Book contents
- A History of English Georgic Writing
- A History of English Georgic Writing
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- A Note on National Designations
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part I Turnings
- Part II Times
- Part III Territories
- Chapter 13 Low Lands
- Chapter 14 Between the Georgic and the Pastoral
- Chapter 15 American Georgic
- Chapter 16 Environment and Empire
- Bibliography
- Index
Chapter 16 - Environment and Empire
Georgic through Time
from Part III - Territories
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 December 2022
- A History of English Georgic Writing
- A History of English Georgic Writing
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- A Note on National Designations
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part I Turnings
- Part II Times
- Part III Territories
- Chapter 13 Low Lands
- Chapter 14 Between the Georgic and the Pastoral
- Chapter 15 American Georgic
- Chapter 16 Environment and Empire
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
This chapter studies the relationship between two of the foremost examples of georgic poetry in English – James Thomson’s The Seasons and Vita Sackville-West’s The Land, and the tradition’s primary ancient model, Virgil’s Georgics. It argues that georgic poetry is deeply implicated in the politics of empire in Roman no less than in British contexts, using themes of geography, travel and patriotism to showcase and celebrate imperial power. Simultaneously, georgic poetry can be read as a kind of archive, celebrating the artisanal practices of rural communities under threat from profit-driven economic models, marrying intense appreciation of the natural world with an equally intense awareness of that world’s fragility. As such, georgic poetry can be usefully read as dramatizing certain contradictions and challenges which remain relevant in global politics in the twenty-first century.
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- A History of English Georgic Writing , pp. 344 - 361Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022