The lab'ring muses : work, writing, and the social order in English plebeian poetry, 1730-1830

'The Lab'ring Muses' is the first study to bring together a wide range of verse published by laboring-class authors between 1730 and 1830. The book examines a total of sixteen case studies that establish a specifically English tradition of laboring-class poetics. Contents Acknowledgments Abbreviations Note on the Text Introduction 1. Terminology and Methodology 2. Stephen Duck and Plebeian Poetry in the 1730s Work Writing Before Duck The Discovery, Publicity, and Commodification of Stephen Duck The Flight Up Parnassus: Bancks, Dodsley, and Tatersal The Buzzing of Mary Collier’s Bees: Resistance and Assimilation in The Woman’s Labour 3. ‘‘A Muse unknown’’: The Career of Henry Jones 4. Writing as Work in Mid- to Late-Century Plebeian Poetry A Rural Maid’s Posthumous Success James Woodhouse: ‘‘Unpension’d Poet-Laureat, of the Poor’’ Brimble, Bennet, Lucas, and Bryant: Writing for Alms Elizabeth Hands Answers the Polite Critics 5. Class Dialogue: Ann Yearsley, Hannah More, and the Power of Print Epilogue: Ensconced in the ‘‘muses seat’’: Bloomfield, Clare, and the Plebeian Tradition Appendix 1: Henry Jones Bibliography Notes Bibliography Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W Y Z