Includes bibliography and index.

Part 1 18th, 19th and early 20th Century criticism: Matthew Arnold on 18th century poetry, (1880); Samuel Johnson on Thomson, (1781); William Hazlitt on Thomson, (1818); Samuel Johnson on Gray, (1781); William Wordsworth on Gray, (1802); Matthew Arnold on Gray, (1880); Leslie Stephen on Gray, (c.1890); Sir Joshua Reynolds on Goldsmith, (c.1776); John Aiken on Goldsmith, (1796); Virginia Woolf on Goldsmith, (1934); William Hazlitt on Cowper, (1818); Walter Bagehot on Cowper, (1855); Leslie Stephen on Crabbe, (1874) and on Cowper, (1876); Virginia Woolf on Crabbe, (1950); David Nichol Smith on 18th century poetry (1926). Part 2 Poetics and poetic diction: personification - the language of imagination and passion, Hugh Blair, (1783); 18th century poetic diction, Geoffrey Tillotson, (1939); language as the dress of thought, P.W.K.Stone, (1967); the Augustan tradition, F.R.Leavis, (1936); the word "Romantic" in the 18th century, Logan Pearsall Smith, (1924); Collins - neoclassical and pre-romantic, A.S.P.Woodhouse, (1965); pre-romanticism, P.W.K.Stone, (1967). Part 3 Nature, landscape and description: Thomson's "Seasons" - nature, harmony and doubt, John Chalker, (1969); descriptive poetry - Thomson's "Seasons", Hugh Blair, (1793); the "Prospect" poem, C.V.Deane, (1935); Thomson's description, Jean Hagstrum, (1958); retirement and nature in Thomson's "Seasons", John Chalker, (1969); description and reflection in Gray's "Elegy", Jean Hagstrum, (1958); Cowper, Wordsworth and nature, Vincent Newey (1982). Part 4 Poetry and society: Gray's latent political ideas, William Empson, (1935); Thomson and humanitarian feeling in the 18th century, John Butt, (1950); Thomson and the Golden Age, John Chalker, (1969); Gray's storied urn, Cleanth Brooks, (1947); Crabbe and social questions, R.B.Hatch, (1976); Peter Grimes - the humane representation of a barely human consciousness, Peter New, (1976). Part 5 Poetry and religion: the all-animating joy within - Addi

This volume is one in the Casebook series, which presents an integrated selection of readings, with an introduction which explores the theme and discusses the literary and critical issues involved. The series is intended to act as a springboard for further reading and study.