This book offers the fullest critical account to date of the literary career of Mark Akenside (1721 - 1770). In the course of the discussion, Akenside"s literary achievements and his contributions to the vibrant cultural scene of the mid-eighteenth century are amply demonstrated, as well as his intellectual originality, his inventive use of source material, and his influence on poets and philosophers in the late eighteenth century and the Romantic period.