Edward Carpenter: A Nonhuman Bibliography

I will keep this preamble brief, as I was lucky to introduce this resource to the network at ShARC Tales, the wonderfully productive workshop we held in November. What follows is a bibliography which curates resources found in the Edward Carpenter Collection at Sheffield Archives. Carpenter (1844-1929), who lived just outside Sheffield, is remembered for his sexual radicalism and socialist poetry; this bibliography, however, uncovers his rich cache of writing related to the nonhuman animal. It traces Carpenter’s animal rights advocacy – from his vegetarianism to his outspoken opposition of vivisection – as it manifests in his relevant major works, as well as other archival sources such as letters, newspaper clippings, and manuscript drafts.

For ease of navigation through this dense and diverse collection of works, I have subcategorised the bibliography, as well as providing reference information and commentary for each resource. It is my hope that the bibliography will inspire animal studies scholars to consider Carpenter as a richly complex source of thought beyond the human, and conversely, that scholars of Carpenter are signposted to this underexplored aspect of his heterogeneous thought.

Corrections and questions can be directed to coneill2@sheffield.ac.uk. With thanks to Sheffield Archive, and to SURE for funding the preliminary stages of this project.

Carpenter’s writing on vivisection:

1893: Humanitarian League Publications; pamphlet called ‘Vivisection’ containing an essay on the topic by Edward Maitland, and Carpenter’s ‘Medical Science: the True Method and the False’ (1893)

• Anti-vivisection via a criticism of science/vaccination/’progress’; some conflicted colonial language; imagery of light/darkness, public/private; natural lifestyle as solution; relationship between animals, self and society. Contains a valuable paratextual copy of the ‘Manifesto of the Humanitarian League’: outlines its aims; public/private slaughterhouses; impact on society as a whole

• (Carpenter/Library/1/62) (Available in digitised form via StarPlus, and available as a physical copy in Western Bank)

1905: New Humanitarian Publications; pamphlet called ‘Vivisection’ containing ‘Medical Science: the True Method and the False’ alongside an essay by Carpenter on ‘Vivisection’ originally delivered in 1903

• Interesting to compare/contrast latter essay with former from 10 years beforehand; vivisection as ‘trend’; imagery of animal suffering; ethical, self-reflexive lifestyle solutions; dissection impedes study of the body in unity; science vs. reason. Worth comparing the lecture to Henry Salt’s account of the night it was delivered (12-13th Nov, Carpenter/MSS/355)

• (Carpenter/Library/1/152) The latter essay was also originally published in a separate Humanitarian League pamphlet in 1904, containing a notably updated ‘Aims and Objectives of the Humanitarian League’ available at (Carpenter/Library/151). More exhaustive list of aims; rational self-fashioning

1898: Manuscript lecture notes for a separate ‘Vivisection’ lecture, context ambiguous although ‘Liverpool, Sheff, Leeds’ is written in the corner of the page and later writes ‘Sheffield YMCA Rooms Nov. 98 and [Birmingham?] Grand Hotel 14 Mch 99’

• Date indicates space for developing ideas between two above lectures; fighting scientific exclusivity/interlinked social hierarchy; vivisection’s threat to morality; scientific counter-research; vaccination and air quality

• (Carpenter/Mss/79), although I have transcribed this into my notes for anyone to read, as the handwriting is difficult

Letter from E.C. concerning vivisection (date and newspaper unknown), Holmesfield, June 12

• Waste of animal life on finding erroneous ‘cures’; intrinsically linked to clean air solutions, persuasive public writing; conditions of capitalism perpetuate vivisection through ill health; scientific exclusivity

• (Carpenter/NC/1/66)

1894: A different article in ‘The Clarion,’ by Carpenter, on ‘Vivisection’

• Animals as Christ-like sacrifices for human sin; vivid account of vivisected animal; ending vivisection linked to Socialism and healthy lifestyle; refutation of science; secrecy and moral regression

• (Carpenter/NC/1/16), I have also typed up a copy of the article in full

Miscellaneous newspaper cuttings on vivisection in the Carpenter Collection:

1908: Newspaper account (publication unknown) of a meeting of the ‘British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection,’ over which Carpenter presided.

• Vegetarianism as part of the healthy lifestyle which can end vivisection; changing perceptions of vegetarianism

• (Carpenter/NC/1/95)

1908: Pamphlet produced by the ‘British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection’ advertising the above meeting, at which Carpenter gave a speech (not available in full) called ‘Rational and Irrational Methods of Research’

• Pamphlet contains many interesting testimonies against vivisection (although none by Carpenter), including from members of the scientific community

• (Carpenter/NC/4/82c)

1904: Review of ‘Vivisection’ (the second lecture, in its 1904 pamphlet form) in ‘The Medical Times and Hospital Gazette’

• Medical refutation of Carpenter, captures other side of the debate

• (Carpenter/NC/2/92)

1903: Letters to the editor (none by Carpenter) on ‘Vivisection,’ ‘The Daily News’

• Perspectives of public; evidence of ferocity/variety of public debate- why are these included in the collection? Presumably Carpenter’s research clippings

• (Carpenter/NC/3/127)

1909: ‘Socialism and Vivisection,’ a letter to the editor of ‘The New Age’ by F.H. Burlingham

• As above

• (Carpenter/NC/3/133)

Daily News (date unknown) Vivisection: Joys of the Torturer, a Reply to the Home Secretary by an anonymous author

• As above

• (Carpenter/NC/3/139)

1903: Letters from the public (not Carpenter’s) to the editor of the Daily News concerning Vivisection

• As above

• (Carpenter/NC/3/140-141)

1898: Account of a meeting of Liverpool Anti-Vivisection Society (Carpenter not in attendance), newspaper unnamed

• As above

• (Carpenter/NC/3/138)

1908: Extract from ‘The Abolitionist,’ an incomplete extract from an anti-vivisection debate which Carpenter did not appear to attend

• As above, but also small annotations in Carpenter’s hand

• (Carpenter/NC/3/135)

1911: ‘Pioneers of anti-vivisection No.IV Edward Maitland,’ in ‘The Anti-Vivisection Review’

• Describes animal rights work of Edward Maitland (who Carpenter campaigned with against vivisection)

• (Carpenter/NC/3/131)

1906: Description of the ‘Cruelty to Animals Bill 1906’ in ‘The Tribune’

• Interesting description of the update to the law; ethics of ‘necessary’ sacrifice and reconciliation of accusations of ‘inhumanity’

• (Carpenter/NC/3/133)

Around this area of the NC reel there are also notes and clippings concerning (human) inoculation which may be of interest as an interrelated topic/area of Carpenter’s research: (Carpenter/NC/3/132)

Carpenter’s wider anxieties about science:

Civilisation, Its Cause and Cure, a book of essays by Carpenter criticising modern science. First edition 1889 (Carpenter/Library/1/177), expanded to include the 1896 lecture ‘The Need of a Rational and Humane Science’ in 1906 (Carpenter/Library/1/81) and with the addition of 1907’s ‘The New Morality’ in 1921, became a complete edition (Carpenter/Library/1/87). Available at Western Bank Library. 1891 and 1921 editions available via Archive.org. Relevant chapters:

• ‘Civilisation, its Cause and Cure’: ‘Progress’ is degrading animals; building a theory of unity; animals as perfect unities of design; animals as ‘unaware’ and instinctive; science as disunity; future unification and kinship; fur and vivisection as forms of human alienation/degradation; man as rightful leader of animals; meat detrimental to mental health; vegetarianism as a fundamental form

• ‘Modern Science: a Criticism’: Science is subjective, paradigmatic; wider unity unavailable to arrogant science; thoughts about classification

• ‘The Science of the Future: A Forecast’: Advocating a morals-guided science; end goal of science should be unity, circumventing inhumane methods; understanding animals through observational study of their ‘values and language’

• ‘Exfoliation’: Man as the centre of all life; man’s paternal relation to animals; praise of Lamarck; kinship with animals uncovered through study of their behaviours

• ‘Custom’: Customs are paradigmatic, esp. in relation to diet; domestication of animals enabled by custom; custom overruled by recognition of universal kinship; species demarcation illusory

• ‘[The Need of] a Rational and Humane Science’: Rejects importance of species classification; praise for Reclus’s ‘The Great Kinship’; ‘Eastern’ holistic alternatives to vivisection; advocates a moral science; prophesises downfall of modern science

1889: Henry Salt’s review (I speculate from the leaf decorations that it was for a vegetarian publication) of the essay ‘Civilisation: Its Cause and Cure,’ which first appeared, alone, in The Pioneer in 1889 (though there is no copy of this in the archive)

• General praise; praises advocacy of vegetarianism; possibly Carpenter crosses out word ‘human’ in phrase ‘open community of human life’

• (Carpenter/NC/5/79)

1885: original pamphlet of ‘Modern Science,’ is later heavily edited for CICAC

• Contains some differences of note, e.g.: evolutionary theory blurs species distinctions and thus obliterates science; science as paradigmatic self-obliteration

• (Carpenter/Library/1/35)

Writings by Carpenter concerning other animal welfare issues:

1906: Carpenter’s translation of Reclus’s ‘The Great Kinship,’ The Humanitarian,

• Lost sight of kinship with animals; cross-cultural examples of animal kinship; condemnation of domestication; condemnation of priming animals for consumption; environmental animal crisis; advocating paternalistic benevolent control of animals; nature as core of spirituality; corruption of animal’s morality

• (Carpenter/cper/53). MS copy, with minor changes: (Carpenter/MSS/123-24)

1906: Essay by Carpenter entitled ‘Social Reform and the Protection of Animals,’ The Humanitarian, (same edition as above). First appeared in Italian socialist publication Il Lavoro

• Interconnection between animal suffering and the socialist cause

• (Carpenter/Cper/53)

1913: Essay by Carpenter and George Merrill, ‘The Language of Domestic Fowls’ (originally printed in Country Life, here reprinted in The Humanitarian, Sept.

• Records intelligent language of animals; critique of domestication; debate on instinct vs rationality

• (Carpenter/NC/64). Manuscript and typescript (1910): (Carpenter/MSS/175-176).

1913: Carpenter’s essay ‘Sport and Agriculture,’ in The Humanitarian:

• Hunting not necessary; damages to agriculture and other animals; advocates nature reserves

• Pamphlet: (Carpenter/library/1/240)

Newspaper cuttings from the Carpenter Collection concerning animal rights/related context:

1905: Clipping of a newspaper advertisement for the RSPCA

• Basic advert but with historical value

• (Carpenter/NC/3/136)

1904: The only issue (Vol 1 No.1) of Henry Salt’s parodic journal, ‘The Brutalitarian, a Journal for the Sane and Strong’

• Parodic style of animal rights advocacy in voice of anti-abolitionists; lampoons Salt’s own emphasis on unity of his movement

• (Carpenter/NC/3/137). Also digitized by the Henry Salt website: http://www.henrysalt.co.uk/assets/files/The_Brutalitarian.pdf

1906: Newspaper advert for ‘Mapleton’s Nut Foods’ in the corner of an unrelated article

• Basic advert but interesting insight into contemporary vegetarian diet; compare to Carpenter’s comment on the rise of vegetarianism being increased by the prominence of nut meat substitutes in (Carpenter/NC/1-85)

• (Carpenter/NC/1/24-2), but it is tricky to find, and I have a picture

1909 (October 18th): 62nd Anniversary of the Vegetarian Society meeting, Carpenter presides as chairman and speaks. Transcribed in The Vegetarian Messenger, 314-324.

• Insight into debates and attitudes surrounding vegetarianism at time; celebrates and explains progress of British vegetarianism; expresses instinct of children towards vegetarianism; moral and physical improvement; historical and cross-cultural precedents; relationship to internationalism; issues of recruitment; Carpenter’s vegetarian following

• Printed and scanned personal copies available from me, but also available at (Carpenter/NC/1-85). Carpenter’s perspective on the event is on p.264 of My Days and Dreams.

1909: City News report of this event called ‘Vegetarians Marching On: A Deathless Army’

• Positive stance on the event; analysing key vegetarian issues discussed

• (Carpenter/NC/2/74)

1909: Excerpt by Auguste Rodin in The Conservator, 1, taken from Rodin’s correspondence with Paul Gsell (later published in L’Art, 1911) (translator unknown). Annotated in Carpenter’s hand with the title ‘Nature Religion’

• Context for Carpenter’s theory of unity with nature; equality of artistic depictions of animals/humans

• (Carpenter/NC/7/76)

Carpenter’s correspondence relevant to animal rights issues:

Undated: draft of a letter to the Chairman of the Blue Cross concerning the welfare of horses

• Public engagement with animal rights issues; sensitivity and loyalty of horses

• (Carpenter/MSS/271/156v) – also transcribed by me if required

1929: Packet of letters sent to G.W. Clemas, primarily concerning Carpenter’s death

• Henry Salt – posthumous reputation and relationship; position as ‘seer’ (Carpenter/MSS/390/74-76)

• George Bernard Shaw – posthumous reputation and relationship (Carpenter/MSS/390/80)

1886-1919: Letters from Kate Salt to Edward Carpenter

• Most notably November 18th 1902 – description of a hunting scandal

• (Carpenter/MSS/354)

1888-1914: Letters from Edward Carpenter to Kate Salt

• Most notably July 14th 1899 and September 15th 1899 – description of Kate’s bird (also described in My Days and Dreams, p.239)

• (Carpenter/MSS/354)

1890 onwards: letters from Henry Salt to Edward Carpenter (Carpenter/MSS/356). The correspondence from Carpenter to Salt is not available. Most notably:

• April 21st 1892 – tensions between vegetarian groups

• November 4th 1892 – discussion of Salt’s book Animal’s Rights; encloses a copy of an anti-vivisection article by George Bernard Shaw; discusses slaughterhouses and the visibility of cruelty

• 22nd May 1896 – arranging a series of ‘Humane Science’ lectures

• 12th-13th November 1903 – Salt encloses an anti-vivisection letter from Walter Crane to E.C.; encloses a cutting from the Morning Leader describing an anti-vivisection meeting which Carpenter could not attend; Salt describes the events of the meeting

• 7th May 1905 – discussing Edward Lyttelton, new Eton headmaster and vegetarian

• 24th May 1905 – update on Lyttelton

• 26th June 1905 – attitudes towards vegetarianism

• 20th October 1905 – discusses Carpenter/Reclus’s ‘The Great Kinship’; cowardice of game hunting

• 19th December 1905 – encloses his poem on animal pain, ‘The Modern Descartes’

• 1st February 1907 – affirming concept of animal/human kinship

Carpenter’s writings and miscellaneous archival cuttings about India:

1892: Carpenter’s book from Adam’s Peak to Elephanta first published, available at (Carpenter/Library/1/136) and Western Bank Library. My page references are from the 1921 edition, (Carpenter/Library/1/138). 1892 edition available via Archive.org. Notable page references:

• Co-existence of people and animals in Ceylon and India – p.5, p.20, p.68, p.75, p.215

• Vegetarianism in Ceylon/India – p.29, p.49

• Sacred status of animals – p.30, p.108, p.255, p.274

• Criticising English meat-eating – p.59

• Philosophy of unity with and kindness towards nature – p.143, p.153-4, p.174, p.176

• Exploration of the topic of colonialism runs throughout

1892: Reviews of ‘Adam’s Peak to Elephanta.’ Contained in (NC/7) (I don’t know where specifically). Most notably:

