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Raising the Last Hope British Romanticism and The RAISING THE LAST HOPE BRITISH ROMANTICISM AND THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD, 1780-1830 by DANIEL R. LARSON B.A., University of New Mexico, 2009 M.A., University of New Mexico, 2011 A thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Colorado in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of English 2016 This thesis entitled: “Raising the Last Hope: British Romanticism and the Resurrection of the Dead, 1780-1830” written by Daniel Larson has been approved for the Department of English Jeffrey Cox Jill Heydt-Stevenson Date The final copy of this thesis has been examined by the signatories, and we Find that both the content and the form meet acceptable presentation standards Of scholarly work in the above mentioned discipline. iii ABSTRACT Larson, Daniel R. (Ph.D., English) Raising the Last Hope: British Romanticism and the Resurrection of the Dead, 1780-1830 Thesis directed by Professor Jeffrey N. Cox This dissertation examines the way the Christian doctrine of bodily resurrection surfaces in the literature of the British Romantic Movement, and investigates the ways literature recovers the politically subversive potential in theology. In the long eighteenth century, the orthodox Christian doctrine of bodily resurrection (historically, a doctrine that grounded believers’ resistance to state oppression) disappears from the Church of England’s theological and religious dialogues, replaced by a docile vision of disembodied life in heaven—an afterlife far more amenable to political power. However, the resurrection of the physical body resurfaces in literary works, where it can again carry a powerful resistance to the state. This resistance arises in a variety of forms: Evangelical liturgical revisions like William Cowper’s Olney Hymns, the unseemly Gothic characters like Byron’s Manfred, and Shelley’s syncretic mythology in Prometheus Unbound all use raised physical bodies to undermine state authority while echoing key aspects of the Christian doctrine. The dissertation contributes to the fields of literary criticism, political theology, and history. While recent works in British Romanticism rediscover the period’s rich religious context, the dissertation analyzes the interplay between Christian theology and literary production through the state-authorized Church of England, a site that scholars have yet to substantially engage. Furthermore, the project accounts for a blind spot in the field of political theology, where the ramifications of the doctrine of the resurrection could shed new light on the friction between Christian orthodoxy and state power. Likewise, the iv dissertation fills a gap in the history of theology, highlighting the impact of literature on doctrinal development in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. While Anglican theological writings of the period fail to engage the doctrine, Romantic literature subverts the Anglican establishment by drawing from the resurrection of the dead a radical right beyond state power. As a whole, “Raising the Last Hope” spans mystical revelation, gothic horror, and even expressly anti-Christian revolution, showing how resurrection could again become the body through which resistance might rise. For Buddy, who will get his body back. vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS When I entered the Ph.D. program at CU Boulder, I was told on my first day of orientation, “The dissertation is King.” And (I think now it’s safe to say) it feels good to have conquered a king. I could not have done it without the help and support of so many co- conspirators. First and foremost, I would like to thank Jeffrey N. Cox, the director of this dissertation, who never grew tired of my typos or impatient with my often fluid deadlines; who generously gave feedback, asked questions, offered suggestions, gave advice, and (when necessary) calmed my nerves. This project arose from an independent study overseen by Dr. Cox, and he has been a major influence in every stage of its development: this dissertation could not have come into the form it has without his help. There really isn’t anything I can say that could show my gratitude— I’m afraid I’ll simply have to leave it with a humble “thank you.” I would also like to thank my dissertation committee, Christopher Braider, Jill Heydt- Stevenson, and Paul Youngquist, who helped me navigate not only the workload of the project, but the pitfalls of graduate school as well. Thank you for always having an open door, for your willingness to hear my questions, and—most of all—the wisdom, advice, and encouragement you have all generously shared with me. The English Graduate student body, Colorado Romantics Collective, and the Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Reading Group also deserve recognition and have my thanks: Kurtis Hessel, who’s sage advice was always welcome; Alex Corey, who helped sharpen my thinking; Deven