John Thelwall and the Materialist Imagination reassesses Thelwall's eclectic body of work from the perspective of his heterodox materialist arguments about the imagination, political reform, and the principle of life itself, and his contributions to Romantic-era science.

Acknowledgements List of Illustrations List of Abbreviations Introduction: 'Mister Surgeon Thelwall' 1. Vital Principles: From the Animal Body to the Body Politic 2. Errant Sympathies: The Peripatetic 3. From Self to Sentient Nature: Poems Written in Close Confinement and Poems, Chiefly Written in Retirement 4. Between Hope and Necessity: The Fairy of the Lake , The Hope of Albion , and The Daughter of Adoption 5. The Language of Nature: Elocutionary Writings and Poems, Chiefly Suggested by the Scenery of Nature 6. The Materialist Imagination: Late Poetry and Criticism Appendix Notes Bibliography Index