"Of Albions glorious Ile the Wonders whilst I write"
May 21, 2016 10:08 AM   Subscribe

Poly-Olbion is a cycle of 30 poems describing England and Wales, county by county, composed by Michael Drayton in the late 16th and early 17th Centuries. It was published in two parts, 1612 and 1622, along with sumptuous black and white maps engraved by William Hole meant to be colored in by its buyers. Now Poly-Olbion will be republished as a coloring book entitled Albions Glorious Ile. The Poly-Olbion Project website is worth exploring, as well as its blog and tumblr.
posted by Kattullus (7 comments total) 23 users marked this as a favorite
 
(warning to vintage computer enthusiasts : this has nothing to do with the Apple IIe)
posted by panama joe at 10:28 AM on May 21, 2016


If the idea of reading poems few hundred lines in length seems intimidating, then let me say that the Poly-Olbion is a relatively easy read. And it's fun to read aloud.
posted by Kattullus at 12:35 PM on May 21, 2016


I read the first seven songs, and in them no landscape, or skyscape, river valley or streamside, river delta or shoreline, or lake is described at all, or even alluded to in terms that would allow the formation of the most rudimentary mental image.

No non-human animal except the "Salmon" is specifically named -- in one line in song six -- and not one single plant is named or described. The word 'green' does not appear in the first seven songs; in fact, no color words do.

It's as if Drayton's perceptions are so coated over with multiple layers of formulaic, dry and repetitive Classical allusion that he cannot feel nature at all:
Now Sabrine, as a Queene, miraculouslie faire,
Is absolutelie plac’t in her Emperiall Chaire
Of Crystall richlie wrought, that gloriously did shine,
Her Grace becomming well, a creature so Divine:
5And as her God-like selfe, so glorious was her Throne,
In which himselfe to sit great Neptune had been known;
Whereon there were ingrav’d those Nymphs the God had woo’d,
And every severall shape wherein for love he su’d;
Each daughter, her estate and beautie, every sonne;
10What Nations he had rul’d, what Countries he had wonne.
No Fish in this wide waste but with exceeding cost
Was there in Antique worke most curiously imbost.
Shee, in a watchet weed, with manie a curious wave,
Which as a princelie gift great Amphitrite gave;
15Whose skirts were to the knee, with Corall fring’d belowe
To grace her goodly steppes. And where she meant to goe,
The path was strew’d with Pearle: which though they Orient were,
Yet scarce knowne from her feet, they were so wondrous cleere:
To whom the Mermaids hold her Glasse, that she may see
20Before all other Floods how farre her beauties bee:
Really, he might as well have spent his life in a bare concrete bunker lit by arc lights hanging from a 15 ft. ceiling for all the 'Nature' that makes it into these songs celebrating the glories of Albion.

And yet Drayton is described as a poet raised in the countryside who perpetually longs for the scenes of his childhood when the circumstances of his life force him to be in London.
posted by jamjam at 2:43 PM on May 21, 2016


Well, hold on a sec - he doesn't do a bad job on the seabirds of Cornwall

And viewe about the Point th’unnumbred Fowle that fly.
Some, rising like a storme from off the troubled sand,
Seeme in their hovering flight to shadow all the land;
Some, sitting on the beach to prune their painted breasts,
As if both earth and aire they onelie did possesse.


He's a Jacobean poet, and as my early modern historian pal ("I've read an awful lot of this sort of thing") says wearily, they never use one word when twenty will do. It's not a great work, but it is of its time, and nature wasn't really in the frame for contemplation. The country was still high on Elizabeth and surviving, in fact supplanting, some great enemies, and reaping the first fruits of long-distance trade as a result.

It is what it is, and it's not bad at it.
posted by Devonian at 2:53 PM on May 21, 2016 [3 favorites]


jamjar: I read the first seven songs, and in them no landscape, or skyscape, river valley or streamside, river delta or shoreline, or lake is described at all, or even alluded to in terms that would allow the formation of the most rudimentary mental image.

That's an interesting point. My first thought is that this is an expectation created by Romantic poetry. We expect to "see" the landscape being described in our mind's eye, but that wasn't really the rule before the Romantics. My other thought is that, as you point out, Drayton is raised in the countryside, and that furthermore his audience is too. There isn't a need to describe to your audience what they already know, and they know nature. I suspect that increasing urbanization during the Romantic period had a lot to do with the need and fashion for descriptive nature poetry.
posted by Kattullus at 12:57 AM on May 22, 2016 [1 favorite]


I knew vaguely about the poems, but had never taken the trouble to read any of them: it’s fascinating to see what Drayton has to say about the areas I’ve lived in, or know a little about. Song 3, for example, has mention of Bristowe and of Stonendge, which aren’t difficult to decipher, but it took me a while to realise that Ochy Cave and Ochyes dreadfull Hole referred to Wookey Hole. I was amused by the name of the Peakish cave he likens it to, which Drayton spells out in a marginal note: The Divels arse.
posted by misteraitch at 1:57 AM on May 22, 2016 [1 favorite]


I read this a couple years ago, and thoroughly enjoyed it -- what can I say, I like Drayton's amiable voice enough that I even finished The Barrons Wars. (Favorite part: The Wash -- the coasts of Norfolk and Lancaster were described quite vividly.) But I did have to follow along with a couple Victorian/Edwardian travel guides to Britain. I never new that about the maps -- modern editions don't include, or even mention, them. Thanks!

(One day I'll finish writing up a post on Drayton.)
posted by Quasirandom at 8:47 AM on May 23, 2016 [1 favorite]


« Older @YouNeverDidThe   |   A view from outside the Goldfish bowl. Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments