Liberty and poetics in eighteenth century England / Michael Meehan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Meehan, Michael, 1948- author.

Series:

Routledge Library Editions : 18th Century Literature ; volume 10.

Routledge Library Editions : 18th Century Literature ; volume 10

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English literature--18th century--History and criticism.

English literature.

Politics and literature--Great Britain--History--18th century.

Politics and literature.

Great Britain.

History.

Criticism--Great Britain--History--18th century.

Criticism.

Poetics--History--18th century.

Poetics.

Liberty in literature.

Intellectual life.

England--Intellectual life--18th century.

England.

Physical Description:

190 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2020.

Summary:

The qualities and achievements of eighteenth century English literature have suffered denigration as a result of a prevailing Whig interpretation of literary history. It is the contention of this book, originally published in 1986, that an alternative form of Whig interpretation is possible and even desirable. It has as its sphere of interest the ways in which views on the nature and benefits of political freedom, and various "whiggish" readings of literary history, political theory and aesthetics, did in fact shape literary and social changes through the eighteenth century. Many characteristic Romantic tenets can be seen as springing, not fully formed from the heads of their creators, but directly out of the aesthetic concerns focusing around Longinus, and the recognition of the historically singular nature of the British constitution. This book studies and analyses the forms such concerns took in several of the central thinkers and writers of the period, and is an important contribution to the understanding of the eighteenth century milieu.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: pt. One Freedom's Ample Fabric

a). The Arts and Liberty

b). Freedom and the National Character

pt. Two The Early Decades

a). The Third Earl of Shaftesbury

b). Thomas Blackwell

c). Mark Akenslde

d). Augustan, Grecian, Gothic

pt. Three David Hume

Turning Points

pt. Four The 1760S And Beyond

a). Brown and Sheridan

b). Adam Ferguson

c). Dr Johnson

pt. Five William Wordsworth.

Notes:

"First published in 1986 by Croom Helm, Ltd."

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

ebook version :

ISBN:

9780367444747

0367444747

OCLC:

1124313884

Publisher Number:

99987266200

9781003010098