Skip to Content
Eighteenth-century poetry: an annotated anthology

Eighteenth-century poetry: an annotated anthology

Fairer, David, editor; Gerrard, Christine, editor

3rd Ed. Currently the definitive text in the field and now available in an expanded third edition, this title presents the rich diversity of English poetry from 1700-1800 in authoritative texts and with full scholarly annotation. Currently the definitive text in the field and now available in an expanded third edition, Eighteenth-Century Poetry presents the rich diversity of English poetry from 1700-1800 in authoritative texts and with full scholarly annotation. Balanced to reflect current interests and "favorites" (including prominent poets like Finch, Swift, Pope, Montagu, Johnson, Gray, Burns, and Cowper) as well as less familiar material, offering a variety of voices and new directions for research and learning Includes 46 new poems with more texts by women poets and the inclusion of four additional poets (Mary Barber, Mehetabel Wright, Anna Seward, and Mary Robinson); poems reflecting new ecological approaches to 18th-century literature; and poems on the art of writing Accessible and user-friendly, with generous head notes, full foot-of-page annotations, an expanded thematic index, and a visually appealing text design

eBook, Electronic resource, Book. English. Electronic books.
Third edition.
Published Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley Blackwell, 2015
Rate this

Available: Online

This item is not reservable because:

  • You can only request items from our lending collections. You cannot reserve journals.

  • Online – One available in E-book

    Barcode Shelfmark Loan type Status
    E-book Online Available

Details

Statement of responsibility: edited by David Fairer and Christine Gerrard
ISBN: 1118824784, 9781118824788
Note: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Physical Description: xxviii, 653 pages
Series: Blackwell annotated anthologies
Subject: Literature; English poetry 18th century.; Ireland; Literature: history & criticism; United Kingdom, Great Britain
Reproduction: Electronic reproduction. Askews and Holts. Mode of access: World Wide Web.
Series Title: Blackwell annotated anthologies.
Other formats: Also available in printed form ISBN 9781118824757

