Romanticism and Animal Rights
1st Edition
Published on 20. December 2004
978-0-511-05654-3 (ISBN)
Description
In England in the second half of the eighteenth century an unprecedented amount of writing urged kindness to animals. This theme was carried in many genres, from sermons to encyclopedias, from scientific works to literature for children, and in the poetry of Cowper, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Clare and others. Romanticism and Animal Rights discusses the arguments writers used, and the particular meanings of these arguments in a social and economic context so different from the present. After introductory chapters, the material is divided according to specific practices that particularly influenced feeling or aroused protest: pet keeping, hunting, baiting, working animals, eating them, and the various harms inflicted on wild birds. The book shows how extensively English Romantic writing took up issues of what we now call animal rights. In this respect it joins the growing number of studies that seek precedents or affinities in English Romanticism for our own ecological concerns.
Reviews / Votes
'This is a welcome book ... he not only provides the kind of scholarship that is necessary to inform the more general picture of animal studies, he also leaves plenty of scope for more detailed accounts of particular issues. What is more he does it through in an engagingly frank and clear approach to his reader.' Literature & HistoryMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Cambridge University Press
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
Worked examples or Exercises
File size
1,48 MB
ISBN-13
978-0-511-05654-3 (9780511056543)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
David Perkins
Romanticism and Animal Rights
Book
11/2007
Cambridge University Press
€54.30
Shipment within 15-20 days
David Perkins
Romanticism and Animal Rights
Book
10/2003
Cambridge University Press
€116.00
Shipment within 15-20 days
Person
David Perkins is Marquand Professor, Emeritus, at Harvard University. He is the author or editor of nine books including The Quest for Permanence, Wordsworth and the Poetry of Sincerity, English Romantic Writers, A History of Modern Poetry, and Is Literary History Possible?
Content
Preface; Acknowledgements; 1. In the beginning of animal rights; 2. Grounds of argument; 3. Keeping pets: William Cowper and his hares; 4. Barbarian pleasures: against hunting; 5. Savage amusements of the poor: John Clare's badger sonnets; 6. Work animals, slaves, servants: Coleridge's young ass; 7. The slaughterhouse and the kitchen: Charles Lamb's 'Dissertation upon Roast Pig'; 8. Caged birds and wild; Notes; Bibliographical essay; Index.
