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Research Summary
Current Status PhD (full-time) - currently registered
Research Topic A Scholarly Edition of the Letters of the Scottish Romantic Poet, Thomas Campbell (1777-1844).
Research Summary This thesis will produce the first scholarly edition of the letters of Thomas Campbell, the Scottish Romantic poet. As the author of the bestselling poem 'Pleasures of Hope' (1799) and holder of a prominent public office (Rector of Glasgow University), Campbell was a significant figure to his contemporaries, but has been strangely neglected ever since.
The project aims to counter Campbell's neglect by transcribing original manuscripts in order to edit and annotate his letters, thus revealing new information about his life, works, and networks, and through the completion of two introductory chapters, which will: (i) explore how and why Campbell was forgotten and what recuperating him will add to current knowledge and understanding of British Romanticism and of canon formation; and (ii) demonstrate how his letters, sent to a wide range of correspondents from disparate backgrounds, are key to understanding both Campbell's own career and involvement in wider Romantic period sociability.
Research Interests
- Letters and life-writing, epistolary.
- Nonsense poetry, Edward Lear
- Canon formation and non-canonical Romantic authors and poets
- Literary rebels
- Elizabethan and Jacobean playwrights
Research Supervisors Professor Lynda Pratt (University of Nottingham) Dr Adam Rounce (University of Nottingham Dr Louise Curran (University of Birmingham)
Primary Funding Source Midlands4Cities (AHRC) Doctoral Training Partnership