Matthew Leporati, Romantic Epics and the Mission of Empire

Abstract

Matthew Leporati’s wide-ranging and compelling study considers two features of the Romantic era that are rarely contemplated side by side: the explosion of epic poetry at the turn of the nineteenth century and the turn toward a more evangelical and proselytizing form of Christian missionary activity. The latter is, as Leporati observes, often in opposition to the demands of empire in the early stages of colonization, but then is effectively co-opted into colonial activities as the century progresses. His book deals only tangentially with Blake, the subject of one of its chapters, but in many respects Blake’s writing in general and Milton a Poem in particular fuel several of the more critical conclusions.