Title: The Animal Claim
Description: During the 18th century, some of the most popular British poetry showed a responsiveness to animals that anticipated the later language of animal rights. Such poems were widely cited in later years by legislators advocating animal welfare laws like Martin's Act of 1822, which provided protections for livestock. In 'The Animal Claim', Tobias Menely links the poetics of sensibility with Enlightenment political philosophy, the rise of the humanitarian public, and the fate of sentimentality, as well as longstanding theoretical questions about voice as a medium of communication.
Subjects: Hume, david, 1711-1776, Human-animal relationships, Psychology, comparative, Enlightenment, Animal societies, Animal behavior, English poetry, History and criticism, Animals in literature, Human-animal relationships in literature, Animal rights, Moral and ethical aspects, Political aspects, Communication, Philosophy, History, Animal psychology, Voice in literature