In this Book
- Wordsworth's Ethics
- Book
- 2012
- Published by: Johns Hopkins University Press
summary
A comprehensive examination that breathes new life into Wordsworth and the ethical concerns that were vital to his nineteenth-century readers.Why read Wordsworth’s poetry—indeed, why read poetry at all? Beyond any pleasure it might give, can it make one a better or more flourishing person? These questions were never far from William Wordsworth’s thoughts. He responded in rich and varied ways, in verse and in prose, in both well-known and more obscure writings.Wordsworth's Ethics is a comprehensive examination of the Romantic poet’s work, delving into his desire to understand the source and scope of our ethical obligations. Adam Potkay finds that Wordsworth consistently rejects the kind of impersonal utilitarianism that was espoused by his contemporaries James Mill and Jeremy Bentham in favor of a view of ethics founded in relationships with particular persons and things. The discussion proceeds chronologically through Wordsworth’s career as a writer—from his juvenilia through his poems of the 1830s and '40s—providing a valuable introduction to the poet’s work. The book will appeal to readers interested in the vital connection between literature and moral philosophy.
Table of Contents
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- Acknowledgments
- pp. vii-ix
- Introduction
- pp. 1-12
- 1. Audition and Attachment
- pp. 13-30
- 2. Close Encounters I
- pp. 31-48
- 3. Close Encounters II
- pp. 49-70
- 4. The Ethics of Things
- pp. 71-89
- 5. Music versus Conscience
- pp. 90-107
- 6. Captivation and Liberty in Poems on Music
- pp. 108-120
- 7. The Moral Sublime
- pp. 121-147
- 8. Independence and Interdependence
- pp. 148-172
- 9. Surviving Death
- pp. 173-186
- 10. The Poetics of Life
- pp. 187-201
- Envoy: Wordsworth’s Afterlives
- pp. 202-204
- Works Cited
- pp. 233-247
Additional Information
ISBN
9781421407586
Related ISBN(s)
9781421407081, 9781421417028
MARC Record
OCLC
867786949
Pages
272
Launched on MUSE
2012-11-02
Language
English
Open Access
No