Writing the Poetry of Place in Britain, 1700–1807

Self in Landscape

Elizabeth R Napier author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd

Published:30th Nov '22

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Writing the Poetry of Place in Britain, 1700–1807 cover

This book discusses the intrusion, often inadvertent, of personal voice into the poetry of landscape in Britain, 1700– 1807. It argues that strong conventions, such as those that inhere in topographical verse of the period, invite original poets to overstep those bounds while also shielding them from the repercussions of self-expression. Working under cover of convention in this manner and because for many of these poets place is tied in significant ways to personal history, poets of place may launch unexpected explorations into memory, personhood, and the workings of consciousness. This book thus supplements past, largely political, readings of landscape poetry, turning to questions of self-articulation and self-expression in order to argue that the autobiographical impulse is a distinctive and innovative feature of much great eighteenth-century poetry of place. Among the poets under examination are Pope, Thomson, Duck, Gray, Goldsmith, Crabbe, Cowper, Smith, and Wordsworth.

"This exemplary study of eighteenth-century landscape poetry explores the complex relationship of self and place to present new, original, and intelligent readings of a range of authors from the period."

-Dr Carol Bolton, Senior Lecturer in English, Loughborough University, UK.

ISBN: 9781032188171

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 360g

202 pages