‘The French invasion scare and the literature of fear in Britain, 1797-1805’

Dr Ildiko Csengei will explore poetry, pamphlets, letters, diaries and caricatures responding to the 1798 French invasion scare. Focusing on Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s 1798 poem ‘Fears in Solitude’, this talk will explore the ways in which feelings of fear, anxiety and terror were evoked at the prospect of a French invasion of Britain. Some pamphlets were funded by royalist associations to encourage volunteering among the masses, while others challenged this fearmongering.