• Athenaeum– criticises Carpenter’s colonial critique

• Publisher’s Circular – criticises Carpenter’s racial language

• The Star – elucidates Carpenter’s philosophy

(Post-1905?): Carpenter’s newspaper cutting of a letter to The Times by Socialist H.M. Hyndman, ‘Our Dead Failure in India’

• Critique of colonialism

• (Carpenter/NC/7/26)

(Undated) W.H. Campbell, ‘India Misgoverned?’ in The Labour Leader

• Addresses colonial debate; analogises Hindu caste system through animal metaphor

• (Carpenter/NC/7/37)

1900 (Oct): ‘Empire: In India and Elsewhere,’ Humanitarian League Publications pamphlet, reprinted from the Humane Review (pp.1-15)

• Critique of empire; natural docility of Indians; necessity of humanitarian, democratic intervention

• (Carpenter/Library/1/147)

1927: Light from the East by P. Arunachalam, a posthumous selection of Arunachalam’s letters, edited and containing essays by Carpenter. George Allen and Unwin. (Carpenter/Library/1/262). Most notable excerpts:

• Introduction: Gives a general context to the development of Carpenter’s interest in Indian philosophy

• ‘Letters of P. Arunachalam,’ published excerpts of letters from Arunchalam to Carpenter. NB: Arunchalam lost his copies of Carpenter’s letters. Archive references also given for original copies of these letters:

  • 25th November 1888 (p.31) (MSS/271-37): spiritual metaphors of light/dark

  • 17th December 1889 (p.35) (MSS/271-39): all existence encompassed in Hindu ‘Saivam’; ‘unity of the Universal’; metaphors of health and disease

  • 16th May 1890 (p.38-44) (MSS/271-39): universal equality of creatures, races and classes; critique of Western philosophy; preservation of Tamil literature; vegetarianism and simplification

  • 17th September 1893 (p.52): quoting the Gnani; universal intelligence and unity

• Essay by Carpenter entitled ‘The Mouna Swamis and the Animals’: similarities between silent practice of gnanis animal speechlessness; and animal behaviour; (animal) silence as wisdom; analysis of Alone in the Wilderness by Joseph Knowles; animal instincts and characteristics; human-animal coexistence

(Undated) typescript of letter from P. Arunachalam to E.C., presumably for inclusion in Light from the East

• Corruption of Indian civilisation under colonialism; animals in India

• (Carpenter/MSS/271-28)

Relevant philosophical writing by Carpenter:

1904: Carpenter’s essay collection The Art of Creation, available in Western Bank Library and at (Carpenter/Library/1/157). 1921 edition available via Archive.org

• Hierarchies of matter; mind/matter duality; critiques of industrialisation and science; extension of theory of exfoliation; unity of creation; cosmic consciousness; organisms as expressions of the ‘One’ consciousness; theology

• The three essays printed in the appendix are listed below

1922: Carpenter’s essay ‘Health a Conquest’ published in an abridged form (containing parts most relevant to vegetarianism) in Vegetarian News, 222-224. First appeared in Seedtime, 1892 (not available as far as I can see), reprinted in full in The Art of Creation (1904)

• Condemning fur clothes; dangers of raw and cooked meat; problems with grains; advocates fruits and nuts

• Vegetarian News version available at (Carpenter/cper/137). The Art of Creation available at Western Bank and at (Carpenter/Library/1/157). 1922 letter from Frank Wyatt (head of London Vegetarian Society) thanking Carpenter for his contribution to the publication: (Carpenter/MSS/384/37)

1904: Carpenter’s essay ‘Evening in Spring: A Meditation’, originally printed in Seedtime, 1897 (not available as far as I can see), reprinted in full in The Art of Creation

• Admiration of ecosystem; theory of universal unity; animals possessing universal consciousness

