SOUTHEY, Robert.

£1,500 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

Joan of Arc. First edition. The poet's first full-length solo work, a "democratic epic that celebrated a woman who was also an enemy of England" (ODNB), was a statement of his youthful radicalism. It provided a parallel to the events of the French Revolution, which Southey looked to as a triumph over the corrupt orders of old. Southey began work on the poem celebrating the "adventures of this extraordinary woman" (p. v) in 1793. He was engrossed in the project, later writing "Joan of Arc was a whole - it was something to think of every moment of solitude, and to dream of at night; my heart was in the poem" (Southey, Life and Correspondence, p. 281). It was announced for publication by subscription at the end of 1794, but was slow to gather subscribers, likely owing to Britain's war with France. Shortly after, Southey met the publisher Joseph Cattle, who liked and agreed to publish the poem. Southey was pleased with the result, calling it "the handsomest book that Bristol had ever yet sent forth" (Southey, Life and Correspondence, p. 244) and the two men maintained a positive relationship for several years.

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