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The Methodist A Poem By: Evan Lloyd (1734-1776) |
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EVAN LLOYD THE METHODIST. A Poem. (1766) Introduction by Raymond Bentman Publication Number 151 152
William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
University Of California, Los Angeles
1972
GENERAL EDITORS William E. Conway, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
George Robert Guffey, University of California, Los Angeles
Maximillian E. Novak, University of California, Los Angeles
David S. Rodes, University of California, Los Angeles
ADVISORY EDITORS Richard C. Boys, University of Michigan
James L. Clifford, Columbia University
Ralph Cohen, University of Virginia
Vinton A. Dearing, University of California, Los Angeles
Arthur Friedman, University of Chicago
Louis A. Landa, Princeton University
Earl Miner, University of California, Los Angeles
Samuel H. Monk, University of Minnesota
Everett T. Moore, University of California, Los Angeles
Lawrence Clark Powell, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
James Sutherland, University College, London
H. T. Swedenberg, Jr., University of California, Los Angeles
Robert Vosper, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
Curt A. Zimansky, State University of Iowa
CORRESPONDING SECRETARY Edna C. Davis, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Jean T. Shebanek, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
INTRODUCTION
Evan Lloyd's works consist chiefly of four satires written in 1766
and 1767,[1] all of which are now little known. What little notice he
receives today results from his friendship with John Wilkes and David
Garrick and from one satire, The Methodist , which is usually included
in surveys of anti Methodist literature.[2] For the most part, his
obscurity is deserved. In The Methodist , however, he participates in
a short lived revolt against the tyranny of Augustan satire and shows
considerable evidence of a talent that might have created a new style
for formal verse satire. The seventeen sixties were a difficult period for satire. The struggle
between Crown and Parliament, the new industrial and agricultural
methods, the workers' demands for higher pay, the new rural and urban
poor, the growth of the Empire, the deteriorating relations with the
American colonies, the increasing influence of the ideas of the
Enlightenment, the popularity of democratic ideas, the Wilkes
controversy, the growth of Methodism, the growth of the novel,
the interest in the gothic and the picturesque and in chinoiserie,
sentimentality, enthusiasm all these activities made England a highly
volatile country. Some changes were truly dynamic, others just fads.
But to someone living in the period, who dared to look around him, the
complexity of the present and the uncertainty of the future must have
seemed enormous. To a satirist, such complexity makes art difficult. Satire usually deals
with every day realities, to which it applies simple moral ideals. The
Augustan satiric alternative returning to older beliefs in religion,
government, philosophy, art and the stylistic expression of such
beliefs formal verse satire and epistle, mock poem, heroic or
Hudibrastic couplet, diction of polite conversation, ironic metaphysical
conceits, fantastic fictional situations become irrelevant to the
satirist writing when the past seems lost. In his later works, Pope
took Augustan satire about as far as it could go. The Epilogue to the
Satires becomes an epilogue to all Augustan satire and the conclusion
of The New Dunciad declares the death of its own tradition. There is a
sense now that England and the world have reached the point of no return.
The satirist of the seventeen sixties who repeats the ideas and styles
of Butler, Dryden, Swift, Gay, and Pope seems not only imitative but
out of touch with the world around him. But such difficulties can provide the impetus for new forms and for
original styles. And in the seventeen sixties the writers of formal
satire show signs of responding to the challenge. Christopher Anstey,
Charles Churchill, Robert Lloyd, and Evan Lloyd seem, during this decade,
to be developing their considerable facilities with satiric technique
toward the creation of new styles... Continue reading book >>
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Literature |
Poetry |
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