The Insistence of Horror : Aspects of the Supernatural in Eighteenth-Century Poetry

Throughout the eighteenth century, contrary to common preconceptions, poets populated literature with ghosts, demons, witches; and critics discussed the poetic value of the supernatural. Why did this interest persist in the English “Age of Reason”? The author examines eighteenth century critical theory, the influence of Shakespeare, Spenser, Milton, the use of epic and pastoral, and the borrowings from Tasso, Ariosto, Homer, and Virgil. She finds an increasing use of supernatural horror through the century, descriptive images obscuring the ideas that originally justified them. Finally, she shows how nineteenth-century masters like Blake and Coleridge found the intensity of the supernatural an end in itself. Preface Contents INTRODUCTION. Witches, Ghosts, Critics, and Poets CHAPTER 1. Supernatural Horror: The Atmosphere of Belief CHAPTER 2. Supernatural Horror in Poetry 1700-1740 CHAPTER 3. Supernatural Horror 1741-1780 CHAPTER 4. Supernatural Horror 1781 - 1800 CHAPTER 5. Personification, 1700-1750 CHAPTER 6. Personification, 1751-1800 CHAPTER 7. Conclusions Bibliography Notes Index Spacks Patricia Meyer : Patricia Meyer Spacks is Edgar F. Shannon Professor of English, Emerita, at the University of Virginia.