Common Sense: A Poem - Softcover

Charles Hughes Terrot

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0461329751 ISBN 13: 9780461329759

Publisher: HardPress, 2021

Synopsis

Common Sense: A Poem by Charles Hughes Terrot is a satirical verse of early 19th-century literary life. First published in 1819 in Edinburgh and London, the poem lampoons the poets and critics of its day, ranging from the Cockney School to the Edinburgh Review. In the Preface, the author notes that there is no formal theory to defend; the work is intended as satire and a vehicle for social and literary commentary. The poem's First Part skewers contemporary poets—Byron, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Moore, Hunt, Hazlitt, and their allies—through playful verse and pointed criticism, contrasting "lettered" pretensions with genuine feeling. The Second Part broadens its reach to evangelical controversy and political affairs, including reflections on Calvinism, antinomianism, and the state of religion, as well as commentary on the politics surrounding the Napoleonic era and the postwar order. A long sequence in Part II shifts to domestic scenes around Hartley, with a wise, compassionate Vicar guiding a sick parishioner and a dying soldier, illustrating faith, mercy, and moral reform. The poem blends savage wit with moral reflections and ends with a modest, humane call for virtue and responsibility in poetry and public life.

Edition details

• Publisher: HardPress
• Publication date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0461329751
• ISBN 13: 9780461329759
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 76