Evolution of the Topographical Poem: Jonson, Wordsworth and Whitman

The topographical poem is a genre in which the poet details the terrain of a particular landscape for the reader. It is not the verbal equivalent of a wide lens photograph, however. The topographical poem is, foremost, an artistic endeavor: conjured from the creative intuitions of the author and molded by the influences of its time. In this paper, I will examine three poems in detail (To Penshurst, Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey, and Crossing Brooklyn Ferry) to compare and contrast how the topographical poem has been modified over the course of three hundred years.

To Penshurst is a poem celebrating the country estate of Robert Sidney. It is arguably the oldest topographical poem in the English canon, initiating the genre known as the 'country-house poem'. Ben Jonson published To Penshurst in 1616 during the reign of King James I, and therefore displays Jacobean sensibilities.

During a period when many of his contemporaries avoided publication, Jonson labored intensely to produce a collection of plays and poems entitled Works. To Penshurst was part of this collection. Although Jonson would have the honor of being one of England's earliest published authors, it was not a lucrative business. Jonson funded his work through patronage, a practice typical of the time and evident in To Penshurst. In return for the support of influential patrons like the Sidney family, poets often wrote "praise poetry" to honor or flatter them. This is no doubt the motivation behind To Penshurst.

During the seventeenth century, it was common practice for wealthy families to build country estates, known as prodigy houses, that where not intended to be inhabited year round. In his essay on the subject, Alastair Fowler notes that many of these country estates were quite extravagant, built only to receive the court during the sovereign's progression through the countryside:

"a characteristic feature of prodigy houses was their elaborate planning . . . they are carefully proportioned and usually symmetrical" (Fowler 270)