Robert Dodsley Criticism
Robert Dodsley (1703-1764), a prominent English publisher, editor, and writer, significantly influenced 18th-century English literature. Despite his modest beginnings in Mansfield, Dodsley became a key figure in the literary world. His bookstore and publishing house, Tully's Head, published over 1,100 works, including influential pieces by Samuel Johnson, Alexander Pope, and Edmund Burke, among others. His six-volume A Collection of Poems. By Several Hands remains a highlight of 18th-century poetry anthologies, reflecting his profound impact on literary culture as detailed by Michael F. Suarez. Moreover, his journals, such as The Museum and The World, showcased both established and emerging voices, marking him as a significant literary patron, as argued by James E. Tierney.
Although Dodsley was a successful playwright and poet, his poetic works are generally considered less significant than those he published, as noted by Alexander Chalmers. His plays, such as The Toy-Shop and Cleone, were appreciated in their time, but his role as a publisher is what solidifies his legacy, overshadowing his literary creations. His editorial efforts, often discussed in works like Richard Wendorf's analysis, demonstrate his ability to recognize and nurture literary talent.
Dodsley's Select Fables continues to receive scholarly attention for its originality and style, as mentioned by Welcher and Dircks. His Oeconomy of Human Life, though less studied today, was widely popular in his time. Despite these achievements, it is his work as a publisher and editor that defines his enduring contribution to English literature, a fact echoed by numerous critics including Harry M. Solomon.
Contents
- Principal Works
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Essays
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Life of Dodsley
(summary)
In the following essay, originally published in 1810, Chalmers provides an early assessment of Dodsley's life and literary output.
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Theatrical Work, 1737-1749
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Straus analyzes Dodsley's dramatic works written between 1737 and 1749, his work in preserving forgotten dramas in his Collection of Old Plays, and his fables.
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Introduction to An Essay on Fable
(summary)
In the following essay, Welcher and Dircks discuss the warm critical attention Dodsley received for his Select Fables and the originality and scholarship of “An Essay on Fable.”
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The Museum, the ‘Super-Excellent Magazine.’
(summary)
In the following essay, Tierney argues that Dodsley's literary journal The Museum was a far more important reflection of the age than the Gentleman's Magazine.
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‘More Blood than Brains’: Robert Dodsley and the Cleone Affair
(summary)
In the following essay, Gray describes the rivalry between two London theater companies and how it affected the writing, staging, and critical reception of Dodsley's Cleone.
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Robert Dodsley as Editor
(summary)
In the following essay, Wendorf analyzes Dodsley's editorial work on Collection of Poems, arguing that although Dodsley often changed wording and punctuation in the poems he published, he usually did so with the consent of the authors.
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Robert Dodsley: The First Printer and Stationer to the Society
(summary)
In the following essay, originally published in 1983, Tierney recounts Dodsley's five-year association with the London Society of Arts.
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Introduction to The Correspondence of Robert Dodsley 1733-1764
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Tierney examines Dodsley's work as dramatist, journalist, editor, publisher, and bookseller.
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Dodsley's Collection of Poems and the Ghost of Pope: The Politics of Literary Reputation
(summary)
In the following essay, Suarez argues that the first three editions of Dodsley's Collection of Poems were indebted to the patronage, editorial style, literary circle, and poetic ideals of Alexander Pope.
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Apology: ‘Dodsley's life should be written’
(summary)
In the first essay which follows, Solomon argues that a new biography of Dodsley is warranted, one that does not treat the publisher as a secondary literary figure to the authors he published. In the second, Solomon recounts Dodsley's many literary achievements as a poet, dramatist, journalist, editor, bookseller, and patron of the arts.
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Trafficking in the Muse: Dodsley's Collection of Poems and the Question of Canon
(summary)
In the following essay, Suarez discusses how Dodsley's Collection of Poems was edited, marketed to a specialized readership, and came to be thought of as representative of mid-eighteenth-century English poetics.
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Life of Dodsley
(summary)
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Dodsley's Oeconomy of Human Life: A Partial Checklist, 1750-1800
(summary)
In the following essay, Donald D. Eddy presents a comprehensive bibliography of editions of Robert Dodsley's Oeconomy of Human Life published between 1750 and 1800, while other critics examine Dodsley's influence on eighteenth-century literature and his role in suggesting Lowth's Short Introduction to English Grammar.