Gay, John. Poems on Several Occasions. Longon: n.p., 1731
Steely Call # LEL 11880
Headnote. “Tuesday;
Or, the Ditty” is one part of a series in a pastoral poem called The
Shepherd’s Week. According to Cooper, the collection as a whole was written
by Gay as “an attack on [Ambrose] Phillips and his idealized pastoral
poetry. Gay presented his shepherds as extremely down-to-earth and often rather
crude. However, Phillips was not his only target.” According to David Nokes, another “target” was a man named Thomas Tickell. Any acclaim either Tickell
or Phillips received for his own pastorals stemmed, at least partially, from
“political favouritism.” Both Tickell
and Phillips advocated a simplistic and condescending view of the pastoral. They
believed that the “[p]astoral did not involve holding
a mirror up to nature, but pulling a little decorative wool over the readers’
eyes. Only the most conventional and stylized misfortunes could be allowed to
disturb the tranquility of this bucolic world” (121-122). So while literally
this poem is the story of a shepherdess jilted by a swain, beneath the surface
is mockery. It shows its readers that life, whether rural or urban, maintains a
complexity inherent to all human beings. The pains suffered in love transcend geographic
location, and rural life is not as simplified as some would have it believed to
be. Gay’s pastorals are a stark contrast to those of his counterparts.
Tuesday;
Or, the
Ditty
Marian.
Young Colin Clout, a
lad of peerless meed[1];
Full well could dance, and
deftly tune the reed[2];
In ev’ry
wood his carrols sweet were known;
At ev’ry
wake his nimble feats were shown.
When in the ring the rustick routs[3] he
threw,
The damsels pleasures with his
conquests grew;
Or when aslant the cudgel[4]
threats his head,
His danger smites the breast
of ev’ry maid,
But chief of Marian. Marian
lov’d the swain[5],
The Parson’s maid, and neatest
of the plain.
Marian that soft
could stroke the udder’d cow,
Or lessen with her sieve the
barley mow[6];
Marbled with sage the hard’ning cheese she press’d,
And yellow butter Marian’s
skill confess’d’
But Marian now devoid
of country cares,
Nor yellow butter nor sage
cheese prepares.
For yearning love the witless
maid employs,
And Love, say swains, all
busie heed destroys.
Colin makes mock
at all her piteous smart[7],
A lass that Cic’ly[8] hight, had won his heart,
Cic’ly the western
lass that tends the kee[9],
The rival of the Parson’s maid
was she.
In dreary shade now Marian
lyes along,
And mixt
with sighs thus wails in plaining[10]
song.
Ah woful day! Ah woful
When first by thee my
younglings[11] white
were shorn,
Then first, I ween[12],
I cast a lover’s eye,
My sheep were silly, but more
silly I.
Beneath the shears they felt
no lasting smart,
They lost but fleeces while I
lost a heart.
Ah Colin ! canst thou leave thy
Sweetheart true!
What I have done for thee will
Cic’ly do?
Will she thy linnen wash or hosen darn,
And knit thee gloves made of
her own-spun yarn?
Will she with huswife’s hand provide thy meat,
And ev’ry
Sunday morn thy neckcloth plait[13]?
Which o’er thy kersey doublet[14]
spreading wide,
In service-time[15]
drew Cic’ly’s eyes aside.
Where-e’er
I gad[16] I
cannot hide my care,
My new disasters in my look
appear.
White as the curd my ruddy
cheek is grown,
So thin my features that I’m
hardly known;
Our neighbours
tell me oft in joking talk
Of ashes, leather, oatmeal,
bran and chalk;
Unwittingly of Marian
they devine,
And wist[17]
not that with thoughtful love I pine.
Yet Colin Clout,
untoward[18]
shepherd swain,
Walks whistling blithe, while
pitiful I plain[19].
Whilom[20]
with thee ‘twas Marian’s dear delight
To moil[21]
all day, and merry-make at night,
If in the soil you guide the
crooked share[22],
Your early breakfast is my
constant care.
And when with even hand you strow the grain,
I fright the thievish rooks[23]
from off the plain.
In misling[24]
days when I my thresher heard,
With nappy[25]
beer I to the barn repair’d;
Lost in the musick of the whirling flail[26],
To gaze on thee I left the smoaking pail:
In harvest when the Sun was
mounted high,
My leathern bottle did thy
drought supply;
When-e’er
you mow’d I follow’d with
the rake,
And have full oft been
sun-burnt for thy sake;
When in the welkin[27] gath’ring show’rs were seen,
I lagg’d
the last with Colin on the green;
And when at eve returning with
thy carr[28],
Awaiting heard the gingling bells from far;
Strait on the fire the sooty
pot I plac’t,
To warm thy broth I burnt my
hands for haste.
When hungry thou slood’st staring, like an Oaf,
I slic’d[29]
the luncheon from the barley loaf,
With crumbled bread I thicken’d well thy mess.
Ah, love me more, or love thy
pottage less!
Last Friday’s eve, when
as the sun was set,
I, near yon stile[30],
three sallow[31] gypsies
met.
Upon my hand they cast a
poring look,
Bid me beware, and thrice
their heads they shook.
