The news that Eric G. Wilson had written a new biography of Charles Lamb set off celebrations at my house. The book has been acquired, and, though I’m just a couple of chapters in, it’s packed with odd, wonderful, puzzling curiosities.
On page 5, Wilson refers the “octosyllabic virtuosity of Matthew Prior.”
So few people, in my circles at least, mention the old poet that I stopped. Is that true? Was Prior octosyllabic?
I wondered what Wilson had in mind. Was he thinking of the slightly naughty poem “A True Maid”?
No, no; for my virginity,
When I lose that, says Rose, I’ll die:
Behind the elms, last night, cried Dick,
Rose, were you not extremely sick?
Better readers will do better. But you can see what kind of book this is. I, at least, have to read slowly, because it’s densely packed with curiosities.
• Sources: Eric G. Wilson, Dream-Child: A Life of Charles Lamb; Yale University Press, 2022. The poem “A True Maid” is from the Poetry Foundation’s website: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/50473/a-true-maid. For more on my irrational love of Charles Lamb, see “A new biography of Charles Lamb,” Aug. 20, 2022.
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