The Cambridge Introduction to Eighteenth-Century Poetry

Forreadersdauntedbytheformalstructuresandrhetoricalsophisticationofeighteenth-centuryEnglishpoetry,thisintroductionbyJohnSitterbringsthetechniquesandthemajorpoetsoftheperiod1700–1785triumphantlytolife.Sitterbeginsbyofferingaguidetopoeticformsrangingfromheroiccoupletstoblankverse,thendemonstrateshowskilfullymaleandfemalepoetsoftheperiodusedthemasvehiclesforimaginativeexperience,feelingsandideas.HethenprovidesdetailedanalysesofindividualworksbypoetsfromFinch,SwiftandPope,toGray,CowperandBarbauld.AnapproachableintroductiontoEnglishpoetryandmajorpoetsoftheeighteenthcentury,thisbookprovidesagroundinginpoeticanalysisusefultostudentsandgeneralreadersofliterature.·Apracticalguidethathelpsstudentstoreadandunderstandeighteenth-centuryverseforms·Attendstothevarietyofformsandrangeofsubjectsofthepoetry·CoversthemostimportantpoetssuchasPope,SwiftandThomsonandmanyothercanonicalandlesser-knownmaleandfemaleauthors