William McGee, 18 Nassau Street, Dublin: The Publisher of 'Persephone, and Other Poems'

In 1884, William McGee published Lizzie Mary Little’s poetry collection Persephone, and Other Poems. McGee occupied a prominent position in the Dublin publishing business. His publishing house, located at 18 Nassau Street in Dublin, issued a wide range of literature, including poetry, histories, religious documents, and scientific texts. Interestingly, Lizzie Mary Little’s work, particularly her poem “Voices of the Age,” represents each of the aforementioned disciplines; McGee, therefore, was an appropriate choice of publisher. Her work’s promotion by such a prominent publisher also indicates the perceived merit of her work during the nineteenth century.

To read a related blog post, click here: http://blogs.baylor.edu/19crs/2020/01/15/victorian-voices…oices-of-the-age/

Parent Map

Map: Victorian Poetry, Reforming Christ's Body

Coordinates

Latitude: 53.349805300000
Longitude: -6.260309700000

Timeline of Events Associated with William McGee, 18 Nassau Street, Dublin: The Publisher of 'Persephone, and Other Poems'

Date Event Manage
1884

Publication of Lizzie Mary Little's "Voices of the Age"

Lizzie Mary Little's 1884 poem, included in the collection Persephone, and Other Poems , comments upon changing views of science, poetry, and truth in the Victorian era. In the poem, Little speaks through the voice of a Romantic Bard of Nature, a Disillusioned Modern Man, a Scientific Humanist, and a Christian. Published close to the end of the Victorian era, the poem draws, both directly and indirectly, from many significant events and literary works of the nineteenth century. For example, Little refers to the end of the Romantic age of poetry (around the 1830’s), and directly references the theory of evolution, which gained prominence with Darwin’s 1859 publication On the Origin of Species. She also alludes to numerous poems by contemporary poets, such as Matthew Arnold’s “Stanzas from the Grand Chartreuse” (1867), and Alfred Lord Tennyson’s In Memoriam A.H.H. (1850). By incorporating many important works of the preceding era, the poem functions as a fin de siècle retrospective of nineteenth century science and poetry. 

To read a related blog post, click here: http://blogs.baylor.edu/19crs/2020/01/15/victorian-voices…oices-of-the-age/