A Companion to Eighteenth-Century Poetry

This broad-ranging Companion offers readers a thorough grounding in both the background and the substance of eighteenth-century poetry in all its rich variety. Provides an up-to-date and wide-ranging guide to eighteenth-century poetry Reflects the dramatic transformation which has taken place in the study of eighteenth-century poetry over the past two decades Opens with a section on contexts, discussing poetry’s relationships with patriotism, politics, science, and the visual arts, for example Discusses poetry by male and female poets from all walks of life Includes numerous close readings of individual poems, ranging from Pope’s The Rape of the Lock to Mary Collier’s The Woman’s Labour Includes more provocative contributions on subjects such as rural poetry and the self-taught tradition, British poetry beyond the borders, the constructions of femininity, women as writers and women as readers. Designed to be used alongside David Fairer and Christine Gerrard’s Eighteenth-Century Poetry: An Annotated Anthology, 3rd edition (Wiley Blackwell, 2014)