Thomas Moore and Romantic Inspiration : Poetry, Music, and Politics

Written by internationally established scholars of Thomas Moore's music, poetry, and prose writing, Thomas Moore and Romantic Inspiration is a collection of twelve essays and a timely response to significant new biographical, historiographical and editorial work on Moore. This collection reflects the rich variety of cutting-edge work being done on this significant and prolific figure. Sarah McCleave and Brian Caraher have contributed an introduction that positions Moore in his own time (1800-1850), addresses subsequent neglect in the twentieth century, and contextualises the contemporary re-evaluation of Thomas Moore as a figure of considerable interdisciplinary artistic and cultural significance. The contributions to this collection establish Moore's importance in the fields of Neoclassical and Romantic lyricism, musical performance, song-writing, postcolonial criticism, Orientalism and biographical writing-- as well as defining the significance of his voice as an engaged social and political commentator of a strongly cosmopolitan and pluralistic inclination. Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Contents -- List of Figures -- Introduction: Thomas Moore and Romantic Inspiration Reassessed: Enlightened Tolerance and Interdisciplinary Poetics -- PART I: Moore's Literary and Musical Inspirations -- 1 The Imagined Unities of Thomas Moore -- 2 Amongst Women: Thomas Moore and Classical Inspiration -- 3 Moore's Romantic Neoclassicism -- 4 Moore, Stevenson, Bishop, and the Powers: A Series of Complex Relationships -- PART II: Moore's Melodies, Airs, and Songs in Performative Contexts -- 5 "Give them life by singing them about": Moore's Musical Performances in the English Drawing Room -- 6 Problematizing Primitivism: Contesting Antiquarianism in Moore's Irish Melodies -- 7 "All her lovely companions are faded and gone": How "The Last Rose of Summer" Became Europe's Favourite Irish Melody -- 8 "Those half creatures of Plato": The Musical Inspiration behind Moore's Sacred Songs and National Airs -- PART III: Moore's Political Inspirations and Moore's Poetry in Political Contexts -- 9 Anacreon Moore and the Prince of Pleasure: George IV as Satiric Inspiration -- 10 Moore's Oriental Artifice: Mughal History, Irish Antiquarianism, and Romance in Lalla Rookh -- 11 The "dull lapse of hopeless slavery": European and Irish Politics in Moore's Fables for the Holy Alliance, Rhymes on the Road, &c. & c -- 12 Grief Mingled with Execrations: Thomas Moore and the Death of Richard Brinsley Sheridan -- Appendix 1 -- Appendix 2 -- List of Major Works -- Bibliography -- Notes on Contributors -- Index Written by internationally established scholars of Thomas Moore's music, poetry, and prose writing, Thomas Moore and Romantic Inspiration is a collection of fourteen essays and a timely response to significant new biographical, historiographical and editorial work on Moore.