This volume of about 80 poems by Elliott was published by Benjamin Steil in London in 1835.  "Kerhonah" is actually part 3 of the   works published by Steil. (Part 1 was "The Splendid Vilage, Corn Law Rhymes And Other Poems" [1834] while "The Village Patriarch, Love And Other Poems" [1834] was part 2. All parts or volumes were published by Steil). 

"Kerhonah" is a curious throwing together of poems, hymns and plays probably prompted at short notice by the success of the bard's "Corn Law Rhymes." The title of the volume for instance makes no mention that the volume contains "The Corn Law Hymns."  And the volume is blessed with three prefaces, one for each section of the work. The first preface is 13 pages long. Here Elliott thanks his reviewers, thanks his readers and goes on to defend his political poetry. He then attacks "an elegant rascal" who is critical of his political views. Nor are any such attacks going to intimidate the poet.

The second preface is on page 165 and is a preface to the "Corn Law Hymns" which are dedicated to Mr Thomas Hodgskin, author of "Popular Political Economy." Hodgskin (1787-1869) was for free trade; something which dominated Elliott's commercial outlook too. The preface is only six pages long and of course its about politics. The hymns (20 of them) are discussed in the article  on this site called "Elliott As A Writer Of Hymns."

The third preface appears on page 195 as part of the section called "Juvenile Poems" which Elliott addresses to Miss Sarah Austin (*see below).  This preface is very short making comments  on his early poem "The Vernal Walk" (from 1801) and on his play "Taurassdes."  The early poem,"The Vernal Walk," is discussed on this site in the article "Early Poems Of Ebenezer Elliott."
 
The poem "Win Hill," which is set in the Peak District, is part of the title of this volume of poetry. The poem was much admired by Elliott which is probably why Elliott included it in the title of the work. The text of the poem is to be found on this site in the article called "Win-Hill."

[Note that the title of the volume is too long-winded to keep quoting in this article. So for brevity, the title is sometimes shortened to "Kerhonah." Or it is simply called "the volume"].
 

KERHONAH  and  TAURASSDES

It is surprising to find two plays included in this volume. After his success with poetry, Elliott decided to see if his dramatic work would find similar success. It didnt. John Watkins, the poet's son in law and biographer - himself a playwrite - said that "Kerhonah" was an unhappy attempt at drama. Yet Elliott clearly thought it was praiseworthy since the play had pride of place in the volume. The play is 37 pages long and its subject is the quarrels between the Red Indians and the settlers; with the bard being sympathetic towards the Indians.The setting is New England where Kerhonah was King of the Maspataquas Indians.

Elliott dedicated his drama to Edward Lytton Bulwer,  the MP and  a prolific writer, "in humble thankfulness for his advocacy of free theatricals." An interesting dedication for the poet to make.

"Taurassades" was equally condemned by John Watkins for having neither plot nor characterisation. Characters wandered in and out pointlessly, he said. The play is a melodrama and is 72 pages long. It is set a few hundred years ago on the shores of the Caspian Sea and its main character appears to be the King Of Iran. The Spectator for April 26 1835 made the following suggestion:-

            We would earnestly press upon EBENEZER ELLIOTT the prudence, in his future efforts, of confining himself to subjects which he knows by experience,  - the annals of the poor; the loves, joys, and sorrows of humble life; the appearances of nature, as he sees them in his walks; and the complaints of his own class against their monopolizing "oppressors." On this last theme, however, he would lose nothing in point of force, and gain considerably as regards effect, if he adopted a more dignified tone and a calmer style.

"JUVENILE POEMS"

This section of the volume of poems contains a dedication to Miss Sarah Austin.* The author of "A Man in Counsel." Elliott's dedication to Sarah proclaimed: "To Miss Sarah Austin, I address these poems of my youth; because my mature years have produced nothing which ought to inspire me with any other feeling than those of humility and shame, in the presence of her genius."  This is another telling statement from the Poet of the Poor. He rates Miss Austin very highly - something he tended to do with other writers. He runs down his owwn early efforts at poetry as being inadequate and also runs down his modern work too. It's a realistic assessment of his early work, though the modern reader needs to be aware of Elliott's lack of education and his struggles to become a poet. As for his dismissing the poems of his mature years, he was only 46 when this volume was published in 1835 and was an acclaimed poet,  even famous in the USA and France. Elliott always undervalued himself.