Contents

  1. Selected Contents by Theme xi
  2. Alphabetical List of Authors xxi
  3. Chronology of Events and Poetic Landmarks xxii
  4. Introduction xxv
  5. Preface to Third Edition xxvii
  6. Preface to Second Edition xxix
  7. Editorial Procedures xxx
  8. Text xxxi
  9. Acknowledgements xxxii
  10. John Pomfret (1667–1702)
  11. The Choice
  12. John Philips (1676–1709)
  13. The Splendid Shilling
  14. Sarah Fyge Egerton (1670–1723)
  15. The Liberty
  16. On my leaving London
  17. To One who said I must not Love
  18. The Emulation
  19. Isaac Watts (1674–1748)
  20. The Adventurous Muse
  21. Ambrose Philips (1674–1749)
  22. A Winter-Piece
  23. Anne Finch (1661–1720)
  24. The Spleen
  25. Upon the Hurricane
  26. A Nocturnal Rêverie
  27. The Tree
  28. To the Nightingale
  29. A Sigh
  30. To a Friend, in Praise of the Invention of Writing Letters
  31. Glass
  32. The Agreeable
  33. To Mr Pope, in answer to a Copy of Verses
  34. John Gay (1685–1732)
  35. Friday; or, The Dirge
  36. Trivia, Book II
  37. The Man and the Flea
  38. Thomas Parnell (1679–1718)
  39. An Elegy, To an Old Beauty
  40. A Night-Piece on Death
  41. Oft have I read
  42. Matthew Prior (1664–1721)
  43. For His own Epitaph
  44. An Epitaph
  45. The Lady’s Looking-Glass
  46. Non Pareil
  47. On a Pretty Madwoman
  48. True Statesmen
  49. Jonathan Swift (1667–1745)
  50. A Description of the Morning
  51. A Description of a City Shower
  52. Stella’s Birthday, 1719
  53. Stella’s Birthday, 1721
  54. Stella’s Birthday, 1727
  55. A Satirical Elegy On the Death of a late Famous General
  56. The Lady’s Dressing Room
  57. A Beautiful Young Nymph Going to Bed
  58. Strephon and Chloe
  59. Verses on the Death of Dr Swift
  60. Alexander Pope (1688–1744)
  61. Windsor-Forest
  62. The Rape of the Lock
  63. Eloisa to Abelard
  64. To Richard Boyle, Earl of Burlington
  65. An Epistle to a Lady
  66. The First Satire of the Second Book of Horace Imitated
  67. An Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot
  68. An Essay on Man. Epistle I
  69. The Dunciad, 1743, Book I
  70. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689–1762)
  71. Saturday. The Small-Pox
  72. Epistle from Arthur Gray the Footman
  73. Epistle from Mrs Y[onge] to her Husband
  74. The Lover: A Ballad
  75. An Epistle to Lord Bathurst
  76. Verses Address’d to the Imitator of Horace (with Lord Hervey)
  77. The Dean’s Provocation for Writing the Lady’s Dressing-Room
  78. Verses on Self-Murder
  79. A Hymn to the Moon
  80. Aaron Hill (1685–1750)
  81. Bellaria, at her Spinnet
  82. Whitehall Stairs
  83. The Singing-Bird
  84. Alone, in an Inn, at Southampton
  85. Richard Savage (c.1697–1743)
  86. The Bastard
  87. Unconstant
  88. Martha Fowke (1689–1736)
  89. The Innocent Inconstant
  90. The Invitation from a Country Cottage
  91. On Lady Chudleigh
  92. Clio’s Picture
  93. On being charged with Writing incorrectly
  94. A Letter to my Love.—All alone, past 12, in the Dumps
  95. James Thomson (1700–1748)
  96. Winter. A Poem (1726)
  97. Spring
  98. John Dyer (1699–1757)
  99. Grongar Hill
  100. The Fleece, Book III
  101. Stephen Duck (1705?–1756)
  102. The Thresher’s Labour
  103. Mary Collier (1688?–1762)
  104. The Woman’s Labour
  105. Sarah Dixon (1671–1765)
  106. Strephon to the River
  107. The Return’d Heart
  108. To the Muse
  109. From a Sheet of Gilt Paper. To Cloe
  110. Lines Occasion’d by the Burning of some Letters
  111. Mary Barber (c.1685–1755)
  112. To a Lady, who commanded me to send her an Account in Verse, how I succeeded in my Subscription
  113. Written for my Son, and Spoken by him at his first putting on Breeches
  114. The Conclusion of a Letter to the Rev. Mr C–
  115. Mehetabel Wright (1697–1750)
  116. To an Infant Expiring the Second Day of its Birth
  117. Wedlock: A Satire
  118. Address to Her Husband
  119. Anne Ingram (c.1696–1764)
  120. An Epistle to Mr Pope. By a Lady. Occasioned by his Characters of Women
  121. viii Contents (Short Titles)
