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OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 09/02/22, SPi
Rhythms of Feeling in
Edward Lear, T. S. Eliot,
and Stevie Smith
JA SM I N E JAG G E R
1
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 09/02/22, SPi
1
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© Jasmine Jagger 2022
The moral rights of the author have been asserted
First Edition published in 2022
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OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 09/02/22, SPi
For my mother—
I carry your music with me.
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 09/02/22, SPi
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 09/02/22, SPi
Acknowledgements
My deep gratitude goes to the following people, each of whom contributed generous
ideas, suggestions, and edits in the making of this book: Steven Connor, James
Williams, Angela Leighton, Seamus Perry, and Will May. Thanks also to my dear
friend Thomas Russell for casting his eye upon countless drafts.
For funding the bulk of this research, I am most grateful to the Wolfson
Foundation. For additional funding, I am grateful to Jesus College and the Faculty
of English, Cambridge.
I am indebted to the archivists at Houghton Library (Harvard), the Berg
Collection (New York), McFarlin Library (Tulsa), Somerville College Library
(Oxford), and the Tennyson Research Centre (Lincoln), for their tireless help with
manuscript materials. My thanks also go to the patient editorial team at
OUP. The following are used by permission:
‘Edward Lear’ from Collected Poems by W. H. Auden, by permission of Penguin
Random House LLC; extracts from The Complete Nonsense and Other Verse by
Edward Lear, by permission of Watson, Little Ltd; Edward Lear manuscript letter
to Emily Tennyson (9 October 1879), by permission of Lincoln Heritage Services;
drawing by Alfred Lord Tennyson from his In Memoriam manuscript notebook
(1834), by permission of The Master and Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge; by
permission of Faber and Faber Ltd: extracts from The Poems of T. S. Eliot Volumes I
and II by T. S. Eliot; The Waste Land: A Facsimile and Transcript by T. S. Eliot; Stevie
Smith, The Collected Poems and Drawings of Stevie Smith; manuscript materials by
Stevie Smith, by permission of the University of Tulsa; extracts from Some Are
More Human than Others by Stevie Smith, by permission of Peter Owen and New
Directions Publishing Corporation; John Lee Hooker quote, by permission of the
John Lee Hooker Estate; Human Nervous System dissected by M.A. Schalck and
L.P. Ramsdell, by permission of the Museum of Osteopathic Medicine, Kirksville,
Missouri; ‘Bynogen Brings Health’, two adverts from The Athenaeum, by permis-
sion of University Library, Cambridge; ‘Dancers’ by William Patrick Roberts, by per-
mission of The Treasury Solicitor, Mishcon de Reya LLP.
At Jesus College, University of Cambridge, I would like to thank Rod Mengham
and Christopher Burlinson for their kind mentorship. At the University of
Oxford, I would especially like to thank Matthew Bevis, Stephen Gill, and Sophie
Ratcliffe, for their long-standing support, guidance, and inspiration.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart to: my husband Douglas Maxwell, for
his love and companionship; my father Hugh, for always reminding me to believe
in myself; and my courageous mother Suzy, who provided endless support and
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 09/02/22, SPi
viii Acknowledgements
encouragement for this book while fighting for her life against motor neurone
disease. Rhythms of Feeling could not have been written without you.
Finally, this work has been animated and loved by not one, but two thinkers—
and my greatest debt is to my teacher, Anne Malone Stillman, la miglior fabbra,
who saw me through it all.
—J.J., 2020.
