Romantic Paganism: The Politics of Ecstasy in the Shelley Circle (The New Antiquity)

"This book addresses the function of the classical world in the cultural imaginations of the second generation of romantic writers: Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley, Thomas Love Peacock, John Keats, Leigh Hunt, and the rest of their diverse circle. The younger romantics inherited impressions of the ancient world colored by the previous century, in which classical studies experienced a resurgence, the emerging field of comparative mythography investigated the relationship between Christianity and its predecessors, and scientific and archaeological discoveries began to shed unprecedented light on the ancient world. The Shelley circle embraced a specifically pagan ancient world of excess, joy, and ecstatic experiences that test the boundaries between self and other. Though dubbed the "Satanic School" by Robert Southey, this circle instead thought of itself as "Athenian" and frequently employed mythology and imagery from the classical world that was characterized not by philosophy and reason but by wildness, excess, and ecstatic experiences" -- Font no determinada Acknowledgements 7 Contents 9 Abbreviations 10 List of Figures 12 Chapter 1 Introduction: Pretty Paganisms and Satanic Schools 13 Bibliography 35 Chapter 2 “The Wrecks of the Greek Mythology”: Paganism, Popishness, Atheism, and Decadence in the Eighteenth Century 36 “The Pure Language of Paganism” 39 Paganism and Enlightenment Atheism 44 Res Est Severa Voluptas: Dilettante Societies and “Rigorously Pagan” Cults 51 Bibliography 93 Chapter 3 “Cheerfulness and a Sense of Justice”: Dionysus, Nympholepsy, and the Religion of Joy 96 The Wild Gods and “the Religion of Joy” 103 Bibliography 142 Chapter 4 “Prattling about Greece and Rome”: Paganism, Presumption, and Gender 145 Bibliography 174 Chapter 5 “The Great God Pan is Alive Again”: Peacock and Shelley in Marlow 177 Systemic Experimentation: The Esdaile Notebook, Queen Mab, Laon and Cythna, and Peacock’s Early Poetical Works 182 Calidore and Rhododaphne: “The Chosen Spirits of the Time” 191 Bibliography 223 Chapter 6 Shelley’s “Perpetual Orphic Song”: Music as Pagan Ideology in Prometheus Unbound 224 Music As Discourse: “To Constantia” and the Year at Marlow 227 “Harmonies Divine, yet Ever New”: Prometheus Unbound 239 Act IV: Music As an “Empire O’er the Disentangled Doom” 252 “Like Echoes of an Antenatal Dream”: Epipsychidion and “Defence” 263 Bibliography 278 Chapter 7 Afterword: The Afterlives of Romantic Paganism 281 Bibliography 290 Bibliography 292 Index 304 "This book addresses the function of the classical world in the cultural imaginations of the second generation of romantic writers: Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley, Thomas Love Peacock, John Keats, Leigh Hunt, and the rest of their diverse circle. The younger romantics inherited impressions of the ancient world colored by the previous century, in which classical studies experienced a resurgence, the emerging field of comparative mythography investigated the relationship between Christianity and its predecessors, and scientific and archaeological discoveries began to shed unprecedented light on the ancient world. the Shelley circle embraced a specifically pagan ancient world of excess, joy, and ecstatic experiences that test the boundaries between self and other. Though dubbed the "Satanic School" by Robert Southey, this circle instead thought of itself as "Athenian" and frequently employed mythology and imagery from the classical world that was characterized not by philosophy and reason but by wildness, excess, and ecstatic experiences."--Page 4 of cover This book addresses the function of the classical world in the cultural imaginations of the second generation of romantic writers: Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley, Thomas Love Peacock, John Keats, Leigh Hunt, and the rest of their diverse circle. The younger romantics inherited impressions of the ancient world colored by the previous century, in which classical studies experienced a resurgence, the emerging field of comparative mythography investigated the relationship between Christianity and its predecessors, and scientific and archaeological discoveries began to shed unprecedented light on the ancient world. The Shelley circle embraced a specifically pagan ancient world of excess, joy, and ecstatic experiences that test the boundaries between self and other. Though dubbed the zSatanic Schooly by Robert Southey, this circle instead thought of itself as zAtheniany and frequently employed mythology and imagery from the classical world that was characterized not by philosophy and reason but by wildness, excess, and ecstatic experiences Front Matter ....Pages i-xiii Introduction: Pretty Paganisms and Satanic Schools (Suzanne L. Barnett)....Pages 1-23 “The Wrecks of the Greek Mythology”: Paganism, Popishness, Atheism, and Decadence in the Eighteenth Century (Suzanne L. Barnett)....Pages 25-84 “Cheerfulness and a Sense of Justice”: Dionysus, Nympholepsy, and the Religion of Joy (Suzanne L. Barnett)....Pages 85-133 “Prattling about Greece and Rome”: Paganism, Presumption, and Gender (Suzanne L. Barnett)....Pages 135-166 “The Great God Pan is Alive Again”: Peacock and Shelley in Marlow (Suzanne L. Barnett)....Pages 167-213 Shelley’s “Perpetual Orphic Song”: Music as Pagan Ideology in Prometheus Unbound (Suzanne L. Barnett)....Pages 215-271 Afterword: The Afterlives of Romantic Paganism (Suzanne L. Barnett)....Pages 273-283 Back Matter ....Pages 285-305 Annotation This text addresses the function of the classical world in the cultural imaginations of the second generation of romantic writers: Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley, Thomas Love Peacock, John Keats, Leigh Hunt and the rest of their diverse circle. The younger romantics inherited impressions of the ancient world coloured by the previous century, in which classical studies experienced a resurgence, the emerging field of comparative mythography investigated the relationship between Christianity and its predecessors and scientific and archaeological discoveries began to shed unprecedented light on the ancient world. The Shelley circle embraced a specifically pagan ancient world of excess, joy and ecstatic experiences that test the boundaries between self and other