| Beachy Head | |
|---|---|
| by Charlotte Turner Smith | |
&sq=&lang=&file=File:Beachy_Head_1807_Title_Page.png) Title page of the first edition | |
| Written | 1806 |
| Country | England |
| Language | English |
| Meter | iambic pentameter |
| Rhyme scheme | blank verse |
| Publication date | January 1807 |
| Lines | 742 |
Beachy Head is a long blank verse poem by the English Romantic poet and novelist Charlotte Turner Smith, published in 1807, the year after her death, as part of the volume Beachy Head and Other Poems. The poem imagines events at the coastal cliffs of Beachy Head from across England's history, to meditate on what Smith saw as the modern corruption caused by commerce and nationalism. It was her last poetic work, and has been described as her most poetically ambitious work.
As a Romantic poem, it is notable for its naturalist rather than sublime presentation of the natural world. As she was composing the poem, Smith wrote sixty-four footnotes, providing details like the scientific names for plants and animals and discussions of historic events. These are generally considered an important element of the poem's multi-layered composition.
Smith wrote Beachy Head between 1803 and 1806, near the end of her life, when she was struggling with debt and ill health. As the poem was being composed, England was engaged in the Napoleonic Wars with France, and Beachy Head was regarded as a likely invasion point for the French army; nonetheless, Smith continued to support French revolutionary ideals.