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Our class has examined many pieces of British Romantic poetry that were created to give the reader a window into the lives of the English people. Collectively, these poems formed a spectrum of optimistic, realistic, religious, feminist, and political examinations of 18th century life in England. However, in spite of our class’s broad view, we have yet to find a poem that examines the separate social classes interacting with each other. What applicable knowledge could it possibly give us, to read primary sources that capture the individual tensions of the poor, creative, and affluent classes of England, without being able to understand how each station reacted when they lived together in the real world? It would be a grave mistake to complete this course after only examining the classes separately.

Mary Darby Robinson’s poem “January, 1795” is essential to consider as a candidate in the formation of our British Romantic Literary Canon because it offers a view into the everyday lives of each strata of the corrupt class system in 18th century England that is more honest, inclusive, and effective than any other account we have read so far.

William Blake offers us a collection of poems that are perfect for expanding our initially limited knowledge of the lives of the British people. He captures the heartbreaking realities of the lower class in “Infant Sorrow” and “The Chimney Sweeper,” and unrealistically perfect images of the lives of the upper class in “The Little Boy Found” and “Infant Joy.” But these poems do not offer the reader an indispensable collective view of the classes, each only offers a separate snapshot of the daily experiences of one class.

Mary Darby Robinson’s “January, 1795” draws a complete, detailed cross-section of England’s rotting class system for the reader. In the fullness of this poem, Robinson focuses the reader’s eye on three layers of England: the drowning lower class, the struggling creative and scientific class, and the flourishing upper class. She places the reader into a setting that has both “lofty mansions” and “slippery pavement,” as mentioned in the poem, and further develops the city around the reader by adding “Theatres, and meeting-houses; … [and] … Hospitals.” She adds global depth to the scene by citing England’s “Gallant soldiers fighting, bleeding,” as well as their “Separations, weddings royal,” and the “ruin hastened, peace retarded,” that is bringing society to its knees. Robinson weaves the personality of each class into the piece when she refers to “Placemen mocking subjects loyal;” and “Ladies gambling night and morning; / [as well as] Fools the works of genius scorning.” In these few examples from the poem, Robinson reminds the reader of the upper classes, lower classes, and academic classes, respectively. The concise presentation of these images is unique from other poets such as Blake because she allows the characters to be their own description. She does not need to add lines of detail about “Lordlings empty and insipid” for the reader to feel the impact of the image. She makes the effect of the poem more personal and emotional when she shows the reader the faces of the citizens in this town: “Ancient dames for girls mistaken; … Lovers old and beaux decrepid; … School-boys, smit with martial spirit.” In Robinson’s hard-hitting writing style, the reader is overwhelmed by instantly imagining a back-story for each character as they read their brief description. In every stanza, she gives the reader evidence of the morals and hope of the lower classes failing, the vision and inspiration of the creative and scientific class being wasted, and the upper class simply separating itself from the unsavory sections of England and getting richer. Robinson shows the faults of the upper-class by showing the virtues of the lower-class.

Even the simple structure of the poem comments on the glaring faults of the class system. The construction of this poem is formulaic: only eleven quatrains, eight syllables in each line. The structure is dry, mathematic, and dead – a perfect contrast against the thriving decay, corruption, and indulgence of the English society. The simple A-A-B-B rhyme scheme creates a conversational pace that adds to the observant voice of the piece; it almost sounds like two English citizens commenting on their own small city. Ultimately, the strict meter and wandering imagery meet to create a balanced, authoritative nature in the poem.

Once more addressing the academic destitution that future British Romantic Literature classes would be left in if Mary Darby Robinson’s beautifully accurate portrait of daily life was not to be added to the canon, I remind you of its unique virtues. No other poem in our canon has shown us the mundane angles of English life and made them essential to the understanding of what it meant to be English in the 18th century like Robinson has. A closing analogy: no one would ever dream of the curriculum of an upper level chemistry class forcing its students to only study individual chemicals without ever combining them, and the same principle applies to our study of British Romantic Literature. To understand the volatility of the social strata blending together, we must be able to witness the reaction itself.