Mary Robinson's Lyrical Tales in Context

“One victim from the last despair”: Mary Robinson's Marie Antoinette

“…[24] Although Curran refers specifically to Robinson's Lyrical Tales, a collection of poems that was published in 1800, his insight applies to these earlier poems as well, in which Robinson addresses perhaps the ultimate narrative of displacement of her era. For, as in Impartial Reflections, they indicate the prominence that Robinson assigns not only to the individualized presence of Marie Antoinette but, just as urgently, also to the repertoire of existential concerns which her story displayed: the fall from prominence, the experience of victimhood, the exigencies of exile.…”

“…Nonetheless, this gaze is then immediately turned outwards as the Queen "behold[s her] darling INFANTS" (19), a move that at once effaces her youthful status as "an avatar of aristocratic frivolity" [26], and replaces it with the portrayal of "maternal sorrow" (28). Through this tableau of domestic solicitude, Robinson once more responds to those allegations surrounding Marie Antoinette's sexuality which had formed the centerpiece of her victimization.…”

“…If, to cite Curran again, Robinson's lyric poetry stresses "either the anarchic or the existential, depending on the timbre of her tale" [28], this poem acknowledges the presence of both, expanding the singular focus of the "Lamentation" into a more inclusive portrayal of loss, displacement and their manifestations. If, to cite Curran again, Robinson's lyric poetry stresses "either the anarchic or the existential, depending on the timbre of her tale" [28], this poem acknowledges the presence of both, expanding the singular focus of the "Lamentation" into a more inclusive portrayal of loss, displacement and their manifestations.…”

“…An underlying concern with marginality -what Stuart Curran identifies as the common theme of Robinson's poetry, the "sudden and total displacement of the stabilities on which existences depend" [2] -plays a prominent role in Robinson's expression of her politics, aligning itself with what the Revolution came to represent: the revolt of the marginalized, but also upheaval, victimization and rupture. An underlying concern with marginality -what Stuart Curran identifies as the common theme of Robinson's poetry, the "sudden and total displacement of the stabilities on which existences depend" [2] -plays a prominent role in Robinson's expression of her politics, aligning itself with what the Revolution came to represent: the revolt of the marginalized, but also upheaval, victimization and rupture.…”

“…[28][29] That Robinson does present Marie Antoinette's story as the ultimate narrative of decline is evinced in her assumption that the power of that story will evoke a universal sentiment of pity. She was then the idol of the French nation; universal adoration breathed around her, and called forth the splendors of her youthful mind ... What is she now?…”