Stephen Duck (c. 1705 – 21 March 1756) was an English poet whose career reflected both the Augustan era's interest in "naturals" ( natural geniuses) and its resistance to classlessness.

Biography

Duck was born at

Charlton Charlton may refer to: People * Charlton (surname) * Charlton (given name) Places Australia * Charlton, Queensland * Charlton, Victoria * Division of Charlton, an electoral district in the Australian House of Representatives, in New South Wale ...

, near Pewsey, in

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershir ...

. Little is known about his family, whether from Duck himself or from contemporary records, except that they were labourers and very poor. Duck attended a

charity school Charity schools, sometimes called blue coat schools, or simply the Blue School, were significant in the history of education in England. They were built and maintained in various parishes by the voluntary contributions of the inhabitants to ...

and left at the age of thirteen to begin working in the fields. Around 1724, he married as his first wife Ann, and began to attempt to better himself in order to escape the toil and poverty of agricultural work. Encouraged by the village squire, schoolmaster and rector he read Milton,

Dryden '' John Dryden (; – ) was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate. He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the pe ...

, Prior, and ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''Th ...

'', as well as the

Holy Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

, according to Joseph Spence.

Rise in popularity

He was "discovered" by Alured Clarke, a prebendary of

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, and Clarke introduced him to high society. Clarke and Spence (the Professor of Poetry at Oxford University and friend of

Alexander Pope Alexander Pope (21 May 1688 O.S. – 30 May 1744) was an English poet, translator, and satirist of the Enlightenment era who is considered one of the most prominent English poets of the early 18th century. An exponent of Augustan literature, ...

) promoted Duck as a sincerely pious man of sober wit. Clarke and Spence saw poetry that Duck was writing, but none of this verse was published. Between 1724 and 1730, he and his wife Ann had three children. In 1730, Duck combined some of the poetic pieces he had been writing into ''

The Thresher's Labour "The Thresher's Labour" is one of three poems written by Stephen Duck in 1730. It describes Duck's struggles as an agricultural labourer, and the situation of the early eighteenth-century British working class in general. H. Gustav Klaus said it wa ...

'', a poem that described the difficulty of field work. The poem was celebrated throughout London society, and he soon wrote ''The Shunammite,'' which reflected Duck's piety and religious imagination. The poet was taken to meet Queen Caroline, and, while he was there, word came of the death of his wife, but Clarke kept the news from Duck until after the interview with the queen. For her part, she was pleased and gave Duck an annuity and a small house in

Richmond Park Richmond Park, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, is the largest of London's Royal Parks, and is of national and international importance for wildlife conservation. It was created by Charles I in the 17th century as a deer pa ...

. Duck continued to write and to be seen as both a paradigm of self-improvement and the natural poet. In 1733, Duck was made a

Yeoman of the Guard The King's Body Guard of the Yeomen of the Guard is a bodyguard of the British monarch. The oldest British military corps still in existence, it was created by King Henry VII in 1485 after the Battle of Bosworth Field. History The king ...

by the queen, and that year he met and married Sarah Big, Caroline's housekeeper at Kew. In 1735, Caroline made him keeper of Merlin's Cave (a thatched

folly In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but suggesting through its appearance some other purpose, or of such extravagant appearance that it transcends the range of usual garden buildings. Eighteenth-cent ...

containing waxworks) in Richmond Park, where he had previously worked as a gardener. During this period, Duck wrote many poems, with increasing polish and urbanity. His ''Poems'' in 1736 had both Pope and

Jonathan Swift Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish satirist, author, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whigs, then for the Tories), poet, and Anglican cleric who became Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, ...

as subscribers.

Reception

However, Swift and Pope both made disparaging remarks or outright satires on Duck. Between 1731 and 1733, Swift satirized the poverty of Duck's rhymes in several pieces. However, both men seemed to like Stephen Duck as a person, and both were impressed by his religious sincerity. When Duck was rumoured to be a candidate for the

Laureate In English, the word laureate has come to signify eminence or association with literary awards or military glory. It is also used for recipients of the Nobel Prize, the Gandhi Peace Award, the Student Peace Prize, and for former music direct ...

, this distinction between the private man and the quality of the verse made him a worthy target. When Queen Caroline died in 1737, Duck was left without a patron and without direct inspiration. He wrote eight very long poems after her death. In 1744, his wife Sarah died, and Stephen married again, although this wife's name is unknown. Duck was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform var ...

in 1746 and became

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...

to Henry Cornewall and then to Ligonier's forces in 1750 before becoming the chaplain of Kew Palace. He went on to serve as the vicar of Byfleet, Surrey, where he was well liked by his congregation. On 21 March 1756 Duck, apparently overwhelmed by the strain caused by his change in social status, committed

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and ...

by drowning. An annual commemorative feast, the ''Duck Feast'', is held at the Charlton Cat inn in the village of his birth. It is funded by the revenue from a field ("Duck's Acre") presented by

Lord Palmerston Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, (20 October 1784 – 18 October 1865) was a British statesman who was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century. Palmerston dominated British foreign policy during the period ...

, to whom Duck had dedicated a volume of poetry. Duck presided at the first feast, writing: Since the 1990s, Duck and his work have generated renewed interest among New Historicist and Marxist literary critics. Duck's case featured in ''The New Eighteenth Century'' (Donna Landry), and this inspired further critical work. The Donna Landry and William Christmas edited issue of ''Criticism'' featured two articles on Duck in 2005.

Works

* ''

'' (1730) * ''Poems on Several Occasions'' (1736), reprinted .

References

*
Robert DeMaria's headnote and text of ''The Thresher's Labour'' via Google Books
* * Stephen, Leslie, revised by William R. Jones. "Stephen Duck" in Matthew, H.C.G. and Brian Harrison, eds. '' The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.'' vol. 17, 33–34. London: OUP, 2004. *

External links

*
Stephen Duck
at th
Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (ECPA)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Duck, Stephen 1700s births 1705 births 1756 deaths 18th-century English poets People from Pewsey Suicides by drowning in England English military chaplains 18th-century English writers 18th-century English male writers English male poets 18th-century suicides