  122. Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)
  123. London
  124. The Vanity of Human Wishes
  125. On the Death of Dr Robert Levet
  126. Mary Jones (1707–1778)
  127. An Epistle To Lady Bowyer
  128. Of Desire. An Epistle to the Hon. Miss Lovelace
  129. Elegy, On a favourite Dog, suppos’d to be poison’d
  130. After the Small Pox
  131. Mary Leapor (1722–1746)
  132. Dorinda at Her Glass
  133. An Epistle to a Lady
  134. The Enquiry
  135. Man the Monarch
  136. An Epistle to Artemisia
  137. Upon her Play being returned to her, stained with Claret
  138. Crumble-Hall
  139. Mira’s Picture
  140. Soto. A Character
  141. Mark Akenside (1721–1770)
  142. The Pleasures of Imagination, 1744, Book I
  143. Thomas Gray (1716–1771)
  144. Ode on the Spring
  145. Sonnet on the Death of Richard West
  146. Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College
  147. Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat
  148. Elegy Written in a Country Church Yard
  149. The Progress of Poesy
  150. The Bard
  151. William Collins (1721–1759)
  152. A Song from Shakespeare’s Cymbeline
  153. Ode on the Poetical Character
  154. Ode to Fear
  155. Ode to Evening
  156. Ode to Liberty
  157. The Passions. An Ode for Music
  158. Ode on the Death of Mr Thomson
  159. Joseph Warton (1722–1800)
  160. The Enthusiast: Or The Lover of Nature
  161. Ode to Evening
  162. The Dying Indian
  163. Thomas Warton (1728–1790)
  164. The Pleasures of Melancholy
  165. Ode written at Vale-Royal Abbey in Cheshire
  166. Sonnet: To the River Lodon
  167. Prologue on the Old Winchester Playhouse, over the butcher’s shambles
  168. Verses on Sir Joshua Reynolds’s Painted Window
  169. Robert Lloyd (1733–1764)
  170. The Cit’s Country Box
  171. Shakespeare: An Epistle to Mr Garrick
  172. Charles Churchill (1731–1764)
  173. Night
  174. Christopher Smart (1722–1771)
  175. ‘My Cat Jeoffry’
  176. A Song to David
  177. On a Bed of Guernsey Lilies
  178. James Macpherson (1736–1796)
  179. Fragments of Ancient Poetry: 7 and 8
  180. Thomas Chatterton (1752–1770)
  181. Mynstrelles Songe
  182. ‘Stay, curyous traveller’
  183. An Excelente Balade of Charitie
  184. Oliver Goldsmith (1730?–1774)
  185. The Deserted Village
  186. George Crabbe (1754–1832)
  187. The Village, Book I
  188. Ann Yearsley (1753–1806)
  189. To Stella; on a Visit to Mrs Montagu
  190. On Mrs Montagu
  191. Clifton Hill
  192. To Indifference
  193. To Mr ****, an Unlettered Poet
  194. Robert Burns (1759–1796)
  195. The Rigs o’ Barley
  196. To a Mouse
  197. To a Louse
  198. Holy Willie’s Prayer
  199. Tam o’ Shanter
  200. A Man’s a Man for a’ That
  201. Anna Seward (1742–1809)
  202. Sonnet. To Honora Sneyd
  203. Sonnet. To the Poppy
  204. Colebrooke Dale
  205. Anna Laetitia Barbauld (1743–1825)
  206. Corsica
  207. The Mouse’s Petition
  208. A Summer Evening’s Meditation
  209. To Mr Barbauld
  210. The Rights of Woman
  211. To a little invisible Being
  212. Washing-Day
  213. To Mr Coleridge
  214. William Cowper (1731–1800)
  215. ‘Hatred and Vengeance’
  216. The Poplar-Field
  217. Epitaph on a Hare
  218. The Task, Book I
  219. The Negro’s Complaint
  220. Yardley Oak
  221. On the Ice-islands
  222. The Cast-away
  223. Mary Robinson (1758–1800)
  224. London’s Summer Morning
  225. The Poet’s Garret
  226. The Birth-day
  227. Bibliography
  228. Index of Titles and First Lines
  229. Selected Contents by Theme
  230. 1 WOMEN’S ROLE IN SOCIETY
  231. Sarah Fyge Egerton, The Liberty
  232. The Emulation
  233. Anne Finch, The Spleen
  234. To Mr Pope, in answer to a Copy of Verses
  235. Alexander Pope, The Rape of the Lock
  236. An Epistle to a Lady
  237. Martha Fowke, On Lady Chudleigh
  238. Mary Collier, The Woman’s Labour
  239. Mary Barber, The Conclusion of a Letter to the Rev. Mr C–
  240. Anne Ingram, An Epistle to Mr Pope
  241. Mary Jones, Of Desire
  242. Mary Leapor, Man the Monarch
  243. Anna Laetitia Barbauld, The Rights of Woman
  244. Washing-Day
  245. 2 BEAUTY AND VANITY
