J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > Perspective lectures c.1809-28 > Perspective Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Inscription by Turner: Draft of Poetry c.1809

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Inscription by Turner: Draft of Poetry’ c.1809
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 23 Recto:
Inscription by Turner: Draft of Poetry circa 1809
D07391
Turner Bequest CVIII 23
Pen and ink on white wove paper, 115 x 88 mm
Inscribed by Turner in ink (see main catalogue entry)
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘23’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CVIII – 23’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The whole page is taken up with lines of poetry:
Suffice my muse <...> onwards turn your care
And for the Launch. [blank] thyself prepare
Recounts the lofty banner on the prow
The painted pride of humbled Nations show
And eager eyes that glitterd in a row
Beauteous and bright like summers streams
When noon-day radiance downwards gleams
All beam’d on Argo on that day
And made her bright in beautys ray
The mighty rollers to conduct her o’er
The dreaded journey are placed before
[‘To’ deleted] sustain her weight upon the groaning shore
Besmear’d with unction rich distant sought
And only with the sweat of thousands bought
To stride in gaudy pride upon the plain
Free from dire accident [blank] or strain
And disappoint [‘the’ inserted above] fair attending train
Tackel and blocks and all made sure
To make success even more secure
And now the ensigns broad displayd
Britannia glory waved arrayed
In Crimson grounds the moral [Lindsay: mural] Crown
Of Commerce fair resplendant shone1
Quoting the last four lines here and the first eight on the next leaf (folio 24; D07392), James Hamilton notes Turner’s patriotism and ‘fashionable anti-French sentiments’2 in the context of the ongoing Napoleonic Wars. Stephen Daniels also quotes the passage from ‘ensigns’ to ‘arrayed’, discussing Turner’s treatment of the legend of Jason and the Golden Fleece as a metaphor for patriotism and British industry, with echoes of the poetry of John Dyer and Mark Akenside.3
This is the fourth passage of a poem (‘Must toiling Man for ever meet disgrace’) which runs over seven pages from folio 20 recto (D07388) up to folio 26 recto (D07394); the previous passage is on folio 22 recto (D07390), and it continues on folio 24 recto (D07392). For a concordance of the extensive passages of poetry in this book, see the sketchbook Introduction.
1
See Wilton and Turner 1990, p.164 (transcription, followed here with slight variations); see also Lindsay 1966, pp.67–8 (transcription with minor variations).
2
Hamilton 2003, p.99.
3
Daniels 1986, pp.14–15; present folio cited incorrectly on p.15 as ‘f.23v’.
Verso:
Blank, save for slight offsetting from the ink inscription opposite on folio 24 recto (D07392).

Matthew Imms
June 2008

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Inscription by Turner: Draft of Poetry c.1809 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, June 2008, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2012, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-inscription-by-turner-draft-of-poetry-r1136587, accessed 23 June 2025.