Mute records and blank legends: John Thelwall's "Paternal Tears"

John Thelwall was forced in 1798 to settle in a remote Welsh farm called Llyswen as result of persecution by armed gangs while he was attempting to hold political meetings. Argues that the poems which Thelwall wrote in this retirement, specifically those entitled "Paternal Tears" tell the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Romanticism (Edinburgh) 2010-07, Vol.16 (2), p.152-163
Main Author: Solomonescu, Yasmin
Format: Article
Language:English
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:John Thelwall was forced in 1798 to settle in a remote Welsh farm called Llyswen as result of persecution by armed gangs while he was attempting to hold political meetings. Argues that the poems which Thelwall wrote in this retirement, specifically those entitled "Paternal Tears" tell the story of this "silencing" but also of a voice regained; the poems were a response not only to his political silencing but to the death of his six-year-old daughter, Maria, and her symbolic importance appears in the eponymous "fragment". Unlike his prison poems, which attempt to rouse patriotic feelings, the "Paternal Tears" works can be described in terms suggested by the 1801 collection itself, as "mute records" and "blank legends" in several senses.
ISSN:1354-991X
DOI:10.3366/E1354991X10001029