You are here

FAU Collections » FAU Research Repository » FAU College Collections » Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College » Honors Student Theses

What are words worth?

Download pdf | Full Screen View

Date Issued:
2012
Summary:
The works of Romantic poet William Wordsworth are generally regarded as idealistic nature poems. However, Wordsworth was writing in a turbulent era, between the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution. Contrary to conventional labels, Wordsworth's prose and poetry of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries strongly critiques social and economic affairs, similar to the ways Thomas Malthus comments on the same subjects. In 1798, political and economic theorist Thomas Robert Malthus published his infamous Essay on the Principle of Population, in which he devotes considerable thought to the subjects of poverty and England's Old Poor Law system. This thesis explores the connections between Wordsworth and Malthus, establishing Wordsworth as an amateur political economic theorist, who was concerned with the contemporary treatment of poverty and the morals of the legislators of the Poor Laws. I further claim that Wordsworth was a parable-poet, who sought to provide moral guidance regarding poor relief through affective poetry.
Title: What are words worth?: Thomas Malthus and political economy in William Wordsworth's poetry and prose.
124 views
31 downloads
Name(s): Kirchner, Christina R.
Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Thesis
Issuance: multipart monograph
Date Issued: 2012
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Physical Form: electronic
electronic resource
Extent: viii, 76 p. : ill..
Language(s): English
Summary: The works of Romantic poet William Wordsworth are generally regarded as idealistic nature poems. However, Wordsworth was writing in a turbulent era, between the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution. Contrary to conventional labels, Wordsworth's prose and poetry of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries strongly critiques social and economic affairs, similar to the ways Thomas Malthus comments on the same subjects. In 1798, political and economic theorist Thomas Robert Malthus published his infamous Essay on the Principle of Population, in which he devotes considerable thought to the subjects of poverty and England's Old Poor Law system. This thesis explores the connections between Wordsworth and Malthus, establishing Wordsworth as an amateur political economic theorist, who was concerned with the contemporary treatment of poverty and the morals of the legislators of the Poor Laws. I further claim that Wordsworth was a parable-poet, who sought to provide moral guidance regarding poor relief through affective poetry.
Identifier: 818759680 (oclc), 3359307 (digitool), FADT3359307 (IID), fau:1435 (fedora)
Note(s): by Christina R. Kirchner.
Thesis (B.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, Honors College, 2012.
Includes bibliography.
Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2012. Mode of access: World Wide Web.
Subject(s): Malthus, T. R. (Thomas Robert), 1766-1834
Wordsworth, William, 1770-1850
Poetry -- Psychological aspects
Economics
Held by: FBoU FAUER
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3359307
Use and Reproduction: Copyright © is held by the author, with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
Host Institution: FAU

In Collections