A COMPANION TO EIGHTEENTH- C ENTURY POETRY EDITED BY CHRISTINE GERRARD CCEC_PR.inddEC_PR.indd iiiiii 66/9/2006/9/2006 22:37:34:37:34 PPMM A Companion to Eighteenth-Century Poetry CCEC_PR.inddEC_PR.indd i 66/9/2006/9/2006 22:37:34:37:34 PPMM Blackwell Companions to Literature and Culture 1. A Companion to Romanticism Edited by Duncan Wu 2. A Companion to Victorian Literature and Culture Edited by Herbert F. Tucker 3. A Companion to Shakespeare Edited by David Scott Kastan 4. A Companion to the Gothic Edited by David Punter 5. A Feminist Companion to Shakespeare Edited by Dympna Callaghan 6. A Companion to Chaucer Edited by Peter Brown 7. A Companion to Literature from Milton to Blake Edited by David Womersley 8. A Companion to English Renaissance Literature and Culture Edited by Michael Hattaway 9. A Companion to Milton Edited by Thomas N. Corns 10. A Companion to Twentieth-Century Poetry Edited by Neil Roberts 11. 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A Companion to Eighteenth-Century Poetry Edited by Christine Gerrard CCEC_PR.inddEC_PR.indd iiii 66/9/2006/9/2006 22:37:34:37:34 PPMM A COMPANION TO EIGHTEENTH- C ENTURY POETRY EDITED BY CHRISTINE GERRARD CCEC_PR.inddEC_PR.indd iiiiii 66/9/2006/9/2006 22:37:34:37:34 PPMM © 2006 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd except for editorial material and organization © 2006 by Christine Gerrard BLACKWELL PUBLISHING 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148–5020, USA 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK 550 Swanston Street, Carlton, Victoria 3053, Australia The right of Christine Gerrard to be identifi ed as the Author of the Editorial Material in this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or other- wise, except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988, without the prior permission of the publisher. First published 2006 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd 1 2006 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A companion to eighteenth-century poetry / edited by Christine Gerrard. p. cm.—(Blackwell companions to literature and culture ; 44) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-1-4051-1316-8 (hardback : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 1-4051-1316-2 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. English poetry—18th century—History and criticism. I. Gerrard, Christine. II. Series. PR553C66 2006 821′.509—dc22 2005034701 A catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library. Set in 11 on 13 pt Garamond by SNP Best-set Typesetter Ltd, Hong Kong Printed and bound in Singapore by Markono Print Media Pte Ltd The publisher’s policy is to use permanent paper from mills that operate a sustainable forestry policy, and which has been manufactured from pulp processed using acid-free and elementary chlorine-free practices. Furthermore, the publisher ensures that the text paper and cover board used have met acceptable environmental accreditation standards. For further information on Blackwell Publishing, visit our website: www.blackwellpublishing.com CCEC_PR.inddEC_PR.indd iivv 66/9/2006/9/2006 22:37:34:37:34 PPMM Contents Notes on Contributors ix Acknowledgments xv Introduction 1 Christine Gerrard PART I Contexts and Perspectives 5 1 Poetry, Politics, and the Rise of Party 7 Christine Gerrard 2 Poetry, Politics, and Empire 23 Suvir Kaul 3 Poetry and Science 38 Clark Lawlor 4 Poetry and Religion 53 Emma Mason 5 Poetic Enthusiasm 69 John D. Morillo 6 Poetry and the Visual Arts 83 Robert Jones 7 Poetry, Popular Culture, and the Literary Marketplace 97 George Justice 8 Women Poets and Their Writing in Eighteenth-Century Britain 111 Charlotte Grant 9 Poetry, Sentiment, and Sensibility 127 Jennifer Keith CCEC_PR.inddEC_PR.indd v 66/9/2006/9/2006 22:38:07:38:07 PPMM vi Contents PART II Readings 143 10 John Gay, The Shepherd’s Week 145 Mina Gorji 11 Alexander Pope, The Rape of the Lock and “Eloisa to Abelard” 157 Valerie Rumbold 12 Jonathan Swift, the “Stella” Poems 170 Ros Ballaster 13 Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Six Town Eclogues and Other Poems 184 Isobel Grundy 14 James Thomson, The Seasons 197 Christine Gerrard 15 Stephen Duck, The Thresher’s Labour, and Mary Collier, The Woman’s Labour 209 John Goodridge 16 Mary Leapor, “Crumble-Hall” 223 David Fairer 17 Mark Akenside, The Pleasures of Imagination 237 Adam Rounce 18 Samuel Johnson, London and The Vanity of Human Wishes 252 David F. Venturo 19 William Collins, “Ode on the Poetical Character” 265 John Sitter 20 Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Church Yard 277 Suvir Kaul 21 Christopher Smart, Jubilate Agno 290 Chris Mounsey 22 Oliver Goldsmith, The Deserted Village, and George Crabbe, The Village Caryn Chaden 303 23 William Cowper, The Task 316 Freya Johnston 24 Robert Burns, “Tam o’ Shanter” 329 Murray Pittock CCEC_PR.inddEC_PR.indd vvii 66/9/2006/9/2006 22:38:07:38:07 PPMM Contents vii PART III Forms and Genres 339 25 Rhyming Couplets and Blank Verse 341 Richard Bradford 26 Epic and Mock-Heroic 356 Richard Terry 27 Verse Satire 369 Brean Hammond 28 The Ode 386 Margaret M. Koehler 29 The Georgic 403 Juan Christian Pellicer 30 The Verse Epistle 417 Bill Overton PART IV Themes and Debates 429 31 The Constructions of Femininity 431 Kathryn R. King 32 Whig and Tory Poetics 444 Abigail Williams 33 The Classical Inheritance 458 David Hopkins 34 Augustanism and Pre-Romanticism 473 Thomas Woodman 35 Recovering the Past: Shakespeare, Spenser, and British Poetic Tradition 486 Carolyn D. Williams 36 The Pleasures and Perils of the Imagination 500 Paul Baines 37 The Sublime 515 Shaun Irlam 38 Poetry and the City 534 Markman Ellis 39 Cartography and the Poetry of Place 549 Rachel Crawford 40 Rural Poetry and the Self-Taught Tradition 563 Bridget Keegan CCEC_PR.inddEC_PR.indd vviiii 66/9/2006/9/2006 22:38:07:38:07 PPMM viii Contents 41 Poetry Beyond the English Borders 577 Gerard Carruthers Index 590 CCEC_PR.inddEC_PR.indd vviiiiii 66/9/2006/9/2006 22:38:07:38:07 PPMM Notes on Contributors Paul Baines is Professor of English at the University of Liverpool. He is the author of The House of Forgery in Eighteenth-Century Britain (1999), The Complete Critical Guide to Alexander Pope (2000), and The Long Eighteenth Century (2004), and co-editor of Five Romantic Plays 1768–1821 (2000). Ros Ballaster is a Fellow and Tutor in English at Mansfi eld College, Oxford Univer- sity. She is the author of Seductive Forms: Women’s Amatory Fiction 1674–1740 (1992) and Fabulous Orients: Fictions of the East in England 1662–1785 (2005). Richard Bradford is Professor of English at the University of Ulster. His most recent books include A Complete Critical Guide to John Milton (2001), Lucky Him: The Life of Kingsley Amis (2001), Augustan Measures: Restoration and Eighteenth Century Writings on Prosody and Metre (2002), and First Boredom Then Fear: The Life of Philip Larkin (2005). Gerard Carruthers is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Scottish Literature at the University of Glasgow.