{"id":885,"date":"2012-05-08T10:38:04","date_gmt":"2012-05-08T15:38:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nonsolusblog.wordpress.com\/?p=885"},"modified":"2012-05-08T10:38:04","modified_gmt":"2012-05-08T15:38:04","slug":"unpublished-poem-by-sir-john-franklin-on-the-difficulties-of-writing-q-919-8-f85n","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/rbx\/2012\/05\/08\/unpublished-poem-by-sir-john-franklin-on-the-difficulties-of-writing-q-919-8-f85n\/","title":{"rendered":"Unpublished Poem by Sir John Franklin on the Difficulties of Writing (Q. 919.8 F85n)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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John Franklin. Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea, in the Years 1819, 20, 21, and 22<\/em>. London: John Murray, 1823.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In 1966, the University of Illinois purchased a significant group of manuscripts and books from the personal collection of Sir John Richardson (1787-1855).\u00a0 Richardson was a naturalist and surgeon who accompanied Sir John Franklin on his overland Arctic expeditions of 1819-22 and 1825-27.\u00a0 When it became apparent that something had gone wrong with Franklin\u2019s final Arctic voyage, Richardson and John Rae led an unsuccessful search expedition in 1848-49.\u00a0 The Rare Book & Manuscript Library holds the manuscript account book of this expedition (Post-1650 MS 51)<\/p>\n

One book that was acquired from Richardson\u2019s library is a presentation copy of Franklin\u2019s account of his first Arctic expedition.\u00a0 This presentation copy is inscribed by Franklin to Mrs. Richardson on the half-title page.\u00a0 Additionally, there is an added frontispiece, consisting of an engraving entitled: \u201cCapt[ai]n Franklin, R.N., F.R.S., commander of the Land Arctic Expedition with Fort Enterprise in the background,\u201d which was drawn by G.B. Lewis, engraved by F.C. Lewis, and published for G. Lewis, by Hurst & Robinson on 1 January 1824.\u00a0 This engraving is also signed by John Franklin and dated 23 January 1824.<\/p>\n

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Both of these aspects of the book make it an interesting and important association copy, but there is a further feature which makes it a significant document in the history of Arctic exploration.\u00a0 In a single sentence of a 1969 bibliography of Sir John Richardson\u2019s printed works that appeared in The Journal of the Society for the Bibliography of Natural History<\/em>, Richardson\u2019s biographer and University of Illinois physiology professor Robert Eugene Johnson briefly mentions a poem written by Franklin in this book.\u00a0 This poem, which appears to be otherwise unrecorded and unpublished, consists of 10 stanzas of humorous verse that describe Franklin\u2019s difficulty in writing and fear of critics.\u00a0 Although certainly no work of poetic genius, the poem serves to add depth to the character of Sir John Franklin.<\/p>\n

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This book and other highlights from the Rare Book & Manuscript Library\u2019s collections will be displayed in April 2013, when an exhibition on polar exploration will be held to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the Crocker Land Expedition (1913-17), an Arctic expedition sponsored in part by the University of Illinois.\u00a0 Until then, here are photographs of the book and a transcription of the poem. My thanks to Richard Noble for his help with the transcription. AD<\/strong><\/p>\n

Heiy ho! alack and well a day!<\/p>\n

Was ever wight like me distressed<\/p>\n

What shall I write? What can I say<\/p>\n

Will this or that way read the best?<\/p>\n

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Oh! that my foe a book had written<\/p>\n

So spake the wisest of mankind<\/p>\n

Alas! his curse my head has smitten<\/p>\n

And write I must tho ill enclined.<\/p>\n

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I\u2019ve faced the battle o\u2019er and o\u2019er<\/p>\n

From steel or fire I did not shrink<\/p>\n

Not ocean in its wildest roar,<\/p>\n

Could fright me like that drop of ink<\/p>\n

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A field of snow\u2019s but one blank page<\/p>\n

Bears, Icebergs, Buffaloes together<\/p>\n

I\u2019d rather all their might engage<\/p>\n

Than touch that one poor Goose\u2019s feather<\/p>\n

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I\u2019m in the tread-mill all the day<\/p>\n

No rest is mine and in my dreams<\/p>\n

Gaunt imps of darkness round me play<\/p>\n

With ghastly papers filed in reams<\/p>\n

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And there oh! there such lines are traced<\/p>\n

Like flints in chalk! uncounted strata!<\/p>\n

And last one long dire list, prefaced<\/p>\n

With that tremendous word \u201cerrata\u201d.<\/p>\n

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Bright Phoebus now thy help bestow<\/p>\n

Tho fear from thine my course has laid<\/p>\n

Where faint and wan thy summers glow<\/p>\n

Where winter frowns in endless shade<\/p>\n

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Give me thy smile for once, but how<\/p>\n

There wayward power \u2018tis worse and worse<\/p>\n

I ask thee but for prose but now<\/p>\n

My thoughts are jingling into verse<\/p>\n

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My mind unwanted numbers haunt<\/p>\n

I\u2019m clean bewitched! I\u2019m in a flurry<\/p>\n

Avaunt! ye crew of rhymes avaunt<\/p>\n

Why what will Barrow say or Murray<\/p>\n

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Oh! God of scribblers guide my course<\/p>\n

Assist me (tho the phrase be evil)<\/p>\n

To turn my offspring out of doors<\/p>\n

And give it fairly to the Devil.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John Franklin. Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea, in the Years 1819, 20, 21, and 22. London: John Murray, 1823. In 1966, the University of Illinois purchased a significant group of manuscripts and books from the personal collection of Sir John Richardson (1787-1855).\u00a0 Richardson was a naturalist and surgeon who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":115,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6],"tags":[243,244],"class_list":["post-885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ad","category-arctic-exploration","tag-sir-john-franklin","tag-sir-john-richardson"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/rbx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/rbx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/rbx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/rbx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/115"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/rbx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/rbx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/885\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/rbx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/rbx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/rbx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}