Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Daniel Defoe was an English pamphleteer, journalist, and writer who was born in the year 1660 and died on 24th April 1731. Defoe is known for his novel Robinson Crusoe which was published in 1719 and is considered the first English novel that established realistic fiction as a literary genre. Along with Aphra Behn and Samuel Johnson, Daniel Defoe popularized novels as the modern form of literature in Britain. His other noteworthy novels include Captain Singleton, Memoirs of a Cavalier, A Journal of a Plague Year, Colonel Jack, Moll Flanders, and Roxanna: The Fortunate Mistress. Defoe’s parents were Presbyterian Dissenters and he got his education in dissenting Academy of Presbyterians at Newington, Green. Dissenters were those British Christians who didn’t accept the authority of the Anglican church and had their own churches. It was a period when the English government persecuted those who chose to worship outside the Anglican Church.
Defoe began his business career as a general merchant dealing in hosiery, woolen clothes, and wine. He made good profits and bought a ship and civets to produce perfumes. Being a Presbyterian, Defoe joined the Monmouth Rebellion in 1685, and after its failure, he was caught but fortunately, he was pardoned. In 1689, Queen Mary and her husband William III were crowned as joint monarchs of England. Defoe became a close confidante of William III and began spying for him. During this time, his business suffered because of conflicts between France and England and he accrued huge debts that he couldn’t pay. In 1692, he was arrested and kept in the Debtor’s prison.
In 1697, he published his first noteworthy pamphlet titled An Essay Upon Projects in which he wrote about various social and economic plans required for the improvement of the English society. The pamphlet also contained a proposal for a National Insurance Scheme.
Throughout William III’s reign, Defoe supported him loyally, becoming his leading pamphleteer. In 1701, in reply to attacks on the “foreign” king, Defoe published his vigorous and witty poem The True-Born Englishman which became very popular. The poem talked about racial prejudice and how it harms society. The poem defended William III against the xenophobic and racial attacks from his political enemies in England.
The Shortest Way with the Dissenters (Summary)
In 1702, William III died and Queen Anne became the monarch of England. She was strictly against the dissenters and nonconformists. Defoe often used to write pamphlets favoring the dissenters and
wrote tracts advocating greater toleration for dissenters. In December 1702, Defoe anonymously wrote and published a pamphlet titled The Shortest Way with the Dissenters; or, Proposals for the Establishment of the Church. Daniel Defoe wrote this pamphlet in a satirical manner. In the beginning, he offered a fable of the Cock and the Horses living in the stable. Since there is no perch for the cock, he is forced to live on the ground. As the horses are moving too much, the cock gets frightened of being steppe upon and advises the horses, "Pray, Gentlefolks! let us stand still! For fear, we should tread upon one another!” The author then compares the situations of Dissenters in England with that of the cock.
Then the author mentions the involvement of Dissenters in various notorious and hideous criminal activities during the past century. He mentions the English Civil War and Monmouth’s Rebellion. The author continues to sharpen his accusations against the Dissenters and at one point, the author says, "You have butchered one King! deposed another King! and made a Mock King of a third!" The author says that the previous monarchs from James I to William III have treated the Dissenters very leniently but now they should be punished harshly. The author also offers counterpoints in favor of the Dissenters such as "They are very numerous". The author then says that The Church of England is in grave danger because of these Dissenters. The author argued that the best way of dealing with the dissenters was to banish them abroad and send their preachers to the hangman. The Church of England, it said, is like Christ crucified between two thieves, Papists on one side and Nonconformist sectarians on the other. Very well, let us crucify the thieves. To go on tolerating them is like allowing a plague to continue without medical treatment.
Defoe intended to write this pamphlet as a satire but it came out to be a work of hoax and misused impersonation. In addition, many high churchmen endorsed the ways of punishing the Dissenters as mentioned in the pamphlet. This created a controversy and Queen Anne demanded the arrest of the author. Soon it came to light that Daniel Defoe wrote and published the pamphlet anonymously and an arrest warrant was issued against him. Defoe tried to avoid imprisonment by absconding but a substantial reward was offered for his arrest. Defoe went into hiding and published A Brief Explanation of a Late Pamphlet to say that he had been misunderstood, but it didn’t help him. He was arrested and imprisoned and then a case of sedition was run against him. Defoe pleaded guilty but appealed for mercy on the ground that he didn’t expect the pamphlet to be taken so seriously, he was sentenced to stand three times in the pillory, pay a stiff fine and remain in prison until he could provide sureties for his good behavior for seven years.
A Hymn to The Pillory:
A pillory is a device used for punishment, for the purpose of which a criminal's head and hands are put through holes in a wooden bar, and locked there. Then the criminal is made to stand in front of the crowd. The crowd would often throw rotten eggs, tomatoes, pebbles, or stones at the criminal. Defoe was sentenced to the pillory because he had published some dissenting religious views that the authorities didn't like.
Defoe accepted the punishment but before facing the crowd, bound in the pillory, Defoe wrote a poem titled A Hymn to The Pillory and his supporters and friends distributed the copies of the poem in the crowd.
Defoe was put in the pillory on the last three days of July 1703, for an hour each time in three of the busiest places in London. It was expected that the crowd will through rotten tomatoes and eggs and maybe stones at Defoe but the poem had its effect. All that was thrown at him were flowers while his friends sold the spectators copies of The Shortest Way and A Hymn to the Pillory which he had composed for the occasion.
The poem is an oration addressed to the pillory. The poet begins by addressing the pillory, “Hail! Hi’roglyphick State Machin”; he continues through a long succession of varied metaphorical references to the pillory: human (brows, face), stage (“modern Scenes,” theater), mountain (pinnacles, ridge), military (turrets, counterscarp), scaffold (“Great Monster of the Law”), and numerous others. “Stage” seems to be dominant. Rhetorically he inquires after the secret of the emblematic (“hieroglyphic”) meaning of the pillory. Because of the self-discoveries represented by these references, the speaker works his way through different interpretations of the pillory experience and reaches the startling conclusion that the pillory is an absolute subversion of justice, as is the state. In the poem, Defoe says that poor people like him who've been sentenced to the pillory have much more integrity than the society and the legal system that has condemned them to this punishment. According to Defoe, English society and the English legal system are both corrupt: in England, "justice" is actually about self "interest," laws are "subservient" to those in power, what is "vertue" one day is condemned as "crime" the next.
Defoe wrote the poem in hymn form in highly irregular Pindarics, used both for praise or blame, panegyric or satire. Pindar was a Greek poet known for his ceremonious poems, poems that usually celebrated a famous person. Pindaric odes are structured in a certain way, with a specific meter and rhyme scheme.
Defoe adopted the Pindaric structure for his poem reflecting his inclination towards neoclassicism. In addition, he used the Pindaric structure to offer dignity, not to some famous person, but to those who have been pilloried, and one of them was Defoe himself.
After the punishment, he was sent back to the jail. His business went bankrupt and he was unable to pay the fine. In November, Defoe’s fine was paid out of secret service funds and he was released from Newgate. Defoe had brokered his release in exchange for Defoe's cooperation as a spy for the Tories. He was then employed to publish a newspaper favoring the government and then he was sent to Scotland as a spy in 1706. Meanwhile, he continued to write propaganda for various ministries.
So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!
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