Jenny kissed me when we met

Jumping out of the chair he sat on;

Time, thief, who loves to get

Candy on your list, put that in:

Say I’m tired, say I’m sad

Say health and wealth have missed me

Say I’m getting old but add

Jenny kissed me.

Leigh Hunt was a 19th century English essayist, critic, poet, and editor. Hunt was not a renowned poet, although his “Jenny Kissed Me” has been enjoyed and often cited for nearly two centuries. However, Hunt lived during a time of English romanticism and was influential in the lives of Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lord Byron, and John Keats. He was also a contemporary of Samuel Coleridge, William Wordsworth, and Charles Dickens. This great company has given Leigh Hunt distinguished status.

About “Jenny Kissed Me”

In 1835, Leigh Hunt and her large family moved to Chelsea in London and became neighbors of the poet and author Thomas Carlyle, at his suggestion. The two became close friends and Hunt’s home was always open to his circle of friends, of whom there were many.

There are two stories. One story is that Leigh Hunt visited the Carlyles to break the news that he was going to publish one of Thomas Carlyle’s poems. When the news was delivered to Carlyle’s wife, Jane, she jumped up and kissed him.

The other story is that one winter, Hunt was sick with the flu and absent for so long that when he finally recovered and went to visit the Carlyles, Jane jumped up and kissed him as soon as he appeared in the doorway. Two days later, one of Hunt’s servants delivered a note with the address: “From Mr. Hunt to Mrs. Carlyle.” It contained the poem “Jenny Kissed Me”.

The second story is the one that repeats itself most often.

Fortunately, Hunt was a smart editor, because in the original draft Jenny was Nelly and the word “jaundice” was used instead of “tired” in the fifth line.

Leigh Hunt is said to have been a flirtatious man, often in trouble with his wife. It is also said that Jane Carlyle was a bit bitter and better known for her sour tongue than for her impulsive affection.

The poem “Jenny Kissed Me” has been variously described as whimsical, charming, simple, and unaffected. Many readers meet it for the first time during their school years and remember it all their lives. Numerous girls have been named “Jenny” as a result of fond memory of the poem.

The first surprising structural feature of “Jenny Kissed Me” is the trochaic meter. It is characterized by a foot that contains an accented syllable followed by an unstressed one. This meter is not commonly used in formal English poetry because it can sound sing-song.

The trochaic meter is more common in nursery rhymes where the rhythm of a song is appreciated. Think “Twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are.”

The singing effect is offset by the poem’s abab rhyme scheme, as opposed to the aabb rhyme scheme. The rhyme scheme above produces a four-line verse as the basic unit of the poem, as in “Jenny Kissed Me.” The last rhyme scheme produces two paired verses that enhance the singing effect, as in nursery rhymes.

The trochaic meter can also sound solemn or heavy due to the fact that the trochaic foot has a descending pattern (stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable). However, “Jenny Kissed Me” is a lighthearted poem and is supported by the use of feminine rhymes.

The verses that end with a stressed syllable are said to be masculine and the verses that end with an unstressed syllable are said to be feminine. In “Jenny Kissed Me”, lines 1, 3, 5 and 7 are masculine, but that rhyming pattern is not carried throughout the poem. Lines 2, 4, 6, and 8 are feminine, which helps offset masculine rhymes and helps make the poem feel lighter and brighter.

The insightful ending to “Jenny Kissed Me” invariably brings a smile to the reader’s face.

About Leigh Hunt

James Henry Leigh Hunt was born in England in 1784 and died in 1859. Many English poets and writers were contemporaries of Leigh Hunt, including Keats, Shelley, Byron, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Dickens, Carlyle, Jeremy Bentham, and Charles Darwin.

During Hunt’s life, England participated in the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 with the United States, and the 23-year period of the Napoleonic Wars with France. During Hunt’s life the French Revolution took place and Napoleon became Emperor of France. Later, steam engines created an industrial revolution and Darwin sailed to the Galapagos Islands and reported his findings. Over a three-year period, Hunt’s friends and supporters Keats, Shelley, and Byron died at young ages.

Leigh Hunt was born into a poor family near London in 1784 and attended school in London at Christ’s Hospital, a school founded 240 years earlier for the education of poor children. After his studies, Hunt took a job as a clerk in the war bureau.

