Jump to content

Cadenus and Vanessa

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Sro23 (talk | contribs) at 15:47, 1 August 2016 (Reverted edits by StopEdJohnston2016 (talk) to last version by EdJohnston). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Cadenus and Vanessa is a poem by Jonathan Swift about one of his lovers, Esther Vanhomrigh (Vanessa), written in 1712 and published as a book in 1726, three years after the death of Vanhomrigh. [1] It contains in its title an anagram and a neologism: Cadenus is anagram of the Latin de canus, Swift was dean of St Patrick's, and known as Dean Swift in the manner of the time; the neologism is Vanessa, in secret reference to Esther Vanhomrigh, the name starts with the first three letters of her surname and the first two of her first name.

With this poem Swift created the popular woman's name Vanessa.

See also

References

  1. ^ Stephen, Leslie (1898). "Swift, Jonathan" . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 55. London: Smith, Elder & Co. p. 215.