Public Reading and Lyric Pleasure: Eighteenth Century Elocutionary Debates and Poetic Practices

This essay argues that a self-conscious participation on the part of readers constitutes the ideal reading of lyric poetry. Moving between a number of primary and secondary sources, the essay articulates the complicated relationships between participants in the scene of public reading: reader, text,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:ELH 2009-07, Vol.76 (2), p.371-397
Main Author: George, Jacqueline
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Audiences
Elocution
English language
Gestures
Literary criticism
Lyric poetry
Oratory
Persuasion
Poetry
Reading
Rhetorical elocution
Romantic period
Sonnets
Women
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Summary:This essay argues that a self-conscious participation on the part of readers constitutes the ideal reading of lyric poetry. Moving between a number of primary and secondary sources, the essay articulates the complicated relationships between participants in the scene of public reading: reader, text, audience. It begins by examining the relationship between the British elocutionary movement of the late eighteenth century, then turns to the reading experience and aesthetic understanding of lyric poetry. Using Charlotte Smith's "To Night" as an example, the essay traces how elocutionary instruction could render Smith's audience conscious of their own performances as readers of poetry.
ISSN:0013-8304
1080-6547
1080-6547
DOI:10.1353/elh.0.0047