Trivia, or The Art of Walking the Streets of London

The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature | 2003 | 646 words | Copyright

Trivia, or The Art of Walking the Streets of London, a poem by J. Gay in three books, published 1716. It is a town ecologue, owing ‘some hints’ to Swift, whose ‘City Shower’ (1710) is in the same vein. Gay conducts the reader through the streets of London, by day and then by night. It is a lively, affectionate, and entertaining piece, and a mine of information. ‘Trivia’ means ‘streets’, from the root meaning of ‘road junction’, and Gay, who invokes Trivia as a goddess of the highways, also refers to the murder of Laius by Oedipus at the crossroads in Book III, l. 217.

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MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Trivia, or The Art of Walking the Streets of London." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 29 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Trivia, or The Art of Walking the Streets of London." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (May 29, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-TrvrThrtfWlkngthStrtsfLnd.html

MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Trivia, or The Art of Walking the Streets of London." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Retrieved May 29, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-TrvrThrtfWlkngthStrtsfLnd.html

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