Table of Contents

List of illustrations; Acknowledgments; List of abbreviations; Introduction; 1. The eighteenth-century debate about patriotism; 2. Patriotic odes and Patriot-poets; 3. James Thomson: 'To mix the patriot's with the poet's flame'; 4. Mark Akenside: 'Great citizen of Albion'; 5. William Collins: 'Virtue's patriot theme'; 6. Thomas Gray: 'Some great and singular service to his country'; 7. John Dyer: 'Sedulous for the public weal'; 8. Oliver Goldsmith: 'Half a patriot'; 9. Christopher Smart and William Cowper: 'Christian patriots'; 10. Ann Yearsley: 'The female patriot'; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.

Promotional Information

This book argues that the eighteenth-century poetry was addressing the great issues of national life.

About the Author

Dustin Griffin is Professor of English at New York University. He is the author of a number of books on Restoration and eighteenth-century English literature, including Satires on Man: The Poems of Rochester (1973), Alexander Pope: The Poet in the Poems (1978), Regaining Paradise: Milton and the Eighteenth Century (1986), Satire: A Critical Re-Introduction (1994), and Literary Patronage in England, 1650-1800 (Cambridge 1996).

Reviews

'Professor Griffin has added another item to his series of valuable contributions to the criticism of eighteenth-century English poetry. His book can be recommended wholeheartedly to both researchers and students for its detailed analyses, its overall argument, and its approachable style.' Notes & Queries ' ... engaged and erudite.' British Association for Romantic Studies 'Griffin's book is workmanlike and thorough. He provides extensive footnotes and a useful index. The book is scrupulously edited and attractively presented. It should afford useful research material for the period's scholars but is not inaccessible to the general reader.' English Studies 'Dustin Griffin's Patriotism and Poetry in Eighteenth-Century Britain is a pleasure to read for its seamless linking of the literature and history of the period. Griffin's book adds much to our knowledge of the period.' Zeitschrift fur Anglistik unk Amerikanistik