The Poetic Enlightenment: Poetry and Human Science, 1650–1820 (The Enlightenment World)

The essays in this edited collection look at the role of poetry in the development of enlightenment ideas. As scholarly disciplines began to emerge - anthropology, linguistics, psychology - the ancient and innate art of poetry was invoked to create new ways of communicating this philosophy of human science. Abstract: Content: Acknowledgements List of Contributors General Introduction 1. Introduction to Part I 2. Samuel Johnson and the 'Science' of Literary Criticism 3. Prosody, Knowledge and Humanity in Enlightenment Language Science 4. Ferguson's School for Literature 5. Introduction to Part II 6. Hobbes and Davenant: Poetry as Civil Science 7. Facing the Misery of Others 8. Poetical Stoical Shaftesbury 9. Morality as a Discourse of the Imagination 10. Introduction to Part III 11. James Thomson's Seasons and the Transformative Potential of Poetry. 12. 'Furnishing Light': Wordsworth, Poetry and the Science of Manin Enlightenment Scotland13. Wordsworth, Kant, Fanaticism and Humanity Notes Index. The essays in this edited collection look at the role of poetry in the development of Enlightenment ideas. As scholarly disciplines began to emerge – anthropology, linguistics, psychology – the ancient art of poetry was invoked to create new ways of defining and expanding this philosophy of human science.