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Editorial Introduction: Spasmodic Poetry and Poetics

Editorial Introduction: Spasmodic Poetry and Poetics Editorial Introduction: Spasmodic Poetry and Poetics CHARLES LAPORTE AND JASON R. RUDY “Eureka! Eureka! The coming man has arrived, and his name is Smith!” CCORDING TO THE AMERICAN JOURNAL PUTNAM’S MONTHLY MAGAZINE, A“about the first of May” in the year 1853, “all the English papers came hurrying over the sea with a loud chorus of Eureka! Eureka! The coming man has arrived, and his name is Smith!” The almost messianic triumphalism of this announcement now appears a bit startling, since it celebrates the little-known Glaswegian poet Alexander Smith, a member of the emerging “Spasmodic” school who had recently published his chef- d’œuvre, A Life-Drama. Putnam’s assures us that A Life-Drama had just “re- ceived a more universal and flattering welcome than was ever before awarded to an English poet.” Yet those readers of Victorian Poetry familiar with Smith and his Spasmodic fellows will know that his “universal and flattering welcome” was soon followed by a less congenial appraisal, and that it is this critical backlash, characterized by vicious attacks and conde- scending accusations, that has dictated the re-telling of Spasmodic literary history. With few exceptions, scholars of Victorian poetry have been con- tent to ignore the Spasmodic phenomenon, except http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Victorian Poetry West Virginia University Press

Editorial Introduction: Spasmodic Poetry and Poetics

LaPorte, Charles.; Rudy, Jason R.
Victorian Poetry , Volume 42 (4) – Feb 8, 2005
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Publisher
West Virginia University Press
Copyright
Copyright © 2004 West Virginia University.
ISSN
1530-7190

Abstract

Editorial Introduction: Spasmodic Poetry and Poetics CHARLES LAPORTE AND JASON R. RUDY “Eureka! Eureka! The coming man has arrived, and his name is Smith!” CCORDING TO THE AMERICAN JOURNAL PUTNAM’S MONTHLY MAGAZINE, A“about the first of May” in the year 1853, “all the English papers came hurrying over the sea with a loud chorus of Eureka! Eureka! The coming man has arrived, and his name is Smith!” The almost messianic triumphalism of this announcement now appears a bit startling, since it celebrates the little-known Glaswegian poet Alexander Smith, a member of the emerging “Spasmodic” school who had recently published his chef- d’œuvre, A Life-Drama. Putnam’s assures us that A Life-Drama had just “re- ceived a more universal and flattering welcome than was ever before awarded to an English poet.” Yet those readers of Victorian Poetry familiar with Smith and his Spasmodic fellows will know that his “universal and flattering welcome” was soon followed by a less congenial appraisal, and that it is this critical backlash, characterized by vicious attacks and conde- scending accusations, that has dictated the re-telling of Spasmodic literary history. With few exceptions, scholars of Victorian poetry have been con- tent to ignore the Spasmodic phenomenon, except

Journal

Victorian Poetry – West Virginia University Press

Published: Feb 8, 2005

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