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Excerpt

Excerpt from The Purcell Papers — Volume 1, by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

 A few days after, he sent the following sequel:

'My dear good Madam, You can't think how very sad I'm. I sent you, or
I mistake myself foully, A very excellent imitation of the poet Cowley,
Containing three very fair stanzas, Which number Longinus, a very
critical man, says, And Aristotle, who was a critic ten times more
caustic, To a nicety fits a valentine or an acrostic. And yet for all my
pains to this moving epistle, I have got no answer, so I suppose I may
go whistle. Perhaps you'd have preferred that like an old monk I
had pattered on In the style and after the manner of the unfortunate
Chatterton; Or that, unlike my reverend daddy's son, I had attempted the
classicalities of the dull, though immortal Addison.

 I can't endure this silence another week;<br />
 What shall I do in order to make you speak?<br />
             Shall I give you a trope<br />
             In the manner of Pope,<br />
 Or hammer my brains like an old smith<br />
 To get out something like Goldsmith?<br />
 Or shall I aspire on<br />
 To tune my poetic lyre on<br />
 The same key touched by Byron,<br />
 And laying my hand its wire on,<br />
 With its music your soul set fire on<br />
 By themes you ne'er could tire on?<br />
             Or say,<br />
             I pray,<br />
             Would a lay<br />
             Like Gay<br />
             Be more in your way?<br />
        I leave it to you,<br />
        Which am I to do?<br />
        It plain on the surface is<br />
        That any metamorphosis,<br />
        To affect your study<br />
        You may work on my soul or body.<br />
 Your frown or your smile makes me Savage or Gay<br />
   In action, as well as in song;<br />
 And if 'tis decreed I at length become Gray,<br />
   Express but the word and I'm Young;<br />
 And if in the Church I should ever aspire<br />
   With friars and abbots to cope,<br />
 By a nod, if you please, you can make me a Prior--<br />
   By a word you render me Pope.<br />
 If you'd eat, I'm a Crab; if you'd cut, I'm your Steel,<br />
   As sharp as you'd get from the cutler;<br />
 I'm your Cotton whene'er you're in want of a reel,<br />
   And your livery carry, as Butler.<br />
             I'll ever rest your debtor<br />
             If you'll answer my first letter;<br />
             Or must, alas, eternity<br />
             Witness your taciturnity?<br />
             Speak--and oh! speak quickly<br />
             Or else I shall grow sickly,<br />
                       And pine,<br />
                       And whine,<br />
             And grow yellow and brown<br />
               As e'er was mahogany,<br />
             And lie me down<br />
               And die in agony.

Explanation

**Detailed Explanation of the Excerpt from The Purcell Papers by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu**

Context of the Source

The Purcell Papers (1880) is a collection of short stories and essays by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, an Irish Gothic and mystery writer best known for works like Carmilla and Uncle Silas. The collection is framed as a series of manuscripts discovered by a fictional editor, Reverend Francis Purcell, and includes a mix of supernatural tales, satirical pieces, and poetic fragments.

This particular excerpt is a mock-epistolary poem—a humorous, self-deprecating letter from an unnamed suitor to a woman who has not responded to his earlier poetic advances. The tone is playful, exaggerated, and deeply ironic, blending literary allusion, self-mockery, and desperate romantic pleading.

Themes in the Excerpt

Unrequited Love & Desperation
- The speaker is obsessively fixated on the recipient’s silence, which drives him to increasingly absurd lengths to gain her attention.
- His hyperbolic threats ("I shall grow sickly... and die in agony") parody the melodramatic tropes of Romantic poetry, where lovers often declare they will perish without their beloved’s affection.
Literary Posturing & Imitation
- The poem is a satire of poetic affectation—the speaker offers to write in the style of Cowley, Chatterton, Addison, Pope, Goldsmith, Byron, Gay, Young, Gray, and even religious figures like "Prior" and "Pope" (the poet Alexander Pope, but also a pun on the Catholic Pope).
- This name-dropping highlights the artificiality of poetic convention—he is willing to shape-shift into any literary persona if it pleases her, exposing how love poetry is often performative rather than sincere.
Power Dynamics in Courtship
- The woman holds absolute control over the speaker’s emotional and artistic identity.
- He claims she can transform him with a word—from "Savage or Gay" (referencing poets John Gay and possibly wild vs. refined behavior) to "Young" (Edward Young, author of Night Thoughts) or even "Prior" (Matthew Prior, a poet, but also a religious rank).
- The exaggerated submission ("By a nod, if you please, you can make me a Prior—/ By a word you render me Pope") mocks the traditional gender roles in courtship, where men were expected to grovel for female approval.
Existential Dependence on the Beloved
- The speaker’s identity is fluid—he is whatever she wants him to be ("I'm your Crab; if you'd cut, I'm your Steel").
- This self-erasure for love is both comic and pathetic, suggesting that romantic obsession can dissolve the self.
Fear of Rejection & Mortality
- The poem escalates from playful frustration to apocalyptic despair ("lie me down / And die in agony").
- The grotesque imagery ("grow yellow and brown / As e'er was mahogany") contrasts with the elegant literary references, underscoring the absurdity of his suffering.