In 1805, Hunt teamed up with his older brother, John, a printer, to establish a newspaper called News. Three years later, the brothers left the newspaper and created a political weekly that established their liberal reputation called the Examine. Among other topics, the Examine He called for many reforms in Parliament, criticized King George III, and called for the abolition of slavery.

The power of journalism came of age during this period in English history with the publication of numerous critical newspapers that collectively became known as the “radical press”. Consequently, the government became very busy, albeit mostly unsuccessful, prosecuting the “radical press” for seditious defamation.

In 1812, the Hunts wrote an article in the Examine he called the Prince Regent, the future King George IV, “a violator of his word, a rake above the head and ears in disgrace, a despiser of domestic ties, the companion of players and demireps.” As a result, John and Leigh Hunt were convicted by a jury of defamation and sentenced to two years in prison.

Although he continued to write for the Examine While in prison, Leigh Hunt’s separation from his family convinced him to move away from political writing and focus on literary writing.

Shortly after being released from prison, Leigh Hunt moved into his favorite house in Hampstead, where he was able to spend precious time with his wife and three children and with his literary friends. Among the friends who stayed with Hunt for periods of time at his Hampstead home were Percy Bysshe Shelley and John Keats.

Hunt had previously presented to the world the writings of Keats and Shelley in the pages of the Examine. His section on “Young Poets” gave Keats and Shelley access to a valuable space where some of their early works were published.

Keats welcomed Hunt’s tutelage for about a year. He parted ways with Hunt when a critic labeled Hunt and Keats as members of “The Cockney School of Poetry.”

In 1818, Shelley and her family decided to move to Italy for financial and health reasons. His friend, Lord Byron, was living in Italy at the time and the two corresponded for several years while each lived in different parts of Italy.

In 1821, when Shelley and Byron were located in Pisa, Shelley envisioned a new magazine called The liberal that Shelley, Byron and their friend Leigh Hunt would publish in Italy. Shelley sent money and an invitation to Hunt and promised to provide a home and income for Hunt and his large family.

Hunt liked the prospect of joining Shelley and Byron in Italy and took his family to Genoa and then Livorno to meet Shelley. After their encounter, Hunt and his family went to Pisa to meet Byron, and Shelley set sail on his ship, the “Don Juan,” for his home on the coast at Casa Magni.

Shelley’s ship was caught in a storm and sank. Shelley’s body and his crew made landfall in Corsica a few days later. Local health laws prohibited the transfer of the bodies to Rome or Pisa, so a month later, Hunt, Byron, and family members attended the cremation of Shelley’s body. After cremation, Hunt ended up in possession of Shelley’s heart, which he eventually returned to Shelley’s wife, Mary.

Lord Byron was not interested in The liberal and he soon left Italy to take a keen interest in the civil war raging in Greece. Byron died in Greece of a respiratory illness in 1823.

Hunt and his family were left in Italy without friends and no income. Hunt published some editions of The liberal but he lacked heart and soul and failed. Hunt received an advance for literary works and took his family, which now included seven children, back to England.

Hunt was impoverished for most of the rest of his life. Charles Dickens was instrumental in agitating the government for a pension to be paid to needy authors in England. In 1847, Hunt began receiving the pension that alleviated, but did not eliminate, his financial limitations.

Shortly after returning from Italy, Hunt moved to Chelsea, where, as he had done at the Hampstead house, he opened his house to his literary friends.

The publication of the Dickens novel, Gloomy house, Regarded by some critics as his best work, although certainly not his most popular, it included a character who is said to be modeled after Leigh Hunt. The book caused a rift to develop between Dickens and Hunt.

Tea Gloomy house The character, Harold Skimpole, was described as “airy, unforeseen, and objectionable.” Skimpole claims to be a kid when it comes to finances and manages to make everyone else pay his way through life.

Although Dickens denied that it was a characterization of Hunt and offered apologies, Hunt and his literary friends were offended.

Leigh Hunt died at the age of 75, much remembered by her many friends. William Hazlitt, painter and writer, said that “in conversation it is all life and animation, combining the vivacity of the schoolboy with the resources of the wit and taste of the scholar.”