A HISTORY OF BRITISH WORKING CLASS LITERATURE A History of British Working Class Literature examines the rich con- tributionsofworkingclasswritersinGreatBritainfrom1700tothe present.Sincetheearlyeighteenthcentury,thephenomenonofwork- ingclasswritinghasbeenrecognized,butalmostinvariablycoopted in some ultimately distorting manner, whether as examples of “nat- uralgenius,”aVictorianself-improvementethic,oranaspectofthe heroicworkersofnineteenth-andtwentieth-centuryradicalculture. Thepresentworkcontrastinglyappliesawidevarietyofinterpretive approachestothisliterature.Essaysonmorefamiliartopics,suchas theagrarianidyllofJohnClare,aremixedwithentirelynewareasin thefield,suchasworkingclasswomen’slifenarratives.Thisauthorita- tiveandcomprehensiveHistoryexploresawiderangeofgenres,such astravelwriting,theverseepistle,theelegy,andnovels,whilecovering aspectsofWelsh,Scottish,Ulster/Irish,andtransatlanticperspectives. john goodridge hasbeenresearchinglaboringclasspoetry,John Clarestudies,andrelatedfieldsforthepastthreedecades.HeisVice- PresidentoftheJohnClareSocietyandaFellowoftheEnglishAssoci- ation.HecofoundedtheRobertBloomfieldSocietyandtheThomas ChattertonSociety,editstheDatabaseofLabouring-ClassPoets,and isthegeneraleditorofsixvolumesoflaboringclasspoetry. bridget keegan has worked on British laboring class poetry for nearly30yearsandhaswrittenandeditednumerouspublicationson thetopic.SheisProfessorofEnglishandDeanoftheCollegeofArts andSciencesatCreightonUniversity. A HISTORY OF BRITISH WORKING CLASS LITERATURE JOHN GOODRIDGE NottinghamTrentUniversity BRIDGET KEEGAN CreightonUniversity UniversityPrintingHouse,Cambridgecb28bs,UnitedKingdom OneLibertyPlaza,20thFloor,NewYork,ny10006,USA 477WilliamstownRoad,PortMelbourne,vic3207,Australia 4843/24,2ndFloor,AnsariRoad,Daryaganj,Delhi–110002,India 79AnsonRoad,#06–04/06,Singapore079906 CambridgeUniversityPressispartoftheUniversityofCambridge. ItfurtherstheUniversity’smissionbydisseminatingknowledgeinthepursuitof education,learning,andresearchatthehighestinternationallevelsofexcellence. www.cambridge.org Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107190405 doi:10.1017/9781108105392 (cid:2)C CambridgeUniversityPress2017 Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements, noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress. Firstpublished2017 PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabySheridanBooks,Inc. 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Contents ListofFigures pageviii ListofContributors ix Foreword xvii DonnaLandry Acknowledgments xxiii Introduction 1 JohnGoodridgeandBridgetKeegan 1 When“BreadDependsonHerCharacter”:TheProblemof LaboringClassSubjectivityintheFoundlingHospitalArchive 10 JennieBatchelor 2 “Stirr’dupbyEmulationoftheFamousMr.Duck”:Laboring ClassPoetryinthe1730s 24 JenniferBatt 3 TheVerseEpistleandLaboringClassLiterarySociability fromDucktoBurns 39 WilliamJ.Christmas 4 “ButGeniusIstheSpecialGiftofGod!”:TheReclamationof “NaturalGenius”intheLate-Eighteenth-CenturyVersesof AnnYearsleyandJamesWoodhouse 55 SteveVan-Hagen 5 AlexanderWilson:TheRiseandFallandRiseofaLaboring ClassWriter 70 GerardCarruthers 6 NeitherMutenorInglorious:AnnYearsleyandElegy 85 KerriAndrews v vi Contents 7 “BritishBards”:TheConceptofLaboringClassPoetryin Eighteenth-CenturyWales 101 Mary-AnnConstantine 8 “BeholdinTheseCoromantees/TheFateofanAgonized World”:EdwardRushton’sTransnationalRadicalism 116 FrancaDellarosa 9 TransnationalUlsterandLaboringClassSelf-Fashioning 130 JenniferOrr 10 WorkingClassPoetryandtheRoyalLiteraryFund:TwoCase StudiesinPatronage 149 ScottMcEathron 11 TheLifeofWilliamCobbett:Caricature,Hauntology,and theImpossibilityofRadicalLifeWritingintheRomantic Period 176 IanHaywood 12 JohnClare’sAgrarianIdyll:AConfluenceofPastoraland Georgic 195 GaryHarrison 13 “AndaftThyDearDoricasideIHaeFlung,toBuskootMy Sangwi’theProodSouthronTongue”:TheAntiphonalMuse inJanetHamilton’sPoetics 208 KayeKossick 14 “TheGuiltyGameofHumanSubjugation”:Religionas IdeologyinThomasCooper’sThePurgatoryofSuicides 226 MikeSanders 15 AttheMarginsofPrint:LifeNarrativesofVictorianWorking ClassWomen 248 FlorenceS.Boos 16 TheNewspaperPressandtheVictorianWorkingClassPoet 264 KirstieBlair 17 Tensions,Transformations,andLocalIdentity:TheEvolving MeaningsofNineteenth-CenturyTynesideDialectSongs 281 RodHermeston Contents vii 18 OntheRoad:AllMannerofTrampsinEnglishandScottish Writingfromthe1880stothe1920s 296 H.GustavKlaus 19 EthelCarnieHoldsworth:Genre,SerialFiction,andPopular ReadingPatterns 311 NicolaWilson 20 “TheYoungMenoftheNation”:AlexanderBaronand UrbanWorkingClassMasculinity 327 AnthonyCartwright 21 KathleenDayus:TheGirlfromHockley 339 SharonOuditt 22 “ItHaveaKindofCommunalFeelingwiththeWorking ClassandtheSpades”:SamSelvon,TonyHarrison,and “ColonizationinReverse” 352 JackWindle 23 ClannishConfines:TheFolk,theProletariat,andthePeople inModernScottishLiterature 367 CoreyGibson 24 ACriticalMinefield:TheHauntingoftheWelshWorking ClassNovel 385 LisaSheppardandAidanByrne 25 TransformingWorkingClassWritersandWriting:Digital Editions,Projects,andAnalyses 398 ColeCrawford Afterword 413 BrianMaidment WorksCited 419 Index 455 Figures Plates1through8:JamesGillray,LifeofWilliamCobbett, 29September1809. page168 11.1 FrontpageofProceedingsofaGeneralCourtMartial, 1809. 179 11.2 JamesGillray,SmellingOutaRat,or,TheAtheistical RevolutionistDisturbedinHisMidnightCalculations, 3December1790. 183 11.3 JamesGillray,SearchNight–or–StateWatchmenMistaking HonestMenforConspirators,20March1798. 184 11.4 JamesGillray,APeepintotheCaveofJacobinism.Published intheAnti-JacobinReview,1September1798. 186 11.5 SamuelDeWilde,ThePorcupine’sDen.Publishedin TheSatirist,1November1808. 187 viii