Fiery Heart: The First Life of Leigh Hunt [Paperback]

Nicholas Roe (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 24, 2005

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. Written with flair and brilliant imaginative insight, Fiery Heart is a sparkling portrait of Leigh Hunt and the English Romantics.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“A biography that all students of Romanticism should read. Essential.” -- CHOICE

“astutely written and detailed work.” -- Library Journal

“creates a full and vivid portrait of poet/journalist Leigh Hunt.” -- Library Journal

About the Author

Nicholas Roe is Professor of English at St Andrews University. He is the author of Wordsworth and Coleridge: The Radical Years (1990), John Keats and the Culture of Dissent (1998), and most recently The Politics of Nature: William Wordsworth and Some Contemporaries (2002).

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Random House UK (May 24, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0712602240
• ISBN-13: 978-0712602242
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.3 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,274,354 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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