The literary work

Poems

――――――――――――――――――――――――――

The Garreteer's Petition

1809

Source: The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition

«The Garreteer's Petition» is among the most easily overlooked of the artist's Academy pictures. Conflating his own creative persona with that of his subject, Turner gave a voice to the beleaguered poet with one of his own early efforts in verse, written for the Exhibition catalogue:

Aid me, ye Powers! O bid my thoughts to roll

In quick succession, animate my soul;

Descend my Muse, and every thought refine,

And finish well my long, my long-sought line.