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 the poets, like many contemporary essayists, sermon writers, and political journalists, were engaged in the century-long debate about the nature of 'true patriotism'. Griffin argues that canonical figures - James Thomson, William Collins, Thomas Gray, Christopher Smart, Oliver Goldsmith, William Cowper - along with less canonical writers such as Mark Akenside, John Dyer, and Ann Yearsley ask how poets might serve and even save their country, and take their place in a broader tradition of patriotic verse.

This book argues that the eighteenth-century poetry was addressing the great issues of national life.

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).

Reviews
'Professor Griffin has added another item to his series of valuable contributions to the criticism of eighteenth-century English poetry. His book can be recommended wholeheartedly to both researchers and students for its detailed analyses, its overall argument, and its approachable style.' Notes & Queries
' ... engaged and erudite.' British Association for Romantic Studies
'Griffin's book is workmanlike and thorough. He provides extensive footnotes and a useful index. The book is scrupulously edited and attractively presented. It should afford useful research material for the period's scholars but is not inaccessible to the general reader.' English Studies
'Dustin Griffin's Patriotism and Poetry in Eighteenth-Century Britain is a pleasure to read for its seamless linking of the literature and history of the period. Griffin's book adds much to our knowledge of the period.' Zeitschrift fur Anglistik unk Amerikanistik



Book Information
ISBN 9780521009591
Author Dustin Griffin
Format Paperback
Page Count 328
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 457g
Dimensions(mm) 234mm * 156mm * 18mm