  246. Anne Finch, The Agreeable
  247. Thomas Parnell, An Elegy, To an Old Beauty
  248. Jonathan Swift, Stella’s Birthday, 1719
  249. Stella’s Birthday, 1721
  250. The Lady’s Dressing Room
  251. A Beautiful Young Nymph Going to Bed
  252. Strephon and Chloe, 1–38
  253. Alexander Pope, The Rape of the Lock, 1:121–48, 2:1–28
  254. An Epistle to a Lady
  255. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Saturday. The Small-Pox
  256. Martha Fowke, Clio’s Picture
  257. Anne Ingram, An Epistle to Mr Pope
  258. Samuel Johnson, The Vanity of Human Wishes, 319–44
  259. Mary Jones, After the Small Pox
  260. Mary Leapor, Dorinda at Her Glass
  261. Mira’s Picture
  262. Mark Akenside, The Pleasures of Imagination, 1:271–387
  263. Robert Burns, To a Louse
  264. Anna Seward, Sonnet. To the Poppy
  265. 3 LOVE AND COURTSHIP
  266. Sarah Fyge Egerton, To One who said I must not Love
  267. Anne Finch, A Sigh
  268. Matthew Prior, The Lady’s Looking-Glass
  269. Alexander Pope, Eloisa to Abelard
  270. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Epistle from Arthur Gray the Footman
  271. The Lover: A Ballad
  272. Aaron Hill, Whitehall Stairs
  273. Richard Savage, Unconstant
  274. Martha Fowke, The Innocent Inconstant
  275. A Letter to my Love
  276. James Thomson, Spring, 582–630, 983–1112
  277. Sarah Dixon, Strephon to the River
  278. The Return’d Heart
  279. From a Sheet of Gilt Paper. To Cloe
  280. Lines occasion’d by the Burning of some Letters
  281. Robert Burns, The Rigs o’ Barley
  282. Anna Laetitia Barbauld, To Mr Barbauld
  283. 4 MARRIAGE
  284. Matthew Prior, An Epitaph
  285. Jonathan Swift, Strephon and Chloe
  286. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Epistle from Mrs Y[onge] to her Husband
  287. Aaron Hill, Alone, in an Inn, at Southampton
  288. James Thomson, Spring, 1113–76.
  289. Mary Barber, The Conclusion of a Letter to the Rev. Mr C–
  290. Mehetabel Wright, Wedlock: A Satire
  291. Address to Her Husband
  292. Robert Lloyd, The Cit’s Country Box
  293. Anna Laetitia Barbauld, To Mr Barbauld
  294. 5 MOTHERS AND CHILDREN
  295. Mary Collier, The Woman’s Labour, 105–20
  296. Mary Barber, Written for my Son, and Spoken by him at his first putting on Breeches
  297. The Conclusion of a Letter to the Rev. Mr C–
  298. Mehetabel Wright, To an Infant Expiring the Second Day of its Birth
  299. Ann Yearsley, Clifton Hill, 67–92
  300. Anna Laetitia Barbauld, To a little invisible Being
  301. Washing-Day
  302. 6 HUMANS AND ANIMALS
  303. Anne Finch, To the Nightingale
  304. John Gay, The Man and the Flea
  305. Alexander Pope, Windsor-Forest, 43–164
  306. An Essay on Man, 1:77–90, 173–246
  307. Aaron Hill, The Singing-Bird
  308. James Thomson, Winter. A Poem, 216–52
  309. Spring, 336–442
  310. Mary Jones, Elegy, On a Favourite Dog, suppos’d to be poison’d
  311. Thomas Gray, Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat
  312. Thomas Warton, Prologue on the Old Winchester Playhouse
  313. Christopher Smart, ‘my Cat Jeoffry’
  314. Robert Burns, To a Mouse
  315. To a Louse
  316. Anna Laetitia Barbauld, The Mouse’s Petition
  317. William Cowper, Epitaph on a Hare
  318. Selected Contents by Theme xiii
  319. 7 THE NATURAL WORLD
  320. Ambrose Philips, A Winter-Piece
  321. Anne Finch, Upon the Hurricane
  322. A Nocturnal Rêverie
  323. The Tree
  324. Alexander Pope, Windsor-Forest
  325. James Thomson, Winter. A Poem
  326. Spring
  327. John Dyer, Grongar Hill
  328. Mary Leapor, The Enquiry
  329. Thomas Gray, Ode on the Spring
  330. William Collins, Ode to Evening
  331. Joseph Warton, The Enthusiast: Or The Lover of Nature
  332. Ode to Evening
  333. Thomas Warton, Ode written at Vale-Royal Abbey in Cheshire
  334. Thomas Chatterton, An Excelente Balade of Charitie
  335. Ann Yearsley, Clifton Hill
  336. Anna Seward, Colebrooke Dale
  337. William Cowper, The Poplar-Field
  338. The Task, 1:103–454
  339. Yardley Oak
  340. On the Ice-islands
  341. 8 URBAN LIFE
  342. John Philips, The Splendid Shilling
