Book contents
- Imagining War and Peace in Eighteenth-Century Britain, 1690–1820
- Imagining War and Peace in Eighteenth-Century Britain, 1690–1820
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Preface
- Introduction
- Part I Developing Ideals
- Chapter 1 The Culture of War and Civil Society, from William III to George I
- Chapter 2 War and the Culture of Politeness
- Chapter 3 Sacrifice
- Chapter 4 Sacrifice
- Part II Developing Questions
- Part III War and Peace in an Age of Revolutions
- Part IV The Landscape of Conquest
- Further Reading
- Index
Chapter 3 - Sacrifice
Heroism and Mourning
from Part I - Developing Ideals
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 January 2024
- Imagining War and Peace in Eighteenth-Century Britain, 1690–1820
- Imagining War and Peace in Eighteenth-Century Britain, 1690–1820
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Preface
- Introduction
- Part I Developing Ideals
- Chapter 1 The Culture of War and Civil Society, from William III to George I
- Chapter 2 War and the Culture of Politeness
- Chapter 3 Sacrifice
- Chapter 4 Sacrifice
- Part II Developing Questions
- Part III War and Peace in an Age of Revolutions
- Part IV The Landscape of Conquest
- Further Reading
- Index
Summary
This chapter explores how the idea of sacrifice was used to render death in war acceptable – the death of enemies as well as of compatriots and allies – and how this public ideal was reconciled with the private sorrow of bereavement and mourning. Drawing on a distinction between sacrificing to (atonement) and sacrificing for (on behalf of the nation), it compares the response to death encouraged by the Church with the more classical ideal of heroic sacrifice promoted by Shaftesbury, by Addison, by the Patriot Bolingbroke and by Richard Glover in his epic poem Leonidas. And it considers how the sacrifice of the hero was brought into relation with the mourning of the bereaved, looking at examples in Glover, in funeral monuments, and in poems by Mark Akenside and William Collins.
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- Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023