Book contents
- Romantic Epics and the Mission of Empire
- Cambridge Studies in Romanticism
- Romantic Epics and the Mission of Empire
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction Invoking the Epic Poem
- Chapter 1 Epic Conversions
- Chapter 2 The Revival of the Missionary Enterprise
- Chapter 3 Heroes of Conquest and Conversion
- Chapter 4 Ann Yearsley’s ‘Brutus’ As Evangelical Epic Poem
- Chapter 5 ‘Authority from Heaven’
- Chapter 6 ‘A Particular Favourite of Heaven’
- Chapter 7 ‘Mark Well My Words! They Are of Your Eternal Salvation’
- Chapter 8 Epic Evangelism in The Prelude and Don Juan
- An Epilogue In Medias Res: Fragmentation Past and Future
- Book part
- Select Bibliography
- Index
- Cambridge Studies in Romanticism
Chapter 3 - Heroes of Conquest and Conversion
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 November 2023
- Romantic Epics and the Mission of Empire
- Cambridge Studies in Romanticism
- Romantic Epics and the Mission of Empire
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction Invoking the Epic Poem
- Chapter 1 Epic Conversions
- Chapter 2 The Revival of the Missionary Enterprise
- Chapter 3 Heroes of Conquest and Conversion
- Chapter 4 Ann Yearsley’s ‘Brutus’ As Evangelical Epic Poem
- Chapter 5 ‘Authority from Heaven’
- Chapter 6 ‘A Particular Favourite of Heaven’
- Chapter 7 ‘Mark Well My Words! They Are of Your Eternal Salvation’
- Chapter 8 Epic Evangelism in The Prelude and Don Juan
- An Epilogue In Medias Res: Fragmentation Past and Future
- Book part
- Select Bibliography
- Index
- Cambridge Studies in Romanticism
Summary
The framework and historical overview of my opening two chapters allow me to attend in Chapter 3 to the variety of epic productions in the 1790s. Surveying these epics, the chapter underlines the ways that they promote different ideas of British identity as they support, critique, and oppose the budding ideologies of Christian nationalism and imperialism. The chapter considers conservative epics that serve practically as propaganda for Tory politics and nascent imperialist sentiment (such as Henry James Pye’s Alfred), progressive epics that challenge both epic tradition and reactionary politics while still acquiescing to some assumptions of imperialist discourse, and religious epics that envision an empire of Christ whose relationship with the temporal British empire is often uncertain. Overall, the chapter suggests that the epic productions of the 1790s often imagined conversion as a partner of empire even as they revealed and frequently attempted to conceal the inconsistencies between them.
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- Romantic Epics and the Mission of Empire , pp. 80 - 107Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023