‘More than mortal fervour’: Patriotism and Democracy in John Thelwall's Epic The Hope of Albion

Abstract

John Thelwall published extracts from his epic fragment The Hope of Albion (1801) during an unprecedented revival of epic poetry in Britain. The revival saw writers from across the political spectrum promoting various ideas of national identity and examining Britain's developing role as an imperial power. This article positions Thelwall's fragment alongside poems of his contemporaries, including epics by Joseph Cottle and Henry James Pye (both titled Alfred and published in 1800 and 1801). Examining how Thelwall differently revises tropes from classical and Miltonic poems, I argue that he uses the epic genre to explore how the nation could be transformed as an answer to tyranny and oppression. At the same time, formal tensions in the poem suggest the limitations of the very hope that comprises Thelwall's subject.