INTRODUCTION
Condemnation by a great poet has lasting impact, while the effects of praise seldom endure; Shadwell remains MacFlecknoe in our minds, Shaftesbury Achitophel, but Anne Killigrew, "A Grace for Beauty, and a Muse for Wit," is virtually forgotten. Her book of verses is known essentially because of John Dryden's commendatory Ode. Yet we may justify a study of her own poems. Dryden's piece is not a generalised encomium; obviously he had read her verses, and his analysis of her art is firmly based. Our understanding of this famous poem, then, depends to some degree on our knowledge of Anne Killigrew's output. [1] Her verses deserve attention on their own merits—Dryden may well be thought more gallant than scrupulous, but undeniably the poems have an appealing wit, a picturesque imagination and a touching personal candour.
The facts of Anne Killigrew's short life are succinctly and elegantly related by Anthony Wood. [2] She was born about 1660, the daughter of Dr. Henry Killigrew, Royalist, theologian and sometime dramatist, and related through his family to the other theatrical Killigrews—Thomas, the author of The Parson's Wedding, and Sir William, her uncles; and Thomas, the author of Chit-Chat, and Charles, Master of the Revels, her cousins. Dr. Killigrew became Chaplain to the Duke of York and in 1663 Master of the Savoy. Anne Killigrew grew up to join the household of the doleful Mary of Modena, Duchess of York, as Maid of Honour. A companion in this office was Anne Finch, Countess of Winchelsea. Mistress Killigrew's poems reflect some of the sparkle of Restoration court life, but more of the sorrow produced by Mary of Modena's consistent unpopularity. After a short battle with the smallpox, Anne Killigrew died on 16 June, 1685, to the "unspeakable Reluctancy" of her many loving relations and friends.
After her untimely death, Dr. Killigrew worked to produce a memorial edition of her papers, and invited Dryden to write the prefatory poem. The publication was swift: less than three months after her death the volume was licensed to be printed (30 September, 1685) and listed in the Stationers' Register (2 October). It was listed in the Term Catalogue for November, and advertised in The Observator on 2 November, 1685. [3] The date of 1686 on the title page must have been anticipated by actual publication.
The poetry in the volume can be described in Dryden's terms:
Art she had none, yet wanted none: For Nature did that Want supply.
Anne Killigrew lacked the artistry which comes from discipline and practice (which Anne Finch had time to develop), but she felt that the prompting of passion outweighed the niceties of form:
Here take no Care, take here no Care, my Muse, Nor ought of Art or Labour use.... The ruggeder my Measures run when read, They'l livelier paint th' unequal Paths fond Mortals tread, [(p. 51)]
Her verses belong to the generalising conventions of strong-minded Denham and limpid Waller:
Such Noble Vigour did her Verse adorn, That it seem'd borrow'd.