Leigh Hunt, “Jenny Kissed Me”

Daniel Robinson (Widener University)

Ed. by Daniel Robinson, Widener University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.06: English Writing and Culture of the Romantic Period, 1789-1837.
Vol. editors: Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Daniel Robinson (Widener University)

Dates

First circulation or publication Nov 1838

Places

United Kingdom (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Poem

Resources

Leigh Hunt’s charming lyric “Jenny Kissed Me” was one of the more popular anthology poems of the nineteenth century. It was first published in the Monthly Chronicle for November 1838, originally opening with “Nelly kiss’d me when we met” and under the heading “Rondeau”, by which Hunt refers to that form’s repetition of the first line as a refrain. Hunt’s lyric does not really employ the first line as a refrain but repeats the first clause as the final line of the song. For his 1844 Poetical Works Hunt changed “Nelly” to “Jenny”. Tradition holds that Hunt did so in tribute to his close friend Jane Welsh Carlyle (1801–66), wife of the writer Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881). The 1844 version of the �…

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306 words

Citation: Robinson, Daniel. "“Jenny Kissed Me”". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 16 June 2014 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=33059, accessed 31 October 2024.]

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