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Is there anything more essentially English than the ‘country-house poem’ – the topographical poem on a representative estate and its owner? It is only at a second glance that its European, indeed classical heritage becomes obvious, for like pastoral and georgic poetry, it has its roots in antiquity. However, responding to early modern economic, social, political and not last confessional change, while relating to contemporary developments such as the ongoing concern with enclosures or the new interest in gardens and the ‘improvement’ of estates, topographical poetry also becomes a site of cultural transformation far from the metropolis. Poetry of place not only responds to basic questions about landscape and nature. It also offers a comprehensive anatomy of local culture that does not rest content with the philosophical or the merely idyllic. It moves into focus themes of agriculture, forestry and horticulture, the breeding and feeding of animals, the responsibilities and obligations connected with building and dwelling, with inheritance, property, housekeeping and the managing of individual estates, including the distribution and renegotiation of domestic, familial and gender roles in the context of a developing market economy.
In this seminar, we shall explore the aesthetics and contexts of estate and pastoral poetry from the 16th to the 18th century, looking back to its classical origins and forward to its Enlightenment functions, with particular emphasis on the orders of knowledge it addresses. For participants, there will be a Moodle at the beginning of term. |
