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Romantic Epics and the Mission of Empire

Romantic Epics and the Mission of Empire

Romantic Epics and the Mission of Empire

Matthew Leporati, College of Mount Saint Vincent, New York City
November 2023
This ISBN is for an eBook version which is distributed on our behalf by a third party.
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9781009285148
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    The British Romantic period saw an unprecedented explosion in epic poems, an understudied literary phenomenon that enabled writers to address unique historical tensions of the era. Long associated with empire, epic revived at a time when Britain was expanding its imperial reach, and when the concept of imperialism itself began to evolve into the notion of a benevolent project of spreading British culture and religion across the globe. Matthew Leporati argues that the epic revival not only reflects but also interrogates this evangelical turn. The first to examine the impact of the missionary work on epic literature, this book offers sustained analysis of both under-read and canonical works, bringing fresh historical and literary contexts to bear on our understanding of this unique revival of epic poetry. This title is part of the Flip it Open Programme and may also be available Open Access. Check our website Cambridge Core for details.

    • The first book to examine the impact of the missionary revival on epic literature, showing how the revival of the genre during the Romantic period allowed writers to support, critique, and oppose the evangelical turn of empire
    • Provides sustained analyses of canonical works like Blake's Milton alongside under-read poems including, Rev. Thomas Beck's The Mission, Rev. Thomas Williams's The Missionary, Ann Yearsley's fragment 'Brutus,' John Thelwall's The Hope of Albion, and Sarah Lee Pike's Israel
    • Contributes to highly current themes of 21st-century political debate, engaging with British imperialism from a unique scholarly angle

    Reviews & endorsements

    ‘[A] wide-ranging and compelling study.’ Jason Whittaker, Blake/An Illustrated Quarterly

    See more reviews

    Product details

    November 2023
    Adobe eBook Reader
    9781009285148
    0 pages
    This ISBN is for an eBook version which is distributed on our behalf by a third party.

    Table of Contents

    • Introduction: invoking the Epic poem
    • 1. Epic conversions
    • 2. The revival of the missionary enterprise
    • 3. Heroes of conquest and conversion
    • 4. Ann Yearsley's 'Brutus' as evangelical Epic poem
    • 5. 'Authority from heaven': anxieties of the mission of empire in Robert Southey's Madoc
    • 6. 'A particular favourite of heaven': Olaudah Equiano as hybrid Epic hero
    • 7. 'Mark well my words! they are of your eternal salvation': William Blake's Milton as missionary against empire
    • 8. Epic evangelism in the prelude and Don Juan
    • An epilogue in media Res: fragmentation past and future
    • Appendix I: The missionary: a poem by Thomas Williams (1795)
    • Appendix II: The mission (1796) by Thomas Beck
    • Bibliography.
      Author
    • Matthew Leporati , College of Mount Saint Vincent, New York City

      Matthew Leporati is Associate Professor of English at the College of Mount Saint Vincent in New York City, where he serves as Writing Specialist. His research interests include British Romanticism, epic poetry, religion and literature, and mindfulness and writing pedagogy. His essays and reviews have appeared in Romanticism, Studies in Romanticism, The CEA Critic, The CEA Forum, Humanities, Modern Language Studies, and European Romantic Review. His chapter on teaching satire in the writing classroom appeared in Isn't It Ironic? Irony in Contemporary Popular Culture (2021). In 2022, Matthew won the Bege Bowers Prize for Best Essay in The CEA Forum for his essay on using William Blake to teach the interrelation of image and text in contemporary communication, including especially the use of emoji.