*Sarah Austin (1793-1867) was a highly intelligent literary figure born four years later than Elliott; so a contemporary. Like Elliott she was a Unitarian and like Elliott, her early work was published by the Edinburgh Review. So she and Elliott had things in common, but unlike the bard she didn’t write poetry. She was highly educated, spoke several languages and was a celebrated translator. Unlike Elliott, she moved in influential circles counting John Stuart Mill and Thomas Carlyle among her friends.

The poems in this section were "The Vernal Walk" and "Second Nuptials." These two juvenile poems were followed somewhat surprisingly by the play "Taurassdes." Odd that the play should appear under the "Juvenile Poems" heading. Again it suggests that the whole volume was thrown together in a hurry. "The Vernal Walk" was alluded to earlier in this article. "Second Nuptials" is a long poem which was condemned by the critics. There is little documentation about "Second Nuptials." Elliott was born in Rotherham and the poem is loosely situated in Rotherham and the River Don Valley. It's a tale from an old woman of her matrimonial difficulties. Mary becomes a widow after being told her husband has perished in America. The bearer of the sad new from America eventually marries Mary. This is her second nuptial and gives the poem its title. In turn, Mary's second husband dies. Eventually she is befriended by a total stranger who in the end reveals himself to be her first husband who did not die in America. Mary has failed to recognise her first husband.

THE STRANGE CONTENTS LIST

Another sign that Elliott simply cobbled together this volume of poetry at short notice is the strange Contents List which only lists 15 poems and doesn't list the fifty other poems which are included in the volume. The poems in the Contents List, though, do include a couple of the better examples of the work of The Bard of the Beggars as Elliott was once called. The Contents List poems are listed in the table below. Note how there are some large gaps in the page numbers: these page gaps are where the poems not included in the Contents List appear in the volume.

KERHONAH                           page 11 PRESTON MILLS                   page 49 FAMINE IN A SLAVE SHIP   page 51 THE DYING BOY TO THE SLOE BLOSSOM    page 53 WIN-HILL                              page 57 THE WONDERS OF THE LANE    page 74 THE EXCURSION                  page 83 THE POLISH FUGITIVES     page 90

COME AND GONE              page 97    STEAM, AT SHEFFIELD     page 115    DON AND ROTHER            page 148    CORN-LAW HYMNS          page 163    THE VERNAL WALK         page 197    SECOND NUPTIALS           page 205    TAURASSDES                     page 225

POEMS NOT LISTED IN THE CONTENTS LIST

Among these poems are some fairly well known poems: "Thomas" about the death of his son; "A Poet's Epitaph" which is the poet's own whimsical epitaph and "To The Bramble Flower," one of Elliott's better nature poems.

Some of the fifty poems not listed in the Contents List are poems which are also not included in the "Works" compiled by Elliott's son Edwin. The latter is known to have excluded poems he disapproved of, but some poems may have not appeared for space reasons or because they lack quality. There are 14 titles  in all which are largely unknown since they are hidden away in this volume and do not appear anywhere else. These "lost poems" are listed below together with the page number in the volume. Some caution is needed here, though, since Elliott sometimes revisited his poems, re-worked them and gave them a new title.

THE FATAL BIRTH EPISTLE  (MY PIOUS FRIEND) AIR AND LIGHT ON STANEDGE SPENSERIAN (THOU ART NOT ... ) EPITAPH  (OUR FRIEND ... ) SONG (HURRAH FOR THE LAND) LEGION, A PORTRAIT TO MR COSTELLO OGDEN SONG  (OH, WHY IS GLADNESS) PAPER AND GOLD SPENSERIAN  (FROM SORDID THRALDOM) THE SOLAND GOOSE SPENSERIAN  (SPIRIT OF BRITISH TRADE) EPIGRAM  (WHILE COBBETT ... )

79 93 96 109 109 110 124 126 130 131 132 136 147 152 159

THE FULL TEXTS OF ALL THE POEMS IN THIS VOLUME

ARE AVAILABLE AS A FREE PDF DOWNLOAD

FROM GOOGLE BOOKS

(Try searching for "Kerhonah" by Ebenezer Elliott)

REVIEW OF KERHONAH (ie the volume)

The leading literary journal of the day carried a review shortly after publication of the volume. This was in The Athenaeum for 6th June 1835. In addition all three parts (or volumes) of the so called works were reviewed in The Westminster Review  vol 30 1835  pp187-201.  (Sheffield Libraries should hold this issue of The Westminster Review. Hard copies of the three parts of "the works" should be available in both Rotherham and Sheffield Libraries).