles, Macy Levin, Gage Miles, Sophia Romagnoli,
Kate Snyder, Oscar Steinhardt, Lauren Stoneman, Alexandria Thomas, Varsha
Venkatram, and Dr. Ben Wiebracht.
https://janeaustensworld.com/2021/01/04/a-day-in-catherine-morlands-bath/
CARRY ON FILMS:
https://www.comedy.co.uk/guide/group/carry_on/
SAUCY SEASIDE POSTCARDS:
https://www.postalmuseum.org/blog/saucy-seaside-postcards-and-censorship/
