Poetic Meaning in the Eighteenth-Century Poems of Mark Akenside and William Shenstone

“In his readings, arguments, and discussion in this book, Sandro Jung shows himself a knowledgeable guide to the extensive commentary on mid-eighteenth-century poetry, not only in English, but in French and German. His readers meet many unexpected and novel ideas and judgements in a critical discourse firmly fixed on actual poems, rather than convenient and conventional formulas or misleading abstractions.” – Angus Ross, Emeritus, University of Sussex

“This is a well-researched work written in a readable style which is appropriate to the study of eighteenth century poetry at the beginning of the twenty-first century. It brings a freshness to the area and provides a thoughtful considered guide which will give access to those who wish to study the area and provides them with sound working criteria by which to judge the quality of the different poems. . . . A further strength of the work is the way in which the text considers in detail the characteristics of a range of poems well chosen to cover the types of writing typical of a particular poet. When particular poems are assessed, analysis is sharp and focused and easy to follow. . . . This scholarly work with the text most accessible is clearly very much up to date. It presents new thinking about this poetry of the mid-eighteenth century and is most welcome, for it fills a gap in studies of the area which tend either to try to cover far too many poets or to specialize on one poet. The text benefits greatly from the close comparisons made.” – Dr. F. D. A. Burns, University of Birmingham and Coventry University

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