Richard Hillyer – författare

The concept of "care" defines our humanity. Covering topics as diverse as familial care, medical care, artistic care, scientific care, and various other permutations of the term, this book examines the word and concept of "care" from a cultural perspective, tracing its use throughout literature and history.

The concept of "care" defines our humanity. Covering topics as diverse as familial care, medical care, artistic care, scientific care, and various other permutations of the term, this book examines the word and concept of "care" from a cultural perspective, tracing its use throughout literature and history.

The concept of "care" defines our humanity. Covering topics as diverse as familial care, medical care, artistic care, scientific care, and various other permutations of the term, this book examines the word and concept of "care" from a cultural perspective, tracing its use throughout literature and history.

Much of the poetry written by W. H. Auden between 1939 and the time of his death consists of syllabic verse, or lines arranged in accordance with a predetermined syllable-count but no fixed number or distribution of stresses. This book presents a comprehensive, in-depth analysis of his many and widely varied syllabics, grouping them primarily by the formal sub-categories to which they belong (as measured by line-length, stanza-type, or some other aspect of their overall design). With this approach the book clarifies the dynamic range and technical inventiveness of Auden’s syllabics. It also shows how his work of compares with that of Robert Bridges and Marianne Moore, two pioneers in the writing of English syllabic whose verse he was familiar with.

Focusing on four poets who because of their distinctive profiles illustrate especially well the opportunities and pitfalls of writing science poetry during the long eighteenth century Four Augustan Science Poets: Abraham Cowley, James Thomson, Henry Brooke, Erasmus Darwin offers numerous close readings that shed light not only on standard versions of the sublime but also on these idiosyncratic variants: the apologetic (Abraham Cowley), the illicit (James Thomson), the perverse (Henry Brooke) and the atheistic (Erasmus Darwin). Recurrent concerns include the similarities and differences among the languages of poetry, science and religion. Of the poets analyzed all but Thomson wrote extensive notes to accompany their lines, permitting further comparison of languages, in this case between the same authors’ poetry and prose.

This book offers case studies from throughout literature to reveal cowardice as a more complex and interesting phenomenon than typically understood. Pushing beyond the straightforward treatment of cowardice in military contexts and others where it is subject to punishment or severe condemnation, Hillyer asks: how do cowards survive in a world generally hostile to them and why do they attract such wide vituperation? Following a lexical and literary overview of cowardice starting with the Oxford English Dictionary to provide a big picture, chapters provide deep dives into specific cowardly character representatives, including Shakespeare's Parolles (All's Well That Ends Well), English poet and politician Edmund Waller, and Joseph Conrad's Hirsch (Nostromo).