Title: Sounding imperial
Description: In this book James Mulholland offers a new assessment of the origins, evolution, and importance of poetic voice in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. By examining a series of literary experiments in which authors imitated oral voices and impersonated foreign speakers, Mulholland uncovers an innovative global aesthetics of poetic voice that arose as authors invented new ways of crafting textual voices and appealing to readers. As poets drew on cultural forms from around Great Britain and across the globe, impersonating "primitive" speakers and reviving ancient oral performances (or fictionalizing them in verse), they invigorated English poetry. Mulholland situates these experiments with oral voices and foreign speakers within the wider context of British nationalism at home and colonial expansion overseas.
Subjects: Politics and literature, English poetry, Imperialism in literature, Political poetry, History and criticism, Politics in literature, History, Polish poetry, history and criticism, English poetry, history and criticism, 18th century, English poetry, history and criticism, 19th century
Time periods: 19th century, 18th century