Popes Grotto:Wining and Dining with Alexander Pope. Talk by Prof Judith Hawley London Luminaries s.4

Описание: This talk by Ham House is the eighth in the London Luminaries series 4 entitled Wining and Dining with Alexander Pope

Poet Alexander Pope was proud of his independence and of his social relations. Both a symbol and an embodiment of his beliefs, his villa and garden in Twickenham were built with the profits of his pen and provided a space where he could entertain his friends. His five-acre garden furnished much of the food that was served at his table; the local area provided much of the rest. His determination to consume locally produced food also attests to his belief in moderation. In his poetry, he scorned both the greedy gourmet whose body becomes ‘A Tomb of boil’d, and roast, and flesh, and fish’ and the parsimony of the miser who dines on roots soused in vinegary wine. His friends present a more complex picture of Pope’s wining and dining. This talk will compare the image Pope presents of the values associated with consumption and hospitality in his poetry with what research reveals about what it was really like to dine with Alexander Pope.

Judith Hawley is Professor of Eighteenth-Century Literature in the Department of English, Royal Holloway, University of London and frequently appears on BBC radio and TV. She is a Trustee of the Pope’s Grotto Preservation Trust. Her research interests range from gin to Grub street and she has a particular interest in the history of the amateur performance.

In our own times, issues of the sustainability of food production and equity of its distribution are hot topics. In this series of 14 talks, we explore how food was produced and consumed in the past by our Luminaries to help inform discussions on the future of food and drink. Much food was produced locally; great houses such as Chiswick House and Fulham Palace had their own kitchen gardens and Alexander Pope boasted of the sources of his meat supply: ‘To Hounslow Heath I point, and Banstead-Down, / Thence comes your Mutton, and these chicks my own.’ Yet modern luxuries such as tea and coffee stretched supply chains around the globe. Wining and dining also provided hosts with opportunities to display their hospitality and particular taste through the choice of menu and table setting.

This varied banquet of 14 talks thus also explore cultural dimensions of food and drink.