A Close Reading of Maria Hackett's Writing

Hackett’s Writing on the Account of St. Paul’s Cathedral: 

     Maria Hackett, in her primary style of writing among her published works, created many descriptive texts. The best known and most reprinted, A Popular Account of St. Paul’s Cathedral, while neither a novel nor poem, does tell a story in the sense of a guided experience from various perspectives in the form of popular description. From the way she conveys the information, in the first section of the book and focus of this close reading, I believe it makes the text act similarly to both a tour guidebook for those who were present at the cathedral as well as giving a mental tour to those who were not. Thus, I argue the text's purpose seems to be that of a map for those who were physically at the cathedral and to allow the readers who were not to become an imaginary visitor.

What She May be Trying to Convey: 

      In her writing, she is working to give the reader passionate descriptions and goes into great detail explaining the cathedral, its monuments, and each piece’s history. In the case of speaking about the monument in the honor of Colonel Cadogan, Hackett writes “He is here represented borne off in the arms of his soldiers with his face to the enemy; his troops having broken the enemy’s ranks with their bayonets... The soldiers who support their leader appear waving their hats in the moment of victory.” (Hackett 35), in which this explanation not only pays respect to the piece, but also comments on its nature to intrigue the reader by providing strong imagery. Moreover, the information she collected for its contents, that being on the features of the cathedral like its large bell, the graves and tombs, and its sculptures/monuments, also all attempt to position the reader. For example, in describing the previously mentioned bell, she explains it as “The fine-toned bell which strikes the hours, is clearly distinguishable from every other in the metropolis, and has been distinctly heard at the distance of 20 miles.” (Hackett 8), allowing the reader to integrate themselves into the setting and properly imagine the bell’s characteristics. Furthermore, the details given by Hackett in providing the physical aspects of the pieces such as the shape, build, and placements of the designs, are to increase the readers' immersion. To support this element, she has also printed a copy of each of the inscriptions within the cathedral in the same format they appear in. In summary, Hackett has made sure to give every piece a tasteful amount of information on its history, what they represent, as well as who created them, and in some cases, who they were created for or in honor of. I believe this was done to give recognition to each of the works and to provide the informative details that would make viewing the cathedral interesting and worthwhile.  

The Imagined Tour: 

     On another note, as Hackett moves around the locations of the cathedral, she provides directions of each in a general sense as well as in relation to other pieces recently spoken about. Due to this, the sequencing of the descriptions does not appear to be random. As previously mentioned, Hackett seems to be designing the book as if giving a tour to the reader, in which this is best highlighted when she describes the details within the cathedral. An example that supports this idea is when Hackett is speaking of an alto relievo featured on a panel within her visualized tour. She gives the description “Britannia mourning her Hero, is consoled by one of her children bringing her the trident; while another is playfully bearing her helmet.” (Hackett 17), to truly paint a picture in the reader's head going through the text. Of the same idea, another piece of evidence that suggests this would be the case is that in multiple instances when she is describing the surroundings and the interior of the cathedral, Hackett uses an active language to have what is closer to a conversation with the reader, similiar to telling them about what she viewed. For instance, in describing what is called the Whispering Gallery, she claims that “From this situation the view of the church, the cupola, and the lantern, is strikingly sublime.” (Hackett 6-7). This method of communicating the information implies that this text could have been used for an in-person guide in the sense of being given a tip of a sight from Hackett. Alternatively, just as readers can do today, it could instead be used for heavy visualization through her descriptions as if being told about an experience from another individual. Thus, the goal of these types of descriptions is that while this book could be used as a physical guide when visiting the cathedral, for those who could not or had an interest to, now instead had the option of the visualized tour through Hackett’s words. The benefit of writing this way was being able to promote the cathedral itself by inviting those with interest and to draw the attention of visitors to the monuments. Continuing this idea, Hackett’s language also portrays her admiration of the church as she provides much praise to each description she provides, whether of what the pieces represent or the craftsmanship of it and even describes the western façade as “...the finest specimen of architecture in the world.” (Hackett 3-4). This would also explain as to why every aspect is described in so much depth as she writes to share all she has researched and experienced. To summarize this section, her superlative way of describing each piece within the cathedral, while not a complete story in context of the book, appears as almost miniature stories as she explains the history, meaning, and visuals of the art. 

Final Notes: 

    As a few final comments, it can be seen through this section of the text that Maria Hackett has worked to create a properly descriptive, factual, and informative text that can take the reader through the cathedral. To further create an immersive and genuine experience of touring the many monuments Hackett has gone as far as to include etchings of the cathedral and some monuments as well as many of the inscriptions. Her use of these elements best suggests that this section of the text was to form a tour of the cathedral whether the reader was physically present at the establishment or mentally by following her descriptions to passionately share all of her experience and research. 

Works Cited:

Hackett, Maria. A Popular Account of St. Paul’s Cathedral. 19th edition. Nichols. 1830. London, England. Google Books: https://books.google.ca/books id=muEHAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false