Reading Eighteenth-Century Poetry

Reading Eighteenth-Century Poetry recaptures for modern readers the urgency, distinctiveness and rewarding nature of this challenging and powerful body of poetry. An essential guide to reading eighteenth-century poetry, written by world-renowned critic, Patricia Meyer Spacks Exposes the multiplicity of forms, tones, and topics engaged by poets during this period Provides in-depth analysis of poems by established figures such as Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift, as well as work by less familiar figures, including Anne Finch and Mary Leapor A broadly chronological structure incorporates close reading alongside insightful contextual and historical detail Captures the power and uniqueness of eighteenth-century poetry, creating an ideal guide for those returning to this period, or delving into it for the first time

Preamble. 1 How to Live: The Moral and the Social. 2 Matters of Feeling: Poetry of Emotion. 3 The Power of Detail: Description in Verse. 4 High Language and Low: The Diction of Poetry. 5 Alexander Pope and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. 6 How to Live: The Place of Work. 7 Matters of Feeling: Forms of the Personal. 8 Structures of Energy, Structures of Leisure: Ode and Blank Verse. 9 Old Poetry, Old Language: Imitation and Fraud. 10 Outliers: Mary Leapor and Christopher Smart. 11 How to Live: Poetry and Politics. 12 Matters of Feeling: Emotion Celebrated. 13 Narrative and Reflection. 14 Poetic Languages: Diction Old and New. 15 Mary Robinson and William Cowper. Bibliography. Index.