  343. John Gay, Trivia, Book II
  344. Jonathan Swift, A Description of the Morning
  345. A Description of a City Shower
  346. Alexander Pope, The Dunciad, 1743, Book I
  347. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Saturday. The Small-Pox
  348. Aaron Hill, Whitehall Stairs
  349. John Dyer, The Fleece, 3:224–348
  350. Samuel Johnson, London
  351. Thomas Warton, Prologue on the Old Winchester Playhouse
  352. Anna Seward, Colebrooke Dale, 44–73
  353. William Cowper, The Task, 1:678–774
  354. Mary Robinson, London’s Summer Morning
  355. The Poet’s Garret
  356. The Birth-day
  357. 9 HOUSES AND GARDENS
  358. John Pomfret, The Choice
  359. Alexander Pope, Epistle to Burlington
  360. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, An Epistle to Lord Bathurst
  361. James Thomson, Spring, 904–62
  362. Samuel Johnson, London, 194–223
  363. Mary Leapor, Crumble-Hall
  364. Robert Lloyd, The Cit’s Country Box
  365. William Cowper, The Task, 1:210–51
  366. 10 RURAL LIFE AND LABOUR
  367. John Gay, Friday; or, The Dirge
  368. Thomas Parnell, Oft have I read
  369. Martha Fowke, The Invitation from a Country Cottage
  370. John Dyer, The Fleece, Book III
  371. Stephen Duck, The Thresher’s Labour
  372. Mary Collier, The Woman’s Labour
  373. Mary Leapor, Crumble-Hall
  374. Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Church Yard
  375. Oliver Goldsmith, The Deserted Village
  376. George Crabbe, The Village, Book I
  377. Ann Yearsley, Clifton Hill
  378. Robert Burns, To a Mouse
  379. 11 SOCIAL CHANGE
  380. Anne Finch, Upon the Hurricane
  381. Mary Leapor, Crumble-Hall
  382. Robert Lloyd, The Cit’s Country Box
  383. Oliver Goldsmith, The Deserted Village
  384. George Crabbe, The Village, Book I
  385. Thomas Chatterton, An Excelente Balade of Charitie
  386. Robert Burns, A Man’s a Man for a’ That
  387. Anna Seward, Colebrooke Dale
  388. William Cowper, The Negro’s Complaint
  389. Mary Robinson, The Birth-day
  390. 12 NOCTURNAL MEDITATION
  391. Anne Finch, A Nocturnal Rêverie
  392. Thomas Parnell, A Night-Piece on Death
  393. Alexander Pope, Eloisa to Abelard
  394. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, A Hymn to the Moon
  395. Martha Fowke, A Letter to my Love
  396. Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Church Yard
  397. William Collins, Ode to Evening
  398. Joseph Warton, The Enthusiast: Or The Lover of Nature, 200–32
  399. Ode to Evening
  400. Thomas Warton, The Pleasures of Melancholy
  401. Ode written at Vale-Royal Abbey in Cheshire
  402. Charles Churchill, Night
  403. Anna Laetitia Barbauld, A Summer Evening’s Meditation
  404. 13 THE ROLE OF THE POET
  405. Isaac Watts, The Adventurous Muse
  406. Anne Finch, To the Nightingale
  407. To Mr Pope, in answer to a Copy of Verses
  408. Jonathan Swift, Verses on the Death of Dr Swift
  409. Selected Contents by Theme xv
  410. Alexander Pope, The First Satire of the Second Book of Horace Imitated
  411. An Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot
  412. The Dunciad, 1743, Book I
  413. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Verses Address’d to the Imitator of Horace
  414. Aaron Hill, The Singing-Bird
  415. Martha Fowke, On Lady Chudleigh
  416. On being charged with 22 GOD IN NATURE
  417. Anne Finch, Upon the Hurricane
  418. John Gay, The Man and the Flea
  419. Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man, Epistle I
  420. James Thomson, Winter. A Poem
  421. Spring, 556–71, 849–903
  422. Mary Leapor, The Enquiry
  423. Mark Akenside, The Pleasures of Imagination, 1:56–78
  424. Christopher Smart, A Song to David
  425. On a Bed of Guernsey Lilies
  426. Anna Laetitia Barbauld, A Summer Evening’s Meditation
  427. 23 WEALTH AND POVERTY
  428. John Philips, The Splendid Shilling
  429. Alexander Pope, Epistle to Burlington
  430. Martha Fowke, The Invitation from a Country Cottage
  431. Stephen Duck, The Thresher’s Labour
  432. Mary Collier, The Woman’s Labour
  433. Samuel Johnson, London
