Robert Southey: Entire Man of Letters - Hardcover

Speck, Wa

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0300116810 ISBN 13: 9780300116816

Publisher: Yale University Press, 2006

Synopsis

In his lifetime Robert Southey was very much the equal of his fellow 'Lake poets', Coleridge and Wordsworth. But since his death his reputation has been overshadowed by their success. In this new biography W.A. Speck argues that if Southey's poetry is no longer considered as significant, his other writings were more salient and his political views far more influential than those of his fellow poets. He was, as Byron conceded, England's 'only existing entire man of letters'. The book engages with Southey's voluminous publications, weaving discussion of them into the narrative of his life. It shows how he moved from self-confessed republican and admirer of the French Revolution in the 1790s, to 'the most powerful literary supporter of the stories' by the 1820s. Speck has explored Southey's full correspondence, not simply that which appeared in the editions edited by his descendants. They reveal a man of considerably greater emotional complexity than previously assumed. Far from a happily married man, Southey sought intellectual and emotional fulfillment outside a tepid marriage, first from Mary Barker, and then from Caroline Bowles who became his second wife. The first fully rounded life for sixty years, Speck's account sets Southey in historical context and restores him to the map of English literature.

About this title

Review:

'...definitive and highly engaging...[a] humane and elegantly drawn
portrait.' -- Church Times, November 24, 2006

'This handsomely produced volume...[celebrates] the life of this most noteworthy chronicler of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.' -- Joyce Wilson, The Keswick Reminder, 30th June 2006

'This is the best modern biography of Southey. Speck obviously sympathises with his subject and aspires to revive his reputation.' -- Adam Sisman, Literary Review, August 2006

'W A Speck gives this neglected man his due. ... He has written a
book admirably balanced in thoroughness and brevity.'
-- Alexandra Mullen, Wall Street Journal Europe, August 15 2006

'[It] is meticulously researched and amply annotated and calmly objective...[A] worthy book.' -- Rupert Christiansen, The Spectator, 22nd July 2006

About the Author:

W.A. Speck has been professor of history at the universities of Hull and Leeds. Among his books are Literature and Society in Eighteenth Century England.

About this edition

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0300116810
• ISBN 13: 9780300116816
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 304