Bøker av John Gilroy

This book explores the significance of flight to Romantic literature. Although the Romantic movement and the age of ballooning coincided, there has been a curious and long-time tendency to forget that flight was not impossible during this period. This study details the importance of this new technology to Romantic authors, primarily English Romantic poets. It combines accounts of the exploits and experiences of early balloonists with references to Romantic texts, using ballooning lore to illuminate a range of Romantic writings. The balloonists are seen as not just supplying these writers with a new code of metaphors, but as colleagues engaged in similarly imaginative enterprises. The book uncovers an ¿aerial imagination¿ shared by a large number of writers in the Romantic period that has its origins in the balloon adventures of the 1780s and following two decades. It will appeal to scholars and students of Romantic cultural history, as well as those interested in Romantic poetry andthe history of early aeronautics.

the book offers a detailed commentary on the poetry of Hopkins, exploring the significance of contemporary cultural issues and the poet's life as Catholic convert and Jesuit priest. Part 1 traces Hopkins's life from his early schooldays, his undergraduate years at Oxford and conversion to Catholicism, to his work as a Jesuit scholar and poet-priest. Part 2, explains the core principles of Hopkins's innovative and challenging poetry, including sections on inscape, instress and sprung rhythm. Part 3, provides a detailed critical commentary on most of the major poems, including The Wreck of the Deutschland, God's Grandeur, The Windhover, Pied Beauty, The Caged Skylark, Hurrahing in Harvest, Felix Randal, Spring and Fall, Inversnaid, the six 'Terrible Sonnets', and That Nature is a Heraclitean Fire. Part 4, explores the history of Hopkins criticism from that of his own contemporaries to twentieth century and current critical approaches. John Gilroy is also the author of Reading Philip Larkin: Selected Poms

Our best-selling poetry introduction offers a detailed commentary on the poetry of Philip Larkin, exploring the political and cultural contexts which have shaped his contemporary reputation. Part 1, Life and Times, traces Larkin's early years and follows his development, within his career as a university librarian, into one of the most important and popular voices in twentieth-century poetry. Part 2, Artistic Strategies, explores a range of methodologies and aesthetic influences by which Larkin was empowered to create poetry at once both accessible and profound. Part 3, Reading Larkin, provides detailed critical commentary on many of the poems from his three major collections, The Less Deceived, The Whitsun Weddings and High Windows. Part 4, Reception, outlines the history of Larkin's reputation from the mid-1950s to the present, examining the debates to which his poetry has given rise. John Gilroy teaches at Anglia Ruskin University and for the University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education.

The literature of the Romantic era is steeped in the politics of revolution and reaction. This Companion looks at first and second generation poets such as Wordsworth, Blake, Byron and Shelley and explores their engagement with the turbulent history of their times. Other genres such as drama, fiction and travel writing are also discussed, with close attention paid to texts by Walpole, Austen and Mary Wollstonecraft. Combining thematic analysis with modern critical perspectives, the volume also includes key contextual sections focusing on "Imagination, Truth and Reason", "Heroes and Anti-heroes" and "Faith, Myth and Doubt".