Peacock ‘s “Four Stages of Poetry” tells the
incredibly skewed grand narrative of poetry and parallels its four stages
flimsily to varying metals. I also thought it was interesting how John Milton
seems to be the shining exception to Peacock’s otherwise cemented argument that
poetry is on a rapid decline in prevalence, importance and quality. Furthermore,
modern poetry’s description, “disjointed relics of tradition and fragments of
second-hand observation” could easily apply to the Illiad or the Odyssey, which
Peacock so revered in calling it the “golden age.” I think Peacock’s argument
has much to do with the “grand
narrative” that we discussed in class at the beginning of the year. The
definition of history changes in the period we are studying, and the Peacock’s
criticism seems to devalue poetry that documents historical micro-moments and
not epic events. And I’m not sure how Wordsworth’s inability to “describe a
scene under his own eyes without putting into it the shadow of a Danish boy or
the living ghost of Lucy Gray” is not a historical account, even though it’s
small and not the sweeping tale of the end of a civilization.
From the exaggerated language, such as the repeated words "rude" and "best" throughout the essay, and the general dramatic language, I interpreted the work as more as a satire. The mention of Milton's being the epitome of poetry in decline is ironic since even by the time Peacock was writing that Milton was revered as a poet. In addition, the statement "Shakespeare and his contemporaries, who used time and locality merely because they could not do without them, because every action must have its when and where," also is an ironic way of saying how crucial time and space were to make Shakespeare's plays and poems masterpieces. Think "A Midsummer Night's Dream," and you'll recall how certain things happened in the forest as opposed to the city and timing was a crucial element in the development of the play. Addressing the Wordsworth comment, I can't remember if it was in this class or in my other English class that we discussed history through the minute actions and feelings of individuals being just as valid as the grand account of civilizations; I agree with your observation that Wordsworth does not lack ability to tell history.
ReplyDeleteYou are thinking back to our reading of Godwin on history and romance from the very beginning of the semester; Peacock is indeed preference grand narratives over minute and personal histories; he falls in line with late eighteenth-century figures like Joshua Reynolds, who claimed that history painting (the representation of important events in history) was a higher form of art than portraiture or still life. One additional point: the essay is titled "The Four Ages of Poetry," but you might be thinking of the Scottish Enlightenment theory of four stages of civilization, which is also in play in this piece.
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