Walking the Streets of Eighteenth-Century London——John Gay’s Trivia (1716)

it recovers one of the most lively, funny, and thought-provoking statements about urban life: John
Gay’s poem Trivia: or, the Art of Walking the Streets of London (1716). It does all of these things by linking a passionate conviction about scholarship to a very simple idea.
Our idea is that the best way to connect people with different points of view is to read the same text—in our case, John Gay’s Trivia. We offer nine different interpretations of the poem from nine writers who are specialists in the eighteenth century. Their work ranges widely across the
humanities in the fields of literature, history, classics, biography, geography,costume, and gender. Though the chapters have distinct points of view, they are united in their focus upon the poem, the period, and the place. Together they make the heat, grime, and smells of the underbelly of London come alive in new ways.

Our book has four subjects—a poem, London, readings of the poem,and reflections on ways of reading that poem. Like compass points, these four subjects may draw readers differently through the book. Some may wish to go to the poem first to discover Gay’s wit and poetic skill. The poem notes offer many surprises about eighteenth-century London and help the reader to understand ways of speaking in Gay’s city—its slang,allusions, stories, and rhymes.