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 09/02/22, SPi
Contents
List of Illustrations xi
List of Abbreviations xvii
Introduction 1
I. Affect and creativity 6
II. The poets’ affects 10
III. Affect and rhythm 22
IV. Rhythm and ‘relief ’ 41
Lear’s Tears 48
I. Breaking 52
II. Private melody 62
III. Turtle, you shall carry me 71
IV. Too deep for tears 93
Eliot’s Nerves 98
I. Early jitters 103
II. Nerves in patterns 119
III. Sickly vehicle 130
IV. When words fail 140
Smith’s Scratches 148
I. Beast within 154
II. Scratching out 163
III. Too low for words 175
IV. Darker I move 188
Coda: Dancing Feeling 202
List of Illustrations
0.1. Edward Lear, ‘Herons & sweeps: drawing and verse’, Edward Lear
miscellaneous drawings, MS Typ 55.14, (53). Houghton Library, Harvard
University, Cambridge, Mass. 12
0.2. Edward Lear, ‘There was an Old Man of Whitehaven’, in A Book of Nonsense
(London: Routledge, Warne, and Routledge, 1846). 14
0.3. Edward Lear, ‘There was an Old Man on the Border’, in More Nonsense,
Pictures, Rhymes, Botany, etc (London: R. J. Bush, 1872). 15
0.4. Edward Lear, ‘There was an Old Man on some rocks’, in A Book of Nonsense
(London: Routledge, Warne, and Routledge, 1846). 27
0.5. Edward Lear, Diary, 16 November 1861, Edward Lear diaries, 1858–1888.
MS Eng 797.3 (4). Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge,
Mass (seq. 172). 29
0.6 (a) and (b). Stevie Smith, ‘My Cat Major’. MS 1976.012.2.4.3, Stevie Smith
Papers, McFarlin Library, University of Tulsa. 35
0.7. Stevie Smith, ‘The Galloping Cat’. MS 1976.012.2.5.9, Stevie Smith Papers,
McFarlin Library, University of Tulsa. 36
1.1. Edward Lear, ‘Calico Pie’, in Nonsense Songs, Stories, Botany and Alphabets
(London: R. J. Bush, 1871). 55
1.2. Edward Lear, ‘There was an Old Man of Cape Horn’, in A Book of Nonsense
(London: Routledge, Warne, and Routledge, 1846). 58
1.3. Edward Lear, ‘There was an Old Person whose tears’. CN, 120. Complete Nonsense
and Other Verse edited by Vivien Noakes with permission from Penguin. 59
1.4. Edward Lear, ‘There was an Old Man of Algiers’. CN, 462. Complete Nonsense
and Other Verse edited by Vivien Noakes with permission from Penguin. 60
1.5. Edward Lear, Letter to Emily Tennyson, 9 October 1879. MS TRC/
LETTERS/5537, Lincoln Heritage Services, Lincolnshire County Council. 64
1.6. Edward Lear, ‘Cold are the crabs that crawl on yonder hill’: autograph
manuscript (unsigned); [no place, undated]. Edward Lear miscellaneous
drawings, MS Typ 55.14 (138). Houghton Library, Harvard University,
Cambridge, Mass. 65
1.7. Edward Lear, Diary, 2 August 1877, Edward Lear diaries, 1858–1888.
MS Eng 797.3 (20). Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge,
Mass (seq. 118). 68
1.8. Edward Lear, ‘The Yonghy-Bonghy-Bò’: autograph manuscript (unsigned);
[no place, undated], Edward Lear miscellaneous drawings. MS Typ 55.14 (162).
Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. 72
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 09/02/22, SPi
xii List of Illustrations
1.9. Edward Lear, frontispiece illustration for ‘The Courtship of the Yonghy-
Bonghy-Bò’, in Laughable Lyrics: a fourth book of nonsense poems, songs,
botany, music & c. (London: R. J. Bush, 1877). 73
1.10. Alfred Tennyson, drawing in In Memoriam manuscript notebook (1834).
Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.15.13, f.8v. By permission of The Master
and Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge. 74
1.11. Edward Lear, draft frontispiece sketch for ‘The Yonghy-Bonghy-Bò’. MS
Typ 55.14 (162). Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. 75
1.12. Edward Lear, ‘The-Yonghy-Bonghy-Bò’, autograph manuscript (unsigned);
[no place, undated], Edward Lear miscellaneous drawings. MS Typ 55.14
(163). Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. 76
1.13. Edward Lear, ‘The Yonghy-Bonghy-Bò’: autograph manuscript (unsigned);
[no place, undated], Edward Lear miscellaneous drawings. MS Typ 55.14
(162). Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. 77
1.14. Edward Lear, ‘The Yonghy-Bonghy-Bò’: autograph manuscript (unsigned);
[no place, undated], Edward Lear miscellaneous drawings. MS Typ 55.14
(162). Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. 79
1.15. Edward Lear, published illustration for ‘The Courtship of the
Yonghy-Bonghy-Bò’, in Laughable Lyrics: A fourth book of nonsense
poems, songs, botany, music & c. (London: R. J. Bush, 1877). 79
1.16. Edward Lear, ‘There was an Old Person of Grange’, in More Nonsense,
Pictures, Rhymes, Botany, etc (London: R. J. Bush, 1872). 80
1.17. Edward Lear, ‘The Tumultuous Tom-tommy Tortoise’, in More Nonsense,
Pictures, Rhymes, Botany, etc (London: R. J. Bush, 1872). 81
1.18. Edward Lear, ‘There was an Old Person of Bradley’, Edward Lear drawings
for More Nonsense and other drawings, 1870. MS Typ 55.1 (seq. 103),
Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. 82
1.19. Edward Lear, ‘There was an Old Person of Fife’, in More Nonsense,
Pictures, Rhymes, Botany, etc (London: R. J. Bush, 1872). 83
1.20. Edward Lear, ‘There was an Old Man of the hills’, Edward Lear drawings
for More Nonsense and other drawings, 1870. MS Typ 55.1 (seq. 101),
Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. 84
1.21. Edward Lear, ‘There was an Old Man of Carlisle’, Edward Lear drawings
for More Nonsense and other drawings, 1870. MS Typ 55.1 (seq. 104),
Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. 86
1.22. Edward Lear, draft for ‘The Dong with a Luminous Nose’. Edward Lear
miscellaneous drawings, MS Typ 55.14 (152) 2–3. Houghton Library,
Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. 91
1.23. Edward Lear, draft for ‘The Dong with a Luminous Nose’. Edward Lear
miscellaneous drawings, MS Typ 55.14 (152), 1. Houghton Library,
Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. 92
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1.24. Edward Lear, published illustration for ‘The Dong with a Luminous Nose’,
in Laughable Lyrics: A fourth book of nonsense poems, songs, botany,
music & c. (London: R. J. Bush, 1877). 92
1.25. Edward Lear, ‘There was an old man of Lodore’. CN, 111. Complete Nonsense
and Other Verse by Vivien Noakes with permission from Penguin. 96
2.1. T. S. Eliot, Letter to Ralph Hodgson, 16 August 1932. L6, 407. By permission
of Faber and Faber Ltd. 103
2.2. ‘Seeing the Brain’, illustration from the St Louis Daily Globe-Democrat,
17 January 1897, in Robert Crawford, The Savage and the City in the Work
of T. S. Eliot (Oxford: Clarendon, 1987), 9. 111
2.3. William Patrick Roberts, ‘Dancers’, The Tyro: A Review of the Arts of
Painting, Sculpture, and Design, 1 (Spring 1921) 4. Estate of John David
Roberts. By permission of the Treasury Solicitor. 123
2.4. ‘Bynogen Brings Health’, advert from The Athenaeum, 13 June 1919
(no. 4650), 480. By permission of University Library, Cambridge. 124
2.5. ‘Bynogen Brings Health’, advert from The Athenaeum, 9 May 1919
(no. 4645), 291. By permission of University Library, Cambridge. 124
2.6. Photograph image of a human nervous system dissected by M.A. Schalck
and L.P. Ramsdell at Kirksville Osteopathic College. Displayed at the
Museum of Osteopathic Medicine (1999.08.01), Kirksville, Missouri.