Literary Devices & Stylistic Features

Allusion & Intertextuality
- The poem is saturated with references to 17th- and 18th-century poets:
  - Abraham Cowley (Metaphysical poet)
  - Thomas Chatterton (Romantic forger who died young)
  - Joseph Addison (neoclassical essayist)
  - Alexander Pope (satirist, known for The Rape of the Lock)
  - Oliver Goldsmith (sentimental poet)
  - Lord Byron (Romantic rebel)
  - John Gay (author of The Beggar’s Opera)
  - Edward Young (melancholic poet)
  - Thomas Gray (elegiac poet)
- These references parody the tradition of love poetry, where poets borrow styles to impress their beloveds.
Hyperbole & Exaggeration
- The speaker’s over-the-top declarations ("I shall grow sickly... and die in agony") are deliberately melodramatic, mocking the clichés of romantic suffering.
Puns & Wordplay
- "Savage or Gay" → Play on wild vs. refined, but also poets John Gay and possibly Richard Savage.
- "render me Pope" → Both Alexander Pope and the Catholic Pope, suggesting she can elevate him to sainthood or poetic greatness.
- "I'm your Crab; if you'd cut, I'm your Steel" → "Crab" could mean a sour person or a zodiac sign, while "Steel" refers to a knife (from a cutler).
Rhyming & Meter
- The poem shifts between iambic tetrameter and trimeter, giving it a bouncy, almost song-like quality that contrasts with its desperate content.
- The inconsistent rhyme scheme (sometimes AABB, sometimes ABCB) mirrors the speaker’s erratic emotions.
Metamorphosis & Shape-Shifting
- The speaker offers to transform into any poet or object she desires ("any metamorphosis").
- This protean quality suggests that love reduces him to a chameleon, willing to abandon his own voice for approval.
Irony & Self-Deprecation
- The speaker mocks his own poetic efforts, calling his earlier valentine "an imitation of Cowley" (implying it was derivative).
- His desperation is both sincere and ridiculous, making the reader laugh at his expense.

Significance of the Excerpt

Satire of Romantic & Neoclassical Poetry
- Le Fanu mocks the conventions of love poetry, where men adopt grand styles to woo women.
- The excessive allusions expose how poetic tradition can become a hollow performance.
Gender & Power in Courtship
- The poem inverts traditional power dynamics—the woman is silent and passive, yet holds complete control over the speaker’s fate.
- His willingness to be molded reflects historical expectations that men should adapt to female whims in courtship.
The Artist’s Dilemma
- The speaker’s identity crisis ("What shall I do in order to make you speak?") mirrors the struggle of artists to please an audience.
- His desperation for validation is a comic but poignant commentary on creative insecurity.
Gothic & Melodramatic Undertones
- While humorous, the poem flirts with Gothic despair ("die in agony"), foreshadowing Le Fanu’s darker works where obsession leads to ruin.

