Criminology as Reflected in the Poetic Themes Used in George Crabbe's 'Smugglers and Poachers', 'Peter Grimes ' - and 'The Election)4381 4571( '

Abstract

This paper is trying to study criminology as a trend in literary works. It depicts one of the most significant subjects exploring crimes in George Crabbe's selected poems, their correspondence and the social conditions of the eighteenth century. This paper represents crimes considered as a dark phenomenon in the history of the world and particularly in Great Britain. Throughout history, British society underwent numerous social complications such as corruption, crimes, poverty, poor hygiene and lack of self-security. George Crabbe's poems such as 'Smugglers and Poachers' in Tales of the Hall in addition to two poems 'Peter Grimes' and 'The Elections' in The Borough are the literary works that handle the concept of crime, which is found in English poetry. This paper explains the main causes that contributed to the rise of criminality, the nature of different crimes and legal penalties of the eighteenth century. Furthermore, it attempts to highlight how crimes in George Crabbe's poems are closely linked with the real criminological events. The imaginary names of Crabbe's characters indicate the kind of crimes these characters committed. Crabbe's imaginary character Grimes has the same rhythm of the word crimes in English Language so as to reveal how this person commits horrific crimes. In reality, this male criminal was a woman whose name was Elizabeth Brownrigg