Poetic Occasion from Milton to Wordsworth (Early Modern Literature in History)

"Why do so many modern English poems begin with a lonely wanderer experiencing a private emotion? This book offers a striking new thesis: that the modern lyric poem evolved as an adaptation to the demand for 'truth in poetry' by post-Reformation English readers. The demand for truth led to a preference for poems grounded in verifiable public occasions (deaths, battles, weddings). As English poets competed for the right to commemorate important occasions, they developed new ways of commemorating conventional occasions and, in a long process culminating in the revolutionary poems of the 1740s, extended the notion of poetic occasion to include occasions such as the death of unknown strangers (as in Gray's Elegy) and even unverifiable mental occasions such as the epiphanies which so regularly strike Wordsworth's solitary wanderers."--BOOK JACKET. Cover......Page 1 Contents......Page 8 1 Occasional Poetics in the Early Modern Lyric......Page 10 2 'Pardon, Blest Soul, the Slow Pac'd Elegies': Ambition and Occasion in Justa Edovardo King......Page 27 3 Carrion Crows: Occasion in the Beginning and End of Dryden's Literary Life......Page 65 4 Nadir: the Generation of Namur and the Famine of Occasions......Page 96 5 'To Darkness and to Me': Mental Event as Poetic Occasion......Page 131 6 Gray to Cowper: Cat to Cast-away via 'Night Thoughts'......Page 157 7 Conclusion: the Deployment of the New-Modelled Lyric by Wordsworth......Page 200 Appendix: Johnson's Summary of Contemporary Accounts of Dryden's Funeral......Page 211 Notes......Page 214 Bibliography......Page 217 Index......Page 223 Cover 1 Contents 8 1 Occasional Poetics in the Early Modern Lyric 10 2 'Pardon, Blest Soul, the Slow Pac'd Elegies': Ambition and Occasion in Justa Edovardo King 27 3 Carrion Crows: Occasion in the Beginning and End of Dryden's Literary Life 65 4 Nadir: the Generation of Namur and the Famine of Occasions 96 5 'To Darkness and to Me': Mental Event as Poetic Occasion 131 6 Gray to Cowper: Cat to Cast-away via 'Night Thoughts' 157 7 Conclusion: the Deployment of the New-Modelled Lyric by Wordsworth 200 Appendix: Johnson's Summary of Contemporary Accounts of Dryden's Funeral 211 Notes 214 Bibliography 217 Index 223 0333733584,9780333733585 Palgrave Macmillan, 2000 1. Occasional Poetics In The Early Modern Lyric -- 2. 'pardon, Blest Soul, The Slow Pac'd Elegies': Ambition And Occasion In Justa Edovardo King -- 3. Carrion Crows: Occasion In The Beginning And End Of Dryden's Literary Life -- 4. Nadir: The Generation Of Namur And The Famine Of Occasions -- 5. 'to Darkness And To Me': Mental Event As Poetic Occasion -- 6. Gray To Cowper: Cat To Cast-away Via 'night Thoughts' -- 7. Conclusion: The Deployment Of The New-modelled Lyric By Wordsworth -- App. Johnson's Summary Of Contemporary Accounts Of Dryden's Funeral. John Dolan. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 208-213) And Index. John Dolan takes a new approach to the evolution of the modern English lyric, emphasising the way in which several generations of poets, reacting to post-Reformation readers'dislike for invented poetic narratives, competed for the right to commemorate important public occasions and slowly expanded the range of acceptable occasion. This book demonstrates that many fundamental features of a typical modern lyric actually evolved as responses to the limitations of occasional poetry. John Dolan takes a new approach to the evolution of the modern English lyric, emphasising the way in which several generations of poets, reacting to post-Reformation readers' dislike for invented poetic narratives, competed for the right to commemorate important public occasions and slowly expanded the range of acceptable occasion.