Talk:The Lady's Dressing Room

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I wondered if anyone had an opinion on whether to include the text of the actual poem at all. Without line breaks, the poem does not look or read as it should, with them, the page is much too long. Wikipedia entries are not accustomed to including the full text of original works, so perhaps a link to a web source for the poem suffices? Greg.Hartley (talk) 18:23, 19 April 2013‎ (UTC)[reply]

In general, I think it's a good idea to use the text of the poem to back up assertions. I also think that using the poem's text is useful when defining vocabulary and linking to other wiki pages. I agree, however, that including the entire poem in text format might be too much. A reputable PDF link or something like that should suffice. Cgrisham (talk) 21:28, 7 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Written in the form of an essay

This is pretty clearly written in the style of an essay, rather than as a Wikipedia article. Fujibeard (talk) 22:23, 2 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

George Eliot and Middlemarch

The comment about George Eliot's Celia, in Eliot's novel, Middlemarch, referring to the Celia in Jonathan Swift's poem, is not supported by a citation. Googling around, I found one or two speculative comments about this possibility in amateurish essays, but none of these is supported by a citation, either. I wouldn't be surprised if George Eliot was familiar with the poem, but there might not be any evidence of that, either. Eliot's Celia is more earthy than her sister, Dorothea. Otherwise, there is scant resemblance between the two. If the original author of this section cannot come up with a citation, I think it ought to be removed. Bigvalleytim (talk) 06:11, 3 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I agree. I’ve read Middlemarch, and if I had to pick the single character from the novel that is most similar to Swift’s Celia, it would not be Celia Brooke, but rather Rosamond Vincy. But in neither case do I see any evidence that Eliot was attempting to invoke Swift's poem.

I have also read the standard critical essays on Eliot and on Middlemarch (by Henry James, Virginia Woolf, F. R. Leavis) and likewise find no evidence that Eliot intended such a connection.

So I have gone ahead and deleted the paragraph about Middlemarch in toto. If it is to be reinstated, I would think there needs to be an authoritative reference, e.g. an essay by a known literary critic, a biography of Eliot etc. Citing some random person’s blog post or YouTube video won’t cut it. LyleHoward (talk) 13:22, 14 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

"Juvenalian satire"

I deleted the sentence "Swift employs Juvenalian satire in this poem." Here is a quote from a 1988 article by Margaret Anne Doody (in The Yearbook of English Studies): "Unlike Juvenal and others, Swift does not present women as responsible for the downfall of civilization; rather, he sees that 'woman, like man, is not a rational animal'." LyleHoward (talk) 13:12, 8 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]