Bergstrom, Carson R.

About the author: Carson Bergstrom received his PhD from Edinburgh University and has lectured at a number of universities in England, currently at Salford University. His research interests are in 18th century poetry and criticism in the novel, genre theory, and history of science. He has published on Alexander Pope, William Collins, and pastoral poetry.

Rise of New Science Epistemological, Linguistic, and Ethical Ideals and the Lyric Genre in the Eighteenth Century

2002 0-7734-6909-5
This is the first work to study the relationship between the rise of science in the 17th and 18th centuries and the rise to major genre status of the lyric genre. It argues that the epistemological, linguistic, and methodological principles which underlay the rise of the new science also influenced the ways in which poets and critics conceived of the significance and cultural value of the lyric genre. Relying on a wide range of critical commentary from the 17th to the late 18th century, much of it from little known or unknown critical writings, the study shows how the lyric genre became the key for understanding poetry and the function of poetry. It offers a model for understanding the relationships between literature and other cultural experiences, encouraging critical, historical, and multi-disciplinary research.