Rev. Stephen Duck (?1705-1756) was an English poet whose career reflected both the Augustan era's interest in "naturals" (natural geniuses) and its resistance to classlessness.
Stephen Duck (?1706-1756), from Poems on Several Occasions, London: Rivington, 1764. Courtesy Internet Archive.
Life[]
Youth and education[]
Duck was born in 1705 at Charlton in Wiltshire.[1]
His parents were poor, and after some slight education up to the age of 14, he was employed as an agricultural labourer at 4s.6d. a week.[1]
Marriage and career[]
He was married in 1724, and was the father of 3 children by 1730, the year his wife died.[1]
Duck managed to save a little money and bought a few books. With a friend of similar tastes he tried to improve his mind by reading whatever literature they could procure. Paradise Lost, which he puzzled out with a dictionary, the Spectator, and L'Estrange's translation of Seneca's Morals were early favorites. He afterwards procured a translation of Télémaque, Whiston's Josephus, an odd volume of Shakespeare, Dryden's Virgil, Prior's poems, Hudibras, and the London Spy.[1]
He began to write verses at intervals of leisure, generally burning them. His fame spread, however, and in 1729 a "young gentleman of Oxford" sent for him and made him write an epistle in verse, afterwards published in his poems. The neighboring clergy encouraged him, especially a Mr. Stanley, who suggested the "Thresher's Labour" as the subject of a new poem. At Mrs. Stanley's request he wrote the "Shunammite."[1]
A clergyman at Winchester spoke of him to Mrs. Clayton (afterwards Lady Sundon), who recommended him to Queen Caroline. Lord Macclesfield read Duck's verses to her on 11 September 1730. The queen, according to Warburton, sent the manuscript of Duck's poems to Pope, concealing the author's name and position. Pope thought little of them, but, finding that Duck had a good character, did what he could to help him at court, and frequently called upon him at Richmond.[1]
In 1730, Duck combined some of the poetic pieces he had been writing and wrote The Thresher's Labour, a poem that described the difficulty of field work. The poem was celebrated throughout London society. The poet was taken to meet Queen Caroline, and, while he was there, word came of the death of his wife, but Clarke kept the news from Duck until after the interview with the Queen.[2] The queen allowed him £30 (or £50) a year.[1]
Duck's good fortune excited the spleen of Pope's friends who were not patronised. Gay, who had heard of this "phenomenon of Wiltshire" from Pope, writes to Swift (8 November 1730) from Amesbury, saying that he envies neither Walpole nor "Stephen Duck, who is the fortunate poet of the court." Swift tells Gay (19 Nov. 1730) that Duck is expected to succeed Eusden as Poet Laureate. A contemptuous epigram upon Duck is printed in Swift's works:[1]
The Thresher Duck, could o'er the Q {-}{-}{-}{-}{-}{-} prevail,
The Proverb says; No Fence against a Flayl.
From threshing Corn, he turns to thresh his Brains;
For which Her M{-}{-}{-}{-}{-}{-}y allows him Grains.
Though 'tis confess't, that those who ever saw
His Poems, think them all not worth a Straw.
Thrice happy Duck, employ'd in threshing Stubble!
Thy Toil is lessen'd, and thy Profits double.[3]
Duck became a wonder; his Poems on Several Subjects were published with such success that a 10th edition is dated 1730.[1]
In April 1733 made him a yeoman of the guard, and.he married Sarah Big, the queen's housekeeper at Kew. In 1735 he was made keeper of the queen's library at Richmond, called Merlin's Cave (Gentleman's Magazine v. 331, 498).[1]
In 1736 his Poems on Several Occasions were published by subscription, with an account of his career by Joseph Spence.[1] Both Pope and Swift were among the subscribers.[2]
When Queen Caroline died in 1737, Duck was left without a patron and without direct inspiration. He wrote *very long poems" after her death. In 1744, Sarah Duck died, and he married again, although this wife's name is unknown.[2]
In 1746 he was ordained a priest; in August 1751 he became preacher at Kew Chapel; and in January 1752 was appointed to the rectory of Byfleet, Surrey, where Spence had settled in 1749. In 1755 he published Cæsar's Camp on St. George's Hill, an imitation of Denham's Cooper's Hill[1].