  434. The Vanity of Human Wishes, 21–8
  435. Robert Lloyd, The Cit’s Country Box
  436. Thomas Chatterton, An Excelente Balade of Charitie
  437. Oliver Goldsmith, The Deserted Village
  438. George Crabbe, The Village, Book I
  439. Robert Burns, A Man’s a Man for a’ That
  440. Mary Robinson, The Poet’s Garret
  441. The Birth-day
  442. 24 ART AND NATURE
  443. Anne Finch, Glass
  444. Jonathan Swift, A Beautiful Young Nymph Going to Bed
  445. Alexander Pope, Epistle to Burlington
  446. Selected Contents by Theme xix
  447. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, An Epistle to Lord Bathurst
  448. Martha Fowke, The Invitation from a Country Cottage
  449. Clio’s Picture
  450. Mary Barber, Written for my Son, and Spoken by him at his first putting on Breeches
  451. Joseph Warton, The Enthusiast: Or The Lover of Nature
  452. Thomas Warton, Verses on Sir Joshua Reynolds’s Painted Window
  453. Robert Lloyd, The Cit’s Country Box
  454. William Cowper, The Task, 1:409–35
  455. 25 PORTRAITS
  456. Anne Finch, The Agreeable
  457. Matthew Prior, An Epitaph
  458. Non Pareil
  459. Jonathan Swift, A Satirical Elegy On the Death of a late Famous General
  460. A Beautiful Young Nymph Going to Bed
  461. Verses on the Death of Dr Swift, 307–484
  462. Alexander Pope, An Epistle to a Lady
  463. An Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot, 193–214, 305–33
  464. The Dunciad, 1743, 1:107–46
  465. Aaron Hill, Bellaria, at her Spinnet
  466. Richard Savage, Unconstant
  467. Martha Fowke, The Innocent Inconstant
  468. On Lady Chudleigh
  469. Clio’s Picture
  470. Samuel Johnson, The Vanity of Human Wishes, 99–120, 191–222
  471. On the Death of Dr Robert Levet
  472. Mary Jones, Of Desire, 35–118
  473. Mary Leapor, An Epistle to Artemisia
  474. Mira’s Picture
  475. Soto. A Character
  476. Christopher Smart, ‘My Cat Jeoffry’
  477. Oliver Goldsmith, The Deserted Village, 189–218
  478. George Crabbe, The Village, 1:184–227, 276–319
  479. Ann Yearsley, Clifton Hill, 206–96
  480. Anna Laetitia Barbauld, Corsica, 107–32
  481. William Cowper, The Task, 1:534–56, 633–77
  482. 26 MUSIC
  483. Anne Finch, To the Nightingale
  484. Aaron Hill, Bellaria, at her Spinnet
  485. Mark Akenside, The Pleasures of Imagination, 1:109–38
  486. Thomas Gray, The Progress of Poesy
  487. William Collins, The Passions. An Ode for Music
  488. 27 LETTERS
  489. Anne Finch, To a Friend, in Praise of the Invention of Writing Letters
  490. Alexander Pope, Eloisa to Abelard
  491. Epistle to Burlington
  492. An Epistle to a Lady
  493. xx Selected Contents by Theme
  494. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Epistle from Arthur Gray the Footman
  495. Epistle from Mrs Y[onge] to her Husband
  496. An Epistle to Lord Bathurst
  497. Martha Fowke, A Letter to my Love
  498. Sarah Dixon, From a Sheet of Gilt Paper. To Cloe
  499. Lines occasion’d by the Burning of some Letters
  500. Mary Barber, The Conclusion of a Letter to the Rev. Mr C–
  501. Mary Jones, An Epistle to Lady Bowyer
  502. Of Desire
  503. Mary Leapor, An Epistle to a Lady
  504. An Epistle to Artemisia
  505. Robert Lloyd, Shakespeare: An Epistle to Mr Garrick
  506. 28 POLITICS, POWER, AND THE STATE
  507. Anne Finch, Upon the Hurricane
  508. Matthew Prior, True Statesmen
  509. Jonathan Swift, A Satirical Elegy On the Death of a late Famous General
  510. Verses on the Death of Dr Swift, 299–484
  511. Alexander Pope, Windsor-Forest
  512. Samuel Johnson, London
  513. Thomas Gray, The Bard
  514. William Collins, Ode to Liberty
  515. Charles Churchill, Night
  516. Oliver Goldsmith, The Deserted Village
  517. Anna Laetitia Barbauld, Corsica
  518. William Cowper, The Negro’s Complaint
  519. 29 LYRIC
  520. Anne Finch, A Sigh
  521. Matthew Prior, Non Pareil
  522. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, A Hymn to the Moon
  523. William Collins, A Song from Shakespeare’s Cymbeline
  524. Thomas Chatterton, Mynstrelles Songe
  525. Robert Burns, The Rigs o’ Barley

Author note

David Fairer is Professor of Eighteenth-Century English Literature at the University of Leeds, UK. His most recent book, Organising Poetry: The Coleridge Circle 1790-1798 (2009) traces the development of English poetry during the 1790s, building on the concerns of his previous comprehensive study, English Poetry of the Eighteenth Century, 1700-1789 (2003). He is also the author of The Poetry of Alexander Pope (1989) and Pope’s Imagination (1984), and editor of The Correspondence of Thomas Warton (1995) and Pope: New Contexts (1990).

Christine Gerrard is the Barbara Scott Fellow and Tutor in English at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, UK. She has recently edited volume 1 of The Complete Correspondence of Samuel Richardson: Correspondence with Aaron Hill and the Hill Family (2013) which follows on from her literary biography Aaron Hill: The Muses' Projector, 1685-1750 (2003).  She is the editor of A Companion to Eighteenth-Century Poetry (Wiley Blackwell, 2006) and the author of The Patriot Opposition to Walpole: Politics, Poetry, and National Myth, 1725–1742 (1994).

Reviews

“Fairer and Gerrard’s third edition of Eighteenth-Century Poetry: An Annotated Anthology is simply the one and only anthology to use when teaching 18th-Century British Poetry. The selections are judicious but wide-ranging, offering readers the traditional canonical figures as well as newly-recuperated poets, both male and female. The annotations are superbly informative and authoritative. Bravissimo!” —John Richetti, University of Pennsylvania

“This anthology has already set the standard for presenting eighteenth-century poetry as accessible, historically embedded, and relevant to contemporary debates. Its new edition continues in this tradition, with Fairer and Gerrard responding to and anticipating the newest conversations around gender, material and popular culture. Eighteenth-Century Poetry:  An Annotated Anthology is staying on my desk.” —Christina Lupton, Warwick University

“Fairer and Gerrard’s third edition of Eighteenth-Century Poetry: An Annotated Anthology is simply the one and only anthology to use when teaching 18th-Century British Poetry. The selections are judicious but wide-ranging, offering readers the traditional canonical figures as well as newly-recuperated poets, both male and female. The annotations are superbly informative and authoritative. Bravissimo!”. John Richetti, University of Pennsylvania

Back cover copy

Currently the definitive text in the field and now available in an expanded third edition, Eighteenth-Century Poetry: An Annotated Anthology  presents the rich diversity of English poetry from 1700-1800 in authoritative texts and with full scholarly annotation.  In the new edition, the editors reflect current interests with the inclusion of prominent poets such as Finch, Swift, Pope, Montagu, Johnson, Gray, Burns, and Cowper,  alongside a generous selection of  less familiar poems, providing a variety of voices and new directions for research and learning. This edition includes 46 new poems including a greater number of works by women poets, such as Mary Barber, Mehetabel Wright, Anna Seward and Mary Robinson; poems reflecting new ecological approaches to 18th-century literature; and poems on the art of writing. 

As with previous editions, the anthology is accessible and user-friendly, with generous head notes, full foot-of-page annotations, an expanded thematic index, and a visually appealing text design. Featuring both classic poems and fascinating new discoveries, the third edition of Eighteenth-Century Poetry offers a lively and nuanced understanding of this extraordinary period to a new generation of students.