Line-by-Line Breakdown of Key Passages

"A very excellent imitation of the poet Cowley..."
- The speaker boasts about his poem, but the word "imitation" undermines it—suggesting lack of originality.
"Perhaps you'd have preferred... the unfortunate Chatterton..."
- Chatterton (a tragic young poet who poisoned himself) is invoked ironically—would she prefer a dead poet’s style to his living efforts?
"Shall I give you a trope / In the manner of Pope..."
- "Trope" = a literary device, but also a play on words (Pope was known for witty tropes).
- The speaker is offering to perform rather than express genuine feeling.
"Your frown or your smile makes me Savage or Gay..."
- "Savage" (wild, untamed) vs. "Gay" (lighthearted, like John Gay) shows how her mood dictates his identity.
"If you'd eat, I'm a Crab; if you'd cut, I'm your Steel..."
- "Crab" = sour, difficult (or a zodiac sign).
- "Steel" = a knife, but also hard, unyielding.
- "Cotton" = soft, pliable.
- "Livery carry, as Butler" = a servant (referencing Samuel Butler, satirist of Hudibras).
"Or must, alas, eternity / Witness your taciturnity?"
- "Taciturnity" (silence) is framed as a cosmic tragedy, but the overblown language makes it comic.
"And pine, / And whine, / And grow yellow and brown / As e'er was mahogany..."
- The degradation of his body (turning into wood) is grotesque humor, mocking Romantic poets who claimed to waste away for love.

Conclusion: Why This Excerpt Matters

This poem is a brilliant satire of:

The performative nature of love poetry
The desperation of unrequited love
The artist’s struggle for recognition

Le Fanu blends humor, irony, and Gothic excess to expose the absurdity of literary posturing in romance. The speaker’s willingness to dissolve his identity for approval is both funny and tragic, making the poem a sharp commentary on power, art, and desire.

Would you like any further analysis on specific lines or historical references?

Questions

Question 1

The speaker’s invocation of "Longinus" and "Aristotle" in the opening stanza primarily serves to:

A. establish his intellectual superiority over the addressee by aligning himself with canonical critics.
B. underscore the objective excellence of his poetry through authoritative validation.
C. satirise the pretentiousness of appealing to critical authorities to justify mediocre verse.
D. imply that classical standards of poetry are incompatible with modern romantic expression.
E. suggest that the addressee’s silence stems from her inability to appreciate high art.

Question 2

The repeated offers to adopt the styles of various poets (Pope, Goldsmith, Byron, etc.) function most significantly as:

A. a sincere attempt to demonstrate technical versatility in poetic craft.
B. a parody of the way suitors abandon authenticity to conform to perceived feminine ideals.
C. an homage to the literary canon, positioning the speaker as a connoisseur of poetic tradition.
D. evidence of the speaker’s deep insecurity about his original creative voice.
E. a critique of the addressee’s superficiality in judging poetry by stylistic trends rather than substance.

Question 3

The lines "Your frown or your smile makes me Savage or Gay / In action, as well as in song" rely on which of the following rhetorical strategies to achieve their effect?

A. Antithesis, to contrast the extremes of emotional dependency.
B. Metonymy, using the poets’ names to represent broader stylistic or behavioural transformations.
C. Synecdoche, where the poets’ names stand in for their most famous works.
D. Apostrophe, directly addressing an absent or indifferent audience.
E. Chiasmus, inverting the syntactic structure to emphasise the addressee’s control.

Question 4

The escalation from playful literary references to the grotesque imagery of "grow yellow and brown / As e'er was mahogany" primarily serves to:

A. illustrate the physical toll of unrequited love in Gothic terms.
B. shift the tone from comic to tragic, undermining the poem’s satirical intent.
C. expose the absurdity of romantic suffering by pushing hyperbole to grotesque extremes.
D. suggest that the speaker’s artistic identity is literally decaying without validation.
E. invoke the materiality of wood as a metaphor for the addressee’s emotional rigidity.

Question 5

The poem’s closing couplet—"Speak—and oh! speak quickly / Or else I shall grow sickly"—is most effectively read as:

A. a genuine cry of despair, revealing the speaker’s vulnerability beneath the satire.
B. a final attempt to manipulate the addressee by feigning physical collapse.
C. a self-aware exaggeration that underscores the performative nature of romantic pleading.
D. an abrupt tonal shift that disrupts the poem’s otherwise consistent ironic distance.
E. a direct appeal to the addressee’s pity, abandoning the earlier literary posturing.

Solutions and Explanations

1) Correct answer: C

Why C is most correct: The speaker’s appeal to "Longinus" and "Aristotle" is deliberately overblown—he cites these authoritative critics to justify a valentine or acrostic, forms of poetry not typically associated with high literary merit. The ironic gap between the grandeur of the references and the triviality of the poem’s subject exposes the pretentiousness of invoking critical theory to bolster mediocre verse. This aligns with the poem’s broader satire of poetic affectation.