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 11 Recto:
Inscription by Turner: Draft of Poetry circa 1809
D07374
Turner Bequest CVIII 11
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 ‘11’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CVIII – 11’ 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:
Thou gave remorse as strong desire
Engraved thee for to controule
To plunder merit richest soul
and from his lips to dash the bowl
That fame delivered to his hands
Rich with the [?worth] of every [‘distant’ inserted above] lands
Leave him to disapointments thirst
To feel by every one accursed
Or loaded with contempt to strive
and dead to joy and scarce alive
To nature bliss [?‘full’ inserted above] cheering ray
That lead him on in youthfull play
[‘What’ or ‘Which’ inserted above] Brought [Wilton and Turner: Wrought] him [‘on to’ inserted above] the memberd [Lindsay: manhood[s]] hight
With prospects gay & pleasures bright
To leave him to thy baneful sight
That thou hast for thy sad disgrace
Entaild upon his future race1
This is the third passage of a poem (‘O apathy unfriendly power’) which runs over five pages between folio 8 recto (D07368) and folio 14 recto (D07379); the previous section is on folio 9 recto (D07370), and it continues on folio 13 recto (D07378). For a concordance of the extensive passages of poetry in this book, see the sketchbook Introduction.

Matthew Imms
June 2008

1
See Wilton and Turner 1990, p.163 (transcription, followed here with slight variations); all but the first two lines previously transcribed with slight variations in Lindsay 1966, p.123.

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-r1136569, accessed 24 April 2024.