Publisher's Synopsis
The book engages with Southey's voluminous publications, weaving discussion of them into the narrative of his life. Speck also explores Southey's entire correspondence, not only that which appeared in the editions edited by his descendants, and finds a man of considerably greater emotional complexity than previously assumed. The first fully rounded chronicle of Southey's life in sixty years, Speck's account sets Southey in historical context and restores him to the map of English literature.