Politicising Praise: Panegyric and the Accession of Queen Anne.

This essay argues for the importance of panegyric verse as a propagandist force in the early eighteenth century. Anne Stuart's accession in 1702 marked a major shift in the political landscape. Poets responded to the occasion by composing high-flown panegyric celebrating the accession of a Stuart queen. Exploring the representational strategies employed by these poets, I argue that their panegyric was more than a straightforward vessel for royal praise. Rather, it was intended to shape the ways in which contemporaries understood the political import of the succession. Poets achieved this by manipulating Anne's image in politically advantageous ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]