Patriotism and Poetry in Eighteenth-Century Britain - Hardcover

Griffin, Dustin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 052181118X ISBN 13: 9780521811187

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2002

Synopsis

The poetry of the mid- and late-eighteenth century has long been regarded as essentially private and apolitical. Dustin Griffin argues in this study that the poets of the period were actually addressing the great issues of national life--rebellion at home, imperial wars abroad, an expanding commercial empire, and an emerging new British national identity. He also reveals that poets such as Thomas Gray, Christopher Smart, Oliver Goldsmith, and William Cowper were engaged in the century-long debate about the nature of true patriotism.

About this title

Book Description:

The poetry of the mid- and late-eighteenth century has long been regarded as primarily private and apolitical; in this wide-ranging study Dustin Griffin argues that in fact the poets of the period were addressing the great issues of national life--rebellion at home, imperial wars abroad, an expanding commercial empire, an emerging new British national identity. Taking up the topic of patriotic verse, Griffin shows that poets such as Thomas Gray, Christopher Smart, Oliver Goldsmith, and William Cowper were engaged in the century-long debate about the nature of true patriotism.

About the Author:

Dustin Griffin is Professor of English at New York University. He is the author of a number of books on Restoration and eighteenth-century English literature, including Satires on Man: The Poems of Rochester (1973), Alexander Pope: The Poet in the Poems (1978), Regaining Paradise: Milton and the Eighteenth Century (1986), Satire: A Critical Re-Introduction (1994), and Literary Patronage in England, 1650-1800 (Cambridge 1996).

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 052181118X
• ISBN 13: 9780521811187
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 328