Reading Eighteenth-Century Poetry

by Spacks, Patricia Meyer

• ISBN13: 9781405153614
• ISBN10: 140515361X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-02-17
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

Reading Eighteenth-Century Poetry recaptures for modern readers the urgency, distinctiveness and rewarding nature of this challenging and powerful body of poetry. Provides in-depth coverage of poets such as Alexander Pope, Jonathan Swift, and many others. A broadly chronological structure incorporates close reading alongside astute contextual and historical detail The perfect guide for those returning to eighteenth-century poetry, or delving into it for the first time

Author Biography

PATRICIA MEYER SPACKS is Edgar F. Shannon Professor of Eighteenth-Century Literature at the University of Virginia. She is the author of numerous books, and amongst other honors, was Vice President of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences from 2001-2006.

Table of Contents

Preamble

How to Live: The Moral and the Social

Matters of Feeling: Poetry of Emotion

The Power of Detail: Description in Verse

High Language and Low: The Diction of Poetry

Alexander Pope and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu

How to Live: The Place of Work

Matters of Feeling: Forms of the Personal

Structures of Energy, Structures of Leisure: Ode and Blank Verse

Old Poetry, Old Language: Imitation and Fraud

Outliers: Mary Leapor and Christopher Smart

How to Live: Poetry and Politics

Matters of Feeling: Emotion Celebrated

Narrative and Reflection

Poetic Languages: Diction Old and New

Mary Robinson and William Cowper

Bibliography

Index

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.