Language and Revolution in Burke, Wollstonecraft, Paine, and Godwin

227 Pages·2007·2.338 MB·

by  Jane Hodson

Language and RevoLution in
BuRke, WoLLstonecRaft, Paine, and godWin
For my parents
Language and Revolution in
Burke, Wollstonecraft, Paine,
and godwin
Jane Hodson
University of Sheffield, UK
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
Copyright © Jane Hodson 2007

Jane Hodson has asserted her moral right under the copyright, designs and Patents act, 1988,
to be identified as the author of this work.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Hodson, Jane
Language and revolution in Burke, Wollstonecraft, Paine and godwin
1. Burke, edmund, 1729–1797 2. Wollstonecraft, Mary,
1759–1797 3. Paine, thomas, 1737–1809 4. godwin, William, 1756–1836 5. Politics and
literature – great Britain – History – 18th century 6. civil rights in literature 7. english
literature – 18th century – History and criticism 8. great Britain – Politics and government
– 1760–1820
i. title
828.6’0809358
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hodson, Jane, 1972–
Language and revolution in Burke, Wollstonecraft, Paine, and godwin / by Jane Hodson.
p. cm.
includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Political science–great Britain–History–18th century. 2. discourse analysis–Political
aspects–great Britain–History–18th century. 3. english language–Political aspects–great
Britain–History–18th century. 4. Burke, Edmund, 1729–1797. Reflections on the Revolution
in france. 5. Wollstonecraft, Mary, 1759–1797. vindication of the rights of men. 6. godwin,
William, 1756–1836. enquiry concerning political justice. 7. Paine, thomas, 1737–1809.
Rights of man. 8. France–History–Revolution, 1789–1799–Influence. I. Title

Ja84.g7 H63 2007
321.09’4094109033dc–22
2006029957
isBn 9780754654032 (hbk)
contents
List of Tables vii
Acknowledgements ix
1 the Language of Politics and the Politics of Language 1
the Language of Politics 2
the Politics of Language 4
case study: John Horne tooke and Lindley Murray 9
Language and Revolution 20
2 the Linguistic Background 21
Principles of selection 21
an overview of the texts 22
stylistic Prescription in the 1790s 28
Poetry, ‘Primitive’ Language, and Letters 34
conclusion 38
3 ‘a Wilderness of Words’: edmund Burke’s Reflections 41
Modern criticism 42
contemporary Reviews 46
twenty Years earlier: Thoughts 52
contemporary views of ‘connection’ 54
case study: connection in Thoughts and Reflections 59
Amplification 68
Burke’s concept of Language 72
4 ‘the effusions of the Moment’: Mary Wollstonecraft’s Vindication 77
Modern criticism 79
contemporary Reviews 85
contemporary views of exclamations, Questions and dashes 88
case study: exclamations, Questions and dashes 91
Wollstonecraft on Language 96
Wollstonecraft’s attack on Burke 107
Sincerity and Artifice 110
5 ‘What is this Metaphor called a crown?’: thomas Paine’s Rights of Man 115
Modern criticism 118
contemporary Reviews 124
contemporary views of Literary ‘ornament’ 127
case study: Rhetorical tropes in Reflections and Rights of Man 131
Paine’s Philosophy of Language? 142
vi Language and Revolution in Burke, Wollstonecraft, Paine, and Godwin
6 ‘the transparent envelop of our thoughts’: godwin’s Political Justice 149
Modern criticism 151
contemporary Reviews 152
case study: Pedantic structure and affected Words 156
the Role of Language in Political Justice 172
‘of english style’ 174
7 conclusion 181
Bibliography 187
Appendix: Fifty Linguistic Texts First Published in England during the 1790s 201
Index 205
List of tables
3.1 conjunctions in Thoughts and Reflections 64
3.2 Polysyllabic conjunctions in Thoughts and Reflections 65
3.3 sentence-initial conjunctions in Thoughts and Reflections 66
4.1 exclamations, questions and dashes in Burke and Wollstonecraft 91
5.1 Rhetorical tropes in Reflections and Rights of Man 136
6.1 occurrences of reason in Reflections and Political Justice 164
6.2 adjectives paired with rational in Reflections and Political Justice 166
6.3 Nouns modified by rational in Reflections and Political Justice 166
6.4 occurrences of sense in Reflections and Political Justice 169
6.5 occurrences of feel in Reflections and Political Justice 169
6.6 occurrences of sense divided into meanings 170
This page intentionally left blank
acknowledgements
i would like to thank my doctoral supervisor, sylvia adamson, who gave me many
hours of her time, and whose own work in the field of literary linguistics continues
to inspire me. i am very grateful to Jonathan Hope, who initially interested me in
language and made learning about grammar fun. Many thanks must go to everyone
associated with the ‘Radical approaches to the study of english 1700–1900’ project,
most notably Joan Beal, carol Percy and ingrid tieken Boon van-ostade. as well
as providing me with encouragement and invaluable feedback on work in progress,
they have generously shared their own research with me and been instrumental in
the development of my thinking in a number of areas. i would also like to thank
all my colleagues at Sheffield, both past and present, for creating an atmosphere
conducive to both research and teaching. in particular, Richard steadman-Jones
deserves my gratitude for listening to me talk about my work over the years, and
for providing numerous judicious suggestions, many of which have found their way
into this book.
Many thanks are due to ann donahue at ashgate, who has been consistently
helpful and efficient in guiding this book towards completion. I also offer my
very sincere thanks to the anonymous reader for ashgate, who offered insightful
comments on draft versions of this book; it would have been poorer and less coherent
without them. i would also like to thank the staff of cambridge university Library,
the Sheffield University Library and the British Library for their assistance.
i would like to thank everyone else who has helped me in various ways during
the writing of this book, especially steven Hand, Jacqueline Labbe, april McMahon,
angela Wright, Hamish Mathison, Jo gavins, Joe Bray and amanda Mordavsky.
derek Yates receives my very sincere gratitude for his encouragement, patience and
assistance over the past four years, particularly in the closing stages of editing this
book. finally, i would like to thank my parents, on whom i have always been able to
rely upon for love and support, and who have never shown any disappointment that
two such committed scientists should inadvertently produce a daughter who insisted
on studying literature.
Parts of chapters Four and Six first appeared in Romanticism on the Net, 18 (May
2000) and are reprinted here by permission of the editor, Michael eberle-sinatra.