Parker, Grace Rexroth, Conny Fasshauer, who were always ready to read drafts and offer feedback. Fragments of this projected were read for the EGSC’s Works in Progress series and vii various other workshops set up by and through the graduate community; many CU Boulder graduate students asked insightful questions and gave provocative suggestions: Rebecca Schneider, Aaron Angelo, Christopher Haynes, Christie-Anne Putnam, J. Michael Martinez, Melanie Stein, Jarad Krywicki, and a host of others. A number of colleagues outside of Boulder have also graciously contributed their time and energy to this dissertation in the form of feedback and advice: Thora Brylowe, Michele Speitz, Michael Tomko, Michael Gamer, and Mark Lussier. A very special thanks goes to my wife Rebecca, for caring for me and for our family while I lived in forts built out of books and fought through endless drafts. She is steadfast, and she gives me hope. To Ellie, for her creative questions and endless ideas, and Beren, who will learn about the power of words soon enough. To my mom, for her encouragement, and my dad, to whom this dissertation is dedicated. Many thanks. viii CONTENTS INTRODUCTION…………..……………………………………………………………... … …1 CHAPTER I. HE IS NOT HERE: THE ABSENCE OF THE RESURRECTED BODY IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND……………………………………………….. .…. 29 CHAPTER II. THE WANDERING DEAD: RITES OF BURIAL AND PARODIES OF PHYSICAL RESURRECTION……..……………………………………………... ….. 82 CHAPTER III. SINGING THE SILENT LITURGY: REMEMBERING THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY……………..………………………………… … 138 CHAPTER IV. PROMETHEUS AND THE RESURRECTION…………………….……. … 180 CONCLUSION.……………………………………………………………………………. … 232 BIBLIOGRAPHY.…………………………………………………………………………. … 238 1 INTRODUCTION Ain’t no grave can hold my body down. —Johnny Cash He raises the dead ?… I do not wish Him to do that. I forbid Him to do that. I allow no man to raise the dead. This Man must be found and told that I forbid Him to raise the dead…. To change water into wine, to heal the lepers and the blind…He may do these things if He will. I say nothing against these things. In truth, I hold it a good deed to heal a leper. But I allow no man to raise the dead. It would be terrible if the dead came back. —King Herod, Salomé1 Joanna Southcott’s body was tightly wrapped in layers of flannel, propped up in the bed where she had died four days earlier. Her death was not unexpected—Richard Reece, her attending physician, anticipated her deteriorating body would soon give up its ghost; her followers—twelve in particular whom she had invited to live with her—had been expecting her to die as well for nearly twenty years: the flannel they wrapped her body in had been purchased eighteen years earlier with this occasion in mind. Joanna Southcott was a prophet: she had promised she would die and that her death would be attested to by medical men (like Richard Reece); this was necessary, she proclaimed, so that her resurrection from the dead would be all the more miraculous. Southcott—and her followers too—believed she was a second Christ. She 1 Oscar Wilde, Salomé: A Tragedy in One Act, trans. Aubrey Beardsley (London: John Lane, 1912), 48-49. 2 sealed up her prophetic writing with a symbol: two stars, and the letters “I. C.,” “C” for Christ, and “I” for Joanna. But four days had passed since she had died, and now the body was beginning to putrefy. Reece attempted to reason with the Southcottians who faithfully attended the body of Joanna while they awaited their miracle: On Thursday, I paid another visit to the remains of Joanna. The body was then beginning to be offensive, her lips and fingers had assumed a black appearance, but even this change did not shake the faith of her followers, and I was obliged seriously to address Mr. Sharpe [one of the twelve], stating to him that putrefaction had actually begun to take place, that the warmth employed would accelerate the process, and if continued, it would be to no purpose to open the body. To this he replied, rather sharply, do not be uneasy, you will not suffer by it, for depend upon it she will return to the body.”2 Of course, Joanna Southcott’s followers were mocked. How could anyone believe that a body, once dead, would return to life again? And yet this absurd notion—the resurrection of the physical body—had always been the central hub of the Christian religion. While Southcott’s followers vainly hoped for their prophet to return to life, strange representations of other resurrected bodies appeared in prominent literary works of the time. For example, in S.T. Coleridge’s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” the dead bodies of the speaker’s shipmates are reanimated by heavenly spirits to help the condemned man pilot his ship: They groaned, they stirred, they all uprose Nor spake, nor moved their eyes; 2 Richard Reece, A Correct Statement of the Circumstances that Attended the Last Illness and Death of Mrs.
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