Wordsworth's ethics
By: Adam Potkay
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
Published: 2013
Place of publication: Baltimore
Language: eng
Number of pages: 272
ISBN-13: 9781421407081; 9781421407586
Subjects: Music in literature; Ethics; Ethics in literature; Music and literature
Description: "Why read Wordsworth's poetry--indeed, why read poetry at all? Beyond any pleasure it might give, can it make one a better or more flourishing person? These questions were never far from William Wordsworth's thoughts. He responded in rich and varied ways, in verse and in prose, in both well-known and more obscure writings. Wordsworth's Ethics is a comprehensive examination of the Romantic poet's work, delving into his desire to understand the source and scope of our ethical obligations. Adam Potkay finds that Wordsworth consistently rejects the kind of impersonal utilitarianism that was espoused by his contemporaries James Mill and Jeremy Bentham in favor of a view of ethics founded in relationships with particular persons and things. The discussion proceeds chronologically through Wordsworth's career as a writer--from his juvenilia through his poems of the 1830s and '40s--providing a valuable introduction to the poet's work. The book will appeal to readers interested in the vital connection between literature and moral philosophy." -- Publisher's description
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction; title: Audition and attachment; title: Close encounters (i); title: Close encounters (ii); title: The ethics of things; title: Music vs. conscience; title: Captivation and liberty in poems on music; title: The moral sublime; title: Independence and interdependence; title: Surviving death; title: The poetics of life; title: Envoy : Wordsworth's afterlives.