By permission of the museum. 125
2.7 and 2.8. Edward Lear, More Nonsense (London: R.J. Bush, 1872) and
Edward Lear, A Book of Nonsense (London: Routledge, 1846). 127
2.9. T. S. Eliot, ‘London, the swarming life’, autograph manuscript for
The Waste Land (composed November 1921). F, 36. By permission of
Faber and Faber Ltd. 134
3.1. Stevie Smith, ‘The Songster’. CP, 20. By permission of Faber
and Faber Ltd. 148
3.2. Stevie Smith, ‘Le Singe Qui Swing’. CP, 287. By permission of Faber and
Faber Ltd. 150
3.3. Stevie Smith, ‘Look, Look’. CP, 32. By permission of Faber and Faber Ltd. 152
3.4. Edward Lear, ‘There was an old person whose mirth’. CN, 114. 153
3.5. Stevie Smith, ‘I am an animal!’ SMHO. Copyright © Stevie Smith 1958.
Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp. 154
3.6. Stevie Smith, ‘From the County Lunatic Asylum’. CP, 32. By permission of
Faber and Faber Ltd. 163
3.7. Stevie Smith, ‘Murder’. MS 1976.012.2.3.11, Stevie Smith Papers, McFarlin
Library, University of Tulsa. 165
3.8. Stevie Smith, ‘Does No Love Last?’. MS 1976.012.2.2.6, Stevie Smith
Papers, McFarlin Library, University of Tulsa. 167
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 09/02/22, SPi
xiv List of Illustrations
3.9. Stevie Smith, ‘What shall I do with my hands?’ SMHO. Copyright © Stevie
Smith 1958. Copyright © James MacGibbon 1989. Reprinted by
permission of New Directions Publishing Corp. 171
3.10. Stevie Smith, ‘I love and am loved.’ SMHO. Copyright © Stevie Smith
1958. Copyright © James MacGibbon 1989. Reprinted by permission of
New Directions Publishing Corp. 173
3.11 and 3.12. Stevie Smith, ‘Anger’s Freeing Power’ (1) & (2). MS
1976.012.2.4.1, Stevie Smith Papers, McFarlin Library, University of Tulsa. 174
3.13. Stevie Smith, ‘Not Waving but Drowning’. CP, 347. By permission of Faber
and Faber Ltd. 177
3.14. Stevie Smith, ‘Not Waving but Drowning’, unpublished draft sketch
c.1957. From a typed proof of the poem. MS 1976.012.2.4.3, Stevie Smith
Papers, McFarlin Library, University of Tulsa. 178
3.15. Stevie Smith, person being tripped on waves, unattributed drawing.
MS 1976.012.2.1.11–13, Stevie Smith Papers, McFarlin Library,
University of Tulsa. 179
3.16. Stevie Smith, sad clown, unattributed drawing. MS 1976.012.2.1.11–13,
Stevie Smith Papers, McFarlin Library, University of Tulsa. 179
3.17. Stevie Smith, nervous woman in bed, unattributed drawing. MS
1976.012.2.1.11, Stevie Smith Papers, 1924–1970, McFarlin Library,
University of Tulsa. 180
3.18. Stevie Smith, unattributed typed review, with sketches scribbled over
the top. MS 1976.012.2.1.10, Stevie Smith Papers, McFarlin Library,
University of Tulsa. 186
3.19. Stevie Smith, ‘We all have these thoughts sometimes.’ SMHO. Copyright
© Stevie Smith 1958. Copyright © James MacGibbon 1989. Reprinted by
permission of New Directions Publishing Corp. 187
3.20. Stevie Smith, ‘Think! Think! Think twice!’ (tableau) SMHO. Copyright
© Stevie Smith 1958. Copyright © James MacGibbon 1989. Reprinted by
permission of New Directions Publishing Corp. 187
3.21. Stevie Smith, ‘I sometimes thought my mind would give way.’ SMHO.
Copyright © Stevie Smith 1958. Copyright © James MacGibbon 1989.
Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp. 188
3.22. Edward Lear, ‘There was a Young Lady in white’, autograph manuscript
for More Nonsense (1872). MS Typ 55.1, Houghton Library, Harvard College. 190
3.23. Stevie Smith, postcard with ‘Scorpion’ handwritten by Smith, dated
5 October 1970. Photographed by James MacGibbon in 1990. SMHO, 17.
Copyright © Stevie Smith 1958. Copyright © James MacGibbon 1989.
Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp. 192
3.24 and 3.25. Stevie Smith, ‘The Stroke’ (1) & (2). MS 1976.012.2.5.12, Stevie
Smith Papers, McFarlin Library, University of Tulsa. 194
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 09/02/22, SPi
List of Illustrations xv
List of Abbreviations
ATW Alfred Lord Tennyson, The Works of Tennyson: The Eversley Edition, ed. by
Hallam Tennyson, 9 vols. (London: Macmillan, 1908–1910).
CC Stevie Smith, Cats in Colour (London: B. T. Batsford Ltd, 1959).
CN Edward Lear, The Complete Nonsense and Other Verse, ed. by Vivien Noakes
(London: Penguin, 2001).
CP Stevie Smith, The Collected Poems and Drawings of Stevie Smith, ed. by Will May
(London: Faber & Faber, 2015).
D Edward Lear, Diaries, Houghton Library, Harvard University, MS Eng. 797.3.
ECP T. S. Eliot, The Complete Prose of T. S. Eliot: The Critical Edition, ed. by Ronald
Schuchard and others, 6 vols. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press,
2014–2017).