His mind gave way about this time, and he drowned himself 21 March 1756, in a fit of dejection, in a trout stream "behind the Black Lion Inn" at Reading.[1]
Writing[]
Kippis says in the Biographia that Duck's poems are nearly on a level with some of those in Johnson's collection, an estimate which may be safely accepted.[1]
He seems to have been modest and grateful to his benefactors; and it must be admitted that Queen Caroline was more successful than some later patrons in helping a poor man without ruining him.[1]
Besides the above volumes, the 2nd of which includes the former, he published a few congratulatory pieces addressed to the royal family.[1]
Critical reputation[]
Since the 1990s, Duck has seen renewed interest among New Historicist and Marxist literary critics. Duck's case featured in the The New Eighteenth Century (Landry), and this inspired further critical work. The Donna Landry and William Christmas edited issue of Criticism featured two articles on Duck in 2005.[2]
Recognition[]
Lord Palmerston gave a piece of land to provide an annual feast at Charlton in commemoration of the poet. The rent in 1869 was £2.9s.9d., and (the Dictionary of National Biography reported) "an annual dinner was still given at the village inn to all adult males from the proceeds and subscriptions."[1]
In popular culture[]
"Arthur Duck" is the pseudonym adopted by the author of a gross parody upon Stephen Duck's poems called The Thresher's Miscellany, 1730 (though in Davy's Suffolk Collections [Add. MS. 19166, f. 71] this Duck is supposed to be a real person).[1]
Publications[]
Poetry[]
- Royal Benevolence. London: 1730; Dublin: G. Faulkner, 1730.
- Poems on Several Subjects. London: J. Roberts, 1730; 10th edition, 1730.
- Poems On Several Occasions. London: W. Bickerton, 1736; London: John Osborne / Samuel Birt / and James Hodges, 1738; London, Rivington, 1764.
- Alrick and Isabel; or, The unhappy marriage. London: J. Roberts, 1740; Dublin: G. Faulkner, 1740.
Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.[4]
See also[]
References[]
- Batt, Jennifer. "From the Field to the Coffeehouse: Changing Representations of Stephen Duck." Criticism, Landry, D. and W. Christmas, eds. (47):4, 451–70.
- Robert DeMaria's headnote and text of The Thresher's Labour via Google Books
- Landry, Donna. "The Resignation of Mary Collier" in The New Eighteenth Century. Nussbaum, F. and L. Brown, eds. New York: Routledge, 1987. p. 99–120.
Lee, Sidney (1888) "Duck, Stephen" in Stephen, Leslie Dictionary of National Biography 16 London: Smith, Elder, p. 89 . Wikisource, Web, Mar. 3, 2018.- Van Hagen, S. "Literary Technique, the Aestheticization of Laboring Experience, and Generic Experimentation in Stephen Duck's The Thresher's Labour". Criticism, Landry, D. and W. Christmas, eds. (47):4, 421–50.
Notes[]
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 Lee, 89.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Stephen Duck, Wikipedia, September 29, 2017, Wikimedia Foundation. Web, Mar. 3, 2018.
- ↑ Jonathan Swift, "On Stephen Duck, the Thresher and Favourite Poet," written 1730; published in Poems on Several Occasions, 1737. Representative Poetry Online, University of Toronto. Web, Mar. 3, 2018.
- ↑ Search results = au:Stephen Duck, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Mar. 3, 2018.
External links[]
- Poems
- "The Thresher's Labour"
- Stephen Duck at the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (profile & 49 poems)
- Books
- Stephen Duck at Amazon.com
- About
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, the Dictionary of National Biography (edited by Leslie Stephen & Sidney Lee). London: Smith, Elder, 1885-1900. Original article is at: Duck, Stephen
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