1803

Davis, John. Travels of Four Years and a Half in the United States of America during 1798, 1799, 1800, 1801, and 1802. London, New York, 1803. Contains four poems within the section on Pocahontas. (Ed. Alfred J. Morrison. New York: Holt, 1909. 285-322. Poems: 309, 310, 311, 317.) (Rpt. as Personal Adventures and Travels of Four Years and a Half in the United States of America. London, 1817.) The second of Davis's book work on Pocahontas, containing perhaps the first poems written about her, and containing the wildest representation of her yet -- initiating future directions. Drawing on Smith and Beverley for his basic "facts" and motivated to best Chastellux as a memorialist ("No Traveller before me has erected a monument to her memory, by a display of her virtues"), Davis completely romanticizes Pocahontas for the first time. Davis's main contribution to the developing representation of Pocahontas is to make love her primary motivation (see Kimber 1755). Pocahontas falls deeply in love with Smith at first sight; he recognizes her love, cultivates it, but doesn't reciprocate it. When Smith leaves, Rolfe capitalizes on her emotional devastation, catches her on the rebound, and eventually marries her, taking her to England, where there is reunion with Smith. For the first time, Pocahontas is "hot."
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