Table of Contents

Introduction; Part I. 'Hard Labour We Most Chearfully Pursue': Three Poets On Rural Work: 1. Thomson, Duck, Collier and rural realism; 2. Initiations and peak-times; 3. Three types of labour; 4. Compensations; 5. Homecomings; Part II. 'A Pastoral Convention and a Ruminative Mind': Agricultural Prescription In The Fleece: 6. Sheep and poetry; 7. 'Soil and clime'; 8. Environment and heredity; 9. The care of sheep; 10. The shepherd's harvest; Bibliography; Index.

Promotional Information

This book examines the role of rural poetry, and self-taught poets, in eighteenth-century literary culture.

Reviews

'Goodridge provides a fascinating interdisciplinary approach to his subject which other critics of the rural tradition in literature would benefit from following.' John Clare Society Journal 'Although this is a book which is specialised, it is of much interest and importance to those studying rural poetry, rural labour history or agricultural history.' John Clare Society Journal