{"product_id":"william-gilbert-and-esoteric-romanticism-a-contextual-study-and-annotated-edition-of-the-hurricane-9781800856660","title":"William Gilbert and Esoteric Romanticism: A","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWilliam Gilbert, poet, theosophist and astrologer, published \u003ci\u003eThe Hurricane: A Theosophical and Western Eclogue \u003c\/i\u003ein Bristol in 1796, while he was on intimate terms with key members of Bristol literary culture: Coleridge published an extract from \u003ci\u003eThe Hurricane\u003c\/i\u003e in his radical periodical \u003ci\u003eThe Watchman\u003c\/i\u003e; Robert Southey wrote of the poem’s ‘passages of exquisite Beauty’; and William Wordsworth praised and quoted a long passage from Gilbert’s poem in \u003ci\u003eThe Excursion\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003ci\u003e The Hurricane \u003c\/i\u003eis a copiously annotated 450 line blank verse visionary poem set on the island of Antigua where, in 1763, Gilbert was born into a slave-owning Methodist family. The poem can be grouped with other apocalyptic poems of the 1790s—Blake’s \u003ci\u003eContinental Prophecies\u003c\/i\u003e, Coleridge's \u003ci\u003eReligious Musings\u003c\/i\u003e, Southey's \u003ci\u003eJoan of Arc\u003c\/i\u003e—all of which gave a spiritual interpretation to the dramatic political upheavals of their time. \u003ci\u003e  William Gilbert and Esoteric Romanticism\u003c\/i\u003e presents the untold story of Gilbert’s progress from the radical occultist circles of 1790s London to his engagement with the first generation Romantics in Bristol. At the heart of the book is the first modern edition of \u003ci\u003eThe Hurricane\u003c\/i\u003e, fully annotated to reveal the esoteric metaphysics at its core, followed by close interpretative analysis of this strange elusive poem.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Paul Cheshire is unquestionably the world authority on William Gilbert and \u003ci\u003eThe Hurricane\u003c\/i\u003e. Based on extensive original research, this ground-breaking study will return Gilbert to the forefront of critical attention, locating him in relation to more famous contemporaries and setting-out for the first time his esoteric brand of Romanticism and its many affinities with more familiar Romantic authors and texts, ideas and concepts. Presenting its key text—\u003ci\u003eThe Hurricane\u003c\/i\u003e—in full at its centre, the book fills a conspicuous gap in current understandings and opens numerous new avenues for further research.'\u003cbr\u003eNicholas Roe, Wardlaw Professor of English Literature, University of St Andrews \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'This is an unusual book about an unusual man. In his engagingly written, intensively researched study of the life and work of  William Gilbert, Paul Cheshire illuminates the hermetic vision underpinning Gilbert’s allegorical poem \u003ci\u003eThe Hurricane\u003c\/i\u003e, and widens its scope to explore the influence of western esoteric thought on the imagination of the Romantic poets in a manner which touches on issues still alive and vital in our own transitional times.'\u003cbr\u003eLindsay Clarke, Whitbread Prize-winning author of \u003ci\u003eThe Chymical Wedding\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Water Theatre\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'William Gilbert was a leading member of the utopian, apocalyptic and artistic movement of the 1790s, a remarkable period in British – and European – history. He was a major influence on the Romantic poets, and his presence is felt in Coleridge’s masterpiece, \u003ci\u003eKubla Khan\u003c\/i\u003e. Paul Cheshire’s remarkable biography brings this forgotten genius to life, restoring him to his proper place in our artistic and radical history.' \u003cbr\u003eNicholas Campion, Associate Professor in Cosmology and Culture, University of Wales Trinity Saint David\u003cbr\u003e'Other scholars have worked on \u003ci\u003eThe Hurricane \u003c\/i\u003eand William Gilbert; Cheshire’s account draws on their work and goes a considerable way beyond it (not least in considering the horrors of slavery in this context). The fascination of this neglected figure is made plain, as are the critical implications of a work with both esoteric roots and Romantic repercussions.' \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eMichael Caines,\u003ci\u003e Times Literary Supplement \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘Cheshire makes an admirable case for remembering Gilbert… [a] tantalizing study.’\u003cbr\u003e Christy Edwall, \u003ci\u003eThe Wordsworth Circle\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e'Paul Cheshire has done us a service in providing here not only a book that places the poem [\u003ci\u003eThe Hurricane\u003c\/i\u003e] in its cultural and historical milieu but a fully annotated scholarly edition of the poem itself. It is an important new contribution to the expanding literature on Romanticism in Bristol and comes highly recommended. For both its language and its themes, The Hurricane is a poem well worth revisiting.' \u003cbr\u003e Steve Poole, \u003ci\u003eThe Regional Historian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'A provocative and illuminating study of William Gilbert… We may hope that Cheshire’s indefatigable and imaginative research will continue to help us rediscover the eccentric and fearless genius who proudly declared: “I am not understood. ’Tis well. \/ I understand myself. It is better.”' \u003cbr\u003e Marsha Keith Schuchard, \u003ci\u003eCommon Knowledge\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'\u003ci\u003eWilliam Gilbert and Esoteric Romanticism\u003c\/i\u003e provides an excellent basis for further scholarly work, both on Gilbert, and on the esoteric in Romantic culture more generally.'\u003cbr\u003eJacob Lloyd, \u003ci\u003eThe BARS Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘Cheshire’s readings transform Gilbert’s poem from something inscrutable to something deeply interesting… Cheshire makes a compelling case that “esoterism” is important but overlooked in all the Romantics, expanding how they may be read. The book further expands the geographies of Romanticism through its attention to the sea and Antigua as crucial sites for revolutionary thinking.’ Lawrence Evalyn, \u003cem\u003eEighteenth-Century Fiction\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAcknowledgements\u003cbr\u003eAbbreviations\u003cbr\u003eIntroductionPart One:  William Gilbert in Romantic Culture\u003cbr\u003e1. A Magus of the 1790s: William Gilbert in Bristol and London\u003cbr\u003e2. Bristol and the First Romantics\u003cbr\u003e3. ‘With no unholy madness’: Gilbert and Coleridge\u003cbr\u003e4. ‘My astrological friend’: Gilbert and Southey\u003cbr\u003e5. The Calenture: Gilbert and WordsworthPart Two: \u003ci\u003e The Hurricane\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Hurricane a Theosophical and Western Eclogue. To which is subjoined, A Solitary Effusion in a Summer’s Evening\u003c\/i\u003e. 6. \u003ci\u003eThe Hurricane\u003c\/i\u003e and Hermetic Geography\u003cbr\u003e7. Decoding the Allegory of the ‘Theosophical and Western Eclogue’\u003cbr\u003e8. Son of a Saintly Slave OwnerPart Three:  Conclusion \u003cbr\u003e9. Esoteric Romanticism\u003cbr\u003eBibliography\u003cbr\u003eIndex","brand":"Liverpool University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51360139116887,"sku":"9781800856660","price":31.81,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781800856660.jpg?v=1754126783","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/william-gilbert-and-esoteric-romanticism-a-contextual-study-and-annotated-edition-of-the-hurricane-9781800856660","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}