Trivia (poem)
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Trivia (1716) is the name of a poem by John Gay, loosely based on the Satires of Juvenal. The full title of the poem is Trivia, or The Art of Walking the Streets of London, in three books (the whole of the poem running to just 474 lines). It is a poem in heroic couplets of iambic pentameter that, though based on Juvenal, attains a Horatian satirical manner.
Gay dedicates his poem to the "goddess of crossroads", Trivia, and describes the perils of walking in London in the 1710s. The poem is a topographical poem, taking the form of a walk through a day and night. It pretends to utmost seriousness in advising the reader on how to dress properly, what sorts of boots to wear, etc., to survive falling masonry, chamber pots being emptied out of windows, and overflowing gutters. He gives advice on practical measures to avoid pickpockets, wig thieves, mud splashes. He describes the characters of the city, including ballad singers, chairmen, footmen, and toughs.
It is one of the most beautiful and delicate productions of the Augustan Tory wits as well as a resource for those wishing to learn about city life in the period, for it details the city districts and their characters as well as its people.