• The Art of Creation: (Carpenter/Library/1/157), also available at Western Bank Library. Original 1897 manuscript: (Carpenter/Mss/70)

1903: Carpenter’s essay ‘The May-Fly,’ published in The Humane Review, later reprinted in The Art of Creation, 1904

• Detailed biological study; theory of wilful evolution (Lamarck)

• (Carpenter/Library/1/150). The Art of Creation available in Western Bank and at (Carpenter/Library/1/157)

1909: The Christian Commonwealth, p.194- ‘Sun-Worship’ by Edward Carpenter, originally a lecture to the Croydon Ethical and Religious Fellowship in 1909

• Roots of vegetarianism in Paganism; virtues of nature-worship; nature governs human understanding

• (Carpenter/NC/4/94d)

1920: Carpenter’s essay collection Pagan and Christian Creeds, available in Western Bank Library and at (Carpenter/Library/1/264). 1921 edition available via Archive.org

• Civilisation and religious progress; religious paradigms; interrelation of Paganism and Christianity; primitive unity with nature; theory of universal unity; human consciousness and ‘world-consciousness’; religious ritual; metaphors of health and disease; salvation; ‘democracy’ of Upanishads/Bhagavad Gita; religion as desire for unity

• Essays featured in the appendix detailed below

1920: Pamphlet (George Allen and Unwin) on ‘The Teaching of the Upanishads,’ containing two lectures by Carpenter, ‘Rest’ and ‘The Nature of the Self.’ Originally lectures, published in 1920 in the appendix of Pagan and Christian Creeds

• Philosophy of unity with nature; universal self; animal unselfconsciousness and animal pain; ecosystems exemplifying universal commonality; suspicions of science; Indian philosophy

• Pamphlet: (Carpenter/Library/1/247) Pagan and Christian Creeds (Carpenter/Library/1/264), also available at Western Bank Library

1898: Carpenter’s essay collection Angels’ Wings: A Series of Essays on Art and its Relation to Life, available at Western Bank Library (1913 edition) and at (Carpenter/Library/1/177). 1898 edition available via Archive.org. Relevant chapters:

• ‘Art and Democracy: Wagner, Millet, and Whitman’ (pp.1-24): Expression of metaphysic of unity in the realm of artistic expression; Whitman’s universal consciousness; sympathetic art; freedom from artistic formality

• ‘Nature and Realism in Art’ (pp.41-64): art and nature; realism

• ‘The Human Body in its Relation to Art’ (pp.65-83): primacy of human body over animal body in artistic expression; art and the body

• ‘The Individual Impression’ (pp.116-139): meaning of beauty; realism vs impressionism; harmony and idealism

• ‘The Art of Life’ (pp.210-228): contextualising wider theory; importance of lifestyle choices reflecting inner morality; immorality of exploitation; an ethics of consumption

• Appendix entitled ‘The Return to Nature, reprinted from the Humanitarian, September, 1896’ (the Humanitarian copy is unavailable) (pp.243-248): trendiness of phrase ‘return to nature’; ‘return’ as an evolutionary trait; natural/artificial distinction; alternative lifestyles as contemporary return to ‘communal root-principle’

1912: Carpenter’s essay collection The Drama of Love and Death, available at Western Bank Library. 1912 edition available via Archive.org. Relevant chapters:

• ‘The Beginnings of Love’: comparisons of human and animal biology

• ‘Love as an Art’: animal non-speech

• ‘Its Ultimate Meanings’: animal non-speech

• ‘The Art of Dying’: dignity of animal death; images of unity and disunity; disease and health; resistance of dogma; criticism of medicine and science; theory of universal unity; theoretical taxonomy of human beings; ‘animal self’

• ‘The Passage of Death’: ‘animal self’; ‘world-soul’; animal death; ghosts, apparations, phantasms; criticism of vivisection

• ‘Trance Phenomena’: exploring plausibility of mediums and ghosts; reality of a world beyond human understanding

• ‘Survival of the Self’: animal group-consciousness vs. