Taking into account recent developments in historical and ecological criticism, and incorporating fresh research into poetry and politics in the 1790s, the second edition of The Politics of Nature enlarges and updates Nicholas Roe's acclaimed study of Romanticism. Hitherto marginal figures are restored to prominence, and there is new material on William Wordsworth's radical years. The book includes the full text of John Thelwall's Essay on Animal Vitality with commentary, exploring how ideas of nature revolution and radical science were entwined.
List of Illustrations Abbreviations A Note on Texts Preface Acknowledgements Introduction PART ONE 'Unremembered Kindness': George Dyer and the Poets Robert Southey, Pantisocracy, and the Poet's Myth Living Without God in the World: Lamb, Coleridge, Wordsworth PART TWO John Thelwall's Essay, Towards a Definition of Animal Vitality The Prison Diary of John Augustus Bonney PART THREE Wordsworth's Secrecy: Gorsas and 'The Philanthropist' The Politics of the Wye Valley: Re-Placing 'Tintern Abbey' 'Adam of a New World': Lyrical Ballads and The Prelude Epilogue: The Noise of the Sea Appendix 1: Robert Southey and the Origin of Pantisocracy Appendix 2: A Checklist of Persons in Bonney's Diary Notes Bibliography Index
