Book contents
- Physical Disability in British Romantic Literature
- Cambridge Studies in Romanticism
- Physical Disability in British Romantic Literature
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Part I Politics of Ability
- Chapter 1 William Godwin and Capacity
- Chapter 2 Invigorating Women
- Chapter 3 Wordsworth’s ‘The Discharged Soldier’ and the Question of Desert
- Part II Aesthetics of Deformity
- Conclusion
- Appendix Dictionary Definitions of ‘Disability’ and ‘Deformity’
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
- Cambridge Studies in Romanticism
Chapter 3 - Wordsworth’s ‘The Discharged Soldier’ and the Question of Desert
from Part I - Politics of Ability
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 November 2020
- Physical Disability in British Romantic Literature
- Cambridge Studies in Romanticism
- Physical Disability in British Romantic Literature
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Part I Politics of Ability
- Chapter 1 William Godwin and Capacity
- Chapter 2 Invigorating Women
- Chapter 3 Wordsworth’s ‘The Discharged Soldier’ and the Question of Desert
- Part II Aesthetics of Deformity
- Conclusion
- Appendix Dictionary Definitions of ‘Disability’ and ‘Deformity’
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
- Cambridge Studies in Romanticism
Summary
Critics have long been puzzled by aspects of William Wordsworth’s “The Discharged Soldier” (1798), such as the abrupt opening, the soldier’s disinterest in telling his story in a genre that requires it, and the speaker’s lack of effusive sympathy. Wordsworth’s theory of desert provides a new way to understand the poem, and a key to understanding the poem’s interplay between capacity and aesthetics. The chapter focuses on the military body and, in particular, the stories about the acquisition of impairments that fictional disabled soldiers are required to tell. Disabled soldiers’ stories often make persuasive cases for desert (in that soldiers are deemed worthy of charity or reward).
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- Physical Disability in British Romantic Literature , pp. 98 - 118Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020