Thomas Hood and Nineteenth-century Poetry: Work, Play, and Politics

This is the first modern critical study of Thomas Hood, a hugely popular, enjoyable and influential nineteenth-century writer, editor and cartoonist. It opens up to debate a significant author neglected by scholars for far too long, although his verses continue to be widely anthologised, and Carcanet (1992) and Penguin (2000) have both published selected poems. It places Hood in the context of several distinctive interdisciplinary interests, such as print culture, theatre, punning and grotesque art and literature. It discusses several hot topics of recent academic discussion: the years between 1820 and 1840; ‘cockney’ culture and language use; the relationship between periodicals and the book market; early nineteenth-century theatre.