English Literature in History, 1780-1830: Pastoral and Politics

Roger Sales concentrates on two related themes - the politics of pastoral and the theater of politics - in this original study of the literature of the Romantic period. In both of these sections of the book literary texts and events are studied in the context of social activity and historical events. The politics of the pastoral analyzes the use of the genre by a number of familiar writers, including William Wordsworth, Jane Austen, and George Crabbe, and by lesser-known poets such as John Clare and Robert Bloomfield. The author argues that all literary treatments of rural society during this period make political statements, particularly when the economic facts of life are displaced or disguised. Sales second theme focuses on some of the main political events of the period: the trials of the Cato Street conspirators, the trial of Queen Caroline, and certain parliamentary elections. Also covered here are the political writings of Thomas Paine and Edmunde Burke, the novels of Trollope,