Poetry and Reform: Periodical Verse from the English Democratic Press, 1792-1824Although the English reform movement was divided ideologically and socially, it was united in its opposition to the aristocratic elite that ruled Britain through a parliament that excluded both the middle and laboring classes. The movement was not just political but cultural as well; its activities included challenging established opinion in every sphere-economics, religion, philosophy, and literature. Poetry and Reform is the only anthology of its kind on poetry from the English reform movement. The volume features 162 poems from twenty-three different periodicals. The poems reflect the cultural vitality of the movement in their intellectual sophistication and defiant rebelliousness. The periodicals and their poets range from moderate liberal to radical socialist, from bourgeois to plebeian. The poems reflect the generic diversity of the period; except for epic, almost every poetic genre is represented here. These poems provide an illuminating context for understanding the major Romantic poets, most of whom wrote for the reform press at some point in their career. The bold Romantic experiments in poetry, which set the agenda for English poetry for decades to come, are unthinkable outside the context of this remarkable democratic insurgence, which increased overall literacy and established an innovative literary spirit. The anthology also makes available to readers a body of poetry" outside the canon" that is valuable in its own terms and that helps us comprehend with greater precision Romantic literary conventions and their origins. Important plebeian poets are introduced, including Allen Davenport, Edward J. Blandford, Robert C. Fair, and Robert Wedderburn. |
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... country ! dear country ! -how alter'd and chang'd , How harrass'd [ sic ] and sorely distress'd ! From your ancestors [ ' ] glorious examples estrang'd , Whom Providence shielded and bless'd : But how shou'd we ever its favours expect ...
... country ! —that's a name prescrib'd ; — Come not in public stare ; — Day and it's thousand eyes are brib'd , And ... country's wrongs ! Will ye for her ? -for England dear , Her laws - her ev'ry good- ' Tis treason dark - some Reynold's ...
... COUNTRY . Should we on cross or scaffold die , Or in the field of honour lie , Delightful is the patriot's death Who for his country yields his breath . Freedom his narrow house shall trace , And tread with reverence the place . Though ...
Contents
THE REFORM | 7 |
REPRESSIVE AFTERMATH A SONG COMPOSED FOR THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE FRENCH | 37 |
The Patriot 1793 | 61 |
Copyright | |
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