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Rev. George Gilfillan, in his introductory essay to the 1865 edition of The poetical works, describes Shenstone as "this true but self-stunted Poet" and as " …possessed of great accomplishments, much true talent, and a distinct although narrow vein of poetic genius." Certainly Shenstone's contemporaries, apart from a small circle of close friends, seemed to be more impressed by his work in landscaping his estate at the Leasowes than by his poetry. There was a great deal of poetry: his first published work, The judgement of Hercules, appeared in 1740, and this was followed throughout the poet's relatively short life by the publication of works as varied as odes, elegies, ballads, and Latin inscriptions.
The judgement of Hercules was Shenstone's first published major work. The schoolmistress, also an early work, is singled out for praise by Gilfillan, who likens it to Goldsmith's more famous work, The deserted village.
The full text of Moral pieces can be read online or downloaded free of charge. It is in XHTML format, like this page. Please note the file size is 140kb and it may take some time to open-up if you choose to read it online. Downloading for reading later may be the preferred option and this can be typically achieved by calling up an option box. If you have a mouse and it is configured for left click to select, right clicking the link may give you this option.
While some of the poems in this selection are rather laboured and the allegory is heavy-handed, in Economy (subtitled A rhapsody, addressed to young poets), Shenstone delights in using bombastic and high-flown language to describe the most mundane of objects, such as the damp walls of the artist's hovel: the Spenserian vocabulary is completely deflated by the final phrase.
Meantime, thus silver'd with meanders gay,
In mimic pride the snail-wrought tissue shines,
Perchance of tabby, or of aretine,
Not ill expressive; such the power of snails!
In The ruined abbey Shenstone indulges in violent anti-Catholic rhetoric, while Love and honour is a rather sad little story of unrequited love. The schoolmistress, probably Shenstone's best-remembered poem, is a charming evocation of a "dame school", in which a highly poetic style is used to describe everyday objects and events, from the hen that waddles into the classroom, to the little boy caned for some misdeed ("the wight of bum y-galled"). And the final verse sings the praises of Shrewsbury cakes ("dulcet cates")
Page created 17 January 2003 and last
updated 7 February 2003
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