Smallpox was rife in the eighteenth century, leaving its mark both on its sufferers, and on the literature of the period. This podcast explores its history in verse. Smallpox was common during the eighteenth-century, and its aftereffects much discussed and lamented in popular literature. This podcast explores its representation in eighteenth-century verse.

History of the Eighteenth Century in Ten Poems

Smallpox in poetry

Ten short podcasts on quirky aspects of eighteenth-century life. This series of short podcasts offers an alternative history of the eighteenth century. Ten poems were chosen that illustrate the everyday and the extraordinary, the comic and the serious aspects of the period. Each talk begins with a poem, and shows its significance: how a satire on the pleasures of tobacco tells us of the relationship between intoxication and inspiration, or how a poem on apple pie speaks of evolving national identity. The series covers, amongst other things: tobacco, sport, epigrams, children and food. Showcasing a selection of the material in the English Faculty's Digital Miscellanies Index, exploring some of the more surprising ways in which popular collections of verse offer us a glimpse of the social, political and cultural history of their time.

About

History of the Eighteenth Century in Ten Poems