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He was born in the year Dr Johnson died, and died in the year A.E. Houseman and Conan Doyle were born. The 75 years of Leigh Hunt's life uniquely span two distinct eras of English life and literature. A major player in the Romantic movement, the intimate and first publisher of Keats and Shelley, friend of Byron, Hazlitt and Lamb, Hunt lived on to become an elder statesman of Victorianism, the friend and chamption of Tennyson and Dickens, awarded a state pension by Queen Victoria. Jailed in his twenties for insulting the Prince of Wales, Hunt ended his long, productive life vainly seeking the Poet Laureatship with fawning poems to Victoria. A tirelessly prolific poet, essayist, editor and critic, he has been described as having no rival in the history of English criticism. Yet Hunt's remarkable life story has never been fully told. Anthony Holden's deeply researched and vibrantly written biography gives full due to this minor poet - but major influence on his great Romantic contemporaries. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Scribble, scribble, eh, Mr. Hunt? Scribble, scribble
It wasn't really a dungeon -- that was Byron's conceit -- but a snug little apartment with a small garden.

Nevertheless, the imprisonment of Leigh Hunt -- and of his brother John at a different, less cozy calaboose -- was an important step toward modern conceptions of personal and political freedom in Britain and, by extension, the rest of the civilized world.

Hunt is more famous now as the friend of Keats and Shelley -- briefly Byron and Dickens -- and as the author of Abou ben Adhem, but the Hunt brothers' bold assertion of the right to a free press is, to me at least, his most important and meaningful venture.

The circumstances were more congenial than for modernizers in most other countries. That two impecunious upstarts could take on the Prince of Wales with no worse damage than a lifetime of poverty from heavy fines was a tribute to the fact that England was considerably liberalized before they got started.

Anthony Holden seems more interested in Hunt's sponsorship and criticism of and feuds with literary stars ofthe Second Romantic Period. The feuds, like politics on condo boards, were bitter in proportion to their inconsequence. The Romantics and their foes were a touchy bunch.

Since they dwelt in the literary world of the Regency and Victorian decades, they scribbled endlessly, and Holden appears to have waded through stacks and stacks of letters that -- judging by the numerous excerpts -- were unbelievably tedious and pretentious.Few men of even modest attainments did not leave enough correspondence to fill at least a double-decker volume, and a real pro like Byron left letters that fill dozens of volumes.

As a result of a hand-to-mouth lifestyle, Hunt emitted a vast amount of journalism, plays, poems, essays, collections, biographies etc. Most of it was windy, as if he were being paid by the column-inch.

His importance was as a facilitator and encourager and publicist. Holden admits that even Eng. Lit. pros often have never heard of him.

The puzzle of this book is that Hunt seems to have been a lovable man, although a jerk.

He had nine children and a drunken wife, who lived in modest style (for a middle class family, they were far better off than a working man's family), although Hunt got through hundreds of pounds a year at a time when a skilled craftsman got about a pound a week.

Some he earned only modestly by his restless writing, much came from literary friends who admired and -- inexplicably, at least from the evidence here -- loved him.

Only the extracts from Nathanial Hawthorne's letters give any sense of what it was that attracted the sophisticates. Surprisingly, it was his childlike attitude.

He doesn't come across as someone I'd have liked for a friend. Holden finds him "one of the finest essayists in the language," and I find him almost unreadable.

But if your taste is English Romanticism, "The Wit in the Dungeon" will be a page-turner.

... Read more

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The book has no illustrations or index. Purchasers are entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Subjects: Biography ... Read more

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A biography of Romantic writer Leigh Hunt, one of the most influential and controversial flgures in the political and cultural life of 19th-century England.

Leigh Hunt is the forgotten giant of English Romanticism. The man Virginia Woolf called the "spiritual grandfather" of the modern world was descended from black Caribbeans and grew up a child of the American and French Revolutions. A poet and radical journalist, he threw off the shackles of the old order and campaigned tirelessly for Irish freedom and the abolition of slavery. Unwilling to view the Prince of Wales as an "Adonis in Loveliness," Hunt was jailed for a "diabolical libel" that presented the prince as he was: a corpulent 50-year-old, sodden with drink and drugs. In prison, Hunt drew the homage of Lord Byron, and discovered the Romantic geniuses Keats and Shelley. Hunt’s own poetry glows with the sexual frankness that characterized all his relationships with male and female. Written with flair and brilliant imaginative insight, Fiery Heart is a sparkling portrait of Leigh Hunt and the English Romantics. ... Read more

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This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 1855 edition by Harper & Brothers, New York. ... Read more

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A record of revolt against religious and political tyranny in The Examiner, The Indicator, and Shelley's prose pamphlets, with intimate letters between the Shelleys and Leigh Hunt, partly from unpublished manuscripts.

THIS TITLE IS CITED AND RECOMMENDED BY:Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature. ... Read more

Product Description
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process.We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishings Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the worlds literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

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Leigh Hunt (1784-1859) was a prolific, versatile and engaging writer. He outlived many of the poets and essayists of his generation whose reputations overshadowed his, but Coleridge, Wordsworth, Shelley and Keats all owed a debt to his advocacy, as did Tennyson and Browning. A poet of charm and technical skill, and an able translator and playwright, Leigh Hunt excelled as an essayist, literary critic and letter writer. His concern was always, in the words of his son, to 'open more widely the door of the library', to share his literary enthusiasms and extend his readers' tastes. This anthology draws on the full range of Hunt's poetry and prose, revealing a writer committed to the humane and civilizing powers of literature and friendship. ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishings Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the worlds literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

Product Description
This is an OCR edition without illustrations or index. It may have numerous typos or missing text. However, purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original rare book from the publisher's website (GeneralBooksClub.com). You can also preview excerpts of the book there. Purchasers are also entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Subjects: English periodicals; Language Arts ... Read more

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Publisher: London : W. Scott; New York, W. J. GagePublication date: 1889Notes: This is an OCR reprint. There may be numerous typos or missing text. There are no illustrations or indexes.When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. You can also preview the book there. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an OCR edition without illustrations or index. It may have numerous typos or missing text. However, purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original rare book from GeneralBooksClub.com. You can also preview excerpts from the book there. Purchasers are also entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Original Published by: John Chapman in 1853 in 292 pages; Subjects: Devotional literature; Christian life; Religion / Christian Life / General; Religion / Christian Life / Devotional; Religion / Devotional; Religion / Meditations; ... Read more