F T. S. Eliot, The Waste Land: A Facsimile and Transcript of the Original Drafts,
Including the Annotations of Ezra Pound, ed. by Valerie Eliot (London: Faber &
Faber, 2010).
FS Frances Spalding, Stevie Smith: A Biography (New York: W.W. Norton & Co.,
1989).
L T. S. Eliot, The Letters of T. S. Eliot, ed. by Valerie Eliot and Hugh Haughton,
7 vols. (London: Faber & Faber, 2009–2017).
MA Stevie Smith, Me Again: The Uncollected Writings, ed. by Jack Barbera and
William McBrien (London: Virago Press Ltd, 1981).
NOYP Stevie Smith, Novel On Yellow Paper (London: Jonathan Cape, 1980).
OPP T. S. Eliot, On Poetry and Poets (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2009).
P T. S. Eliot, The Poems of T. S. Eliot, ed. by Christopher Ricks and Jim McCue,
2 vols. (London: Faber & Faber, 2015).
SE T. S. Eliot, Selected Essays: 1917–1932 (London: Faber & Faber, first pub. 1932,
this edn 1999).
SL Edward Lear, Selected Letters, ed. by Vivien Noakes (Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1988).
SMHO Stevie Smith, Some Are More Human than Others: A Sketchbook, ed. by James
MacGibbon (London: New Directions, 1989).
UPUC T. S. Eliot, The Use of Poetry and the Use of Criticism: Studies in the Relation of
Criticism to Poetry in England (London: Faber & Faber, 1933), accessed in The
Complete Prose of T. S. Eliot: The Critical Edition, 6 vols., vol. 4: English Lion,
1930–1933, ed. by Jason Harding and Ronald Schuchard, pp. 574–694.
YE Robert Crawford, Young Eliot: from St Louis to The Waste Land (London:
Jonathan Cape, 2015).
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M. Pelayo, Id. estét., t. II, vol. II, pág. 385: "La introducción de los
metros italianos se verificó sin resistencia alguna que tuviera
verdadero carácter crítico: las trovas de Castillejo y de Gregorio
Silvestre contra los petrarquistas son una humorada sin alcance,
que de ningún modo puede tenerse por guerra literaria. Oposición
formal no la hubo, ni podía haberla, puesto que no se trataba de un
conflicto entre la poesía nacional y la trasplantada de Italia, sino de
un conflicto entre dos escuelas líricas igualmente artificiosas,
derivación lejana la una del arte provenzal y galaico-portugués (no
estoy conforme de todo punto con esto); pero modificada ya desde
fines del siglo xiv por elementos italianos; y nacida la otra de la
inteligente comprensión de los primores de la forma en las obras del
Renacimiento toscano, y á través de él en las del arte latino, y más
remotamente en las del arte helénico. Y de hecho, como nada de la
poesía indígena se perdía, como sólo se trataba de sustituir una
imitación á otra, y como aquella imitación era más discreta (y en el
fondo más original), y de obras, sin duda, más perfectas y
armoniosas, y traía además la poderosa palanca de un nuevo metro,
"capaz (como escribió Boscán) para recibir cualquier materia, ó
grave ó sotil, ó dificultosa ó fácil, y assimismo para ayuntarse con
cualquier estilo de los que hallemos entre los autores antiguos
aprobados", y, finalmente, como el espíritu de aquel siglo y la
tendencia de los sucesos y la disposición de los espíritus se
encaminaban fatalmente hacia il bel paese, la batalla estaba ganada
antes de darse, y bien se les conoce á los innovadores en la
arrogancia é imperio con que se asientan sobre la tierra de su
conquista". En estas palabras muestra M. Pelayo su predilección por
todo lo que el Renacimiento trajo consigo; pero el hecho es que la
copla castellana es española de origen, antiquísima, que es la única
popular hasta hoy y la que más se acomoda á nuestro idioma.
Somos los españoles demasiado vivos para soportar la pachorra de
tan largos versos y no nos gusta desleir en ellos el pensamiento,
que, cuajado en versos cortos y trocaicos de ritmo, brinca y corre
con la galanura propia de nuestra lengua. De mí sé decir que pierdo
el hilo, ó me cuesta trabajo seguirlo, en los endecasílabos; mientras
que en las coplas no necesito hacer el menor esfuerzo para seguir
el pensamiento.