They said that many crosses I
must prove,
Some in my worldly gain, but
most in love.
Next morn I miss’d three hens and our old cock,
And off the hedge two pinners[32]
and a smock.
I bore these losses with a christian mind,
And no mishaps could feel, while
thou wert kind.
But since, alas ! I grew my Colin’s
scorn,
I’ve known no pleasure, night,
or
Help me, ye gypsies, bring him
home again,
And to a constant lass give
back her swain.
Have I not sate[33]
with thee full many a night,
When dying embers were our
only light,
When ev’ry
creature did in slumbers lye,
Besides our cat, my Colin
Clout, and I?
No troublous thoughts the cat
or Colin move,
While I alone am kept awake by
love.
Remember, Colin, when
at last year’s wake,
I bought the costly present
for thy sake,
Couldst thou spell o’er the posie[34]
on thy knife,
And with another change thy
state of life?
If thou forget’st,
I wot[35],
I can repeat,
My memory can tell the verse
so sweet.
As this is grav’d[36]
upon this knife of thine,
So is thy image on this heart
of mine.
But woe is me ! Such presents
luckless prove,
For Knives, they tell
me, always sever Love.
Thus Marian wail’d, her eyes with tears brimful,
When Goody Dobbins
brought her cow to bull.
With apron blue to dry her
tears she sought,
Then saw the cow well serv’d, and took a groat[37].
Works Cited
Burgess, C.F., ed. The Leters of John Gay.
Cooper, Catherine. “Satire in the work of Jonathan Swift and John Gay.” Online
posting. Apr. 2001. Jonathan Swift and John Gay: English Literature Essays.
2003, March 3. < http://www.english-literature.org/essays/swift_gay.html >.
Faber, G.C., ed. The Poetical Works
of John Gay.
Nokes,
David. John Gay. A Profession of Friendship.
Press, 1995.
(Online). 5, March 2003. < http://dictionary.oed.com/entrance.dtl >.
[1] Merit, excellence, worth.
[2] rustic musical pipe.
[3] A (heavy) blow or stroke.
[4] A short thick stick used as a weapon; a club.
[5] A country gallant or lover; hence gen. A lover, wooer, sweetheart, esp. in pastoral poetry. However, can also refer to a male servant, serving-man; an attendant, follower.
[6] A heap of grain or hay in a barn.
[7] Mental pain or suffering.
[8] A popular name of several umbelliferous plants, almost co-extensive with chervil, a garden pot-herb.
[9] A west-country word for kine or cows.
[10] Plaintive, mourning, complaining.
[11] A young animal; also a young scholar or student; a beginner.
[12] In regard to what is present or past: To think, surmise, suppose, conceive, believe, consider.
[13] To fold (a woven or other favric, etc.); esp. to fold flat, to double; to gather in pleats. “neckcloth”: a cloth worn round the neck; a cravat, neckerchief.
[14] A close-fitting body-garment, with or without sleeves, worn by men from the 14th to the 18th centuries. “kersey”: made of kersey.
[15] Service here could be referring to Colin’s occupation as a servant, or it could be referring to the time of worship (or both).
[16] To go wondering in desire or thought.
[17] To conjecture (as to the unknown or obscure); to make an inference by conjecture, insight, intuition, or other means than actual information. “wist”: variation of whished.
[18] Of persons (or animals), their disposition, etc.: Difficult to manage, restrain, or control; intractable, unruly, perverse.
[19] Complain. “blithe”: exhibiting gladness: jocund, merry, sprightly, gay, mirthful.
[20] At some past time; some time before or ago; once upon a time.
[21] To toil, work hard, drudge.
[22] The iron blade in a plough which cuts the ground at the bottom of the furrow; a ploughshare.
[23] A black, raucous-voiced European bird nesting in colonies; one of the commonest of the crow-tribe. “strow”: to be spread or scattered upon (a surface).
[24] Of a day, weather, etc…
[25] Of intoxicating liquors, chiefly ale: having a head, foaming; heady, strong.
[26] An instrument for threshing corn by hand.
[27] The apparent arch or vault of heaven overhead; the sky, the firmament.
[28] Applied locally and at special periods to various vehicles in particular. Also, from 16th to 19th c. chiefly poetic, with associations of dignity, solemnity, or splendour; applied also to the fabled chariot of Phaethon or the sun, and so to that in which the moon, stars, day, night, time, are figured to ride in their grand procession.
[29] Sliced.
[30] An arrangement of steps, rungs, etc… contrived to allow passage over or through a fence to one person at a time, while forming a barrier to the passage of sheep or cattle. “yon”: A visible object at a distance but within view.
[31] Of the skin or complexion: Having a sickly yellow or brownish yellow colour.
[32] A coif with two long flaps, one on each side, pinned on and hanging down and sometimes fastened at the breast.
[33] To surfeit or cloy by gratification of appetite or desire; to glut, satiate.
[34] To consider, contemplate, scan intently. “posie”: A short motto, originally a line or verse of poetry, and usually in patterned language, inscribed on a knife, within a ring, as a heraldic motto, etc…
[35] To know.
[36] Engraved.
[37] The English groat coined in 1351-2 was made equal to four pence. “bull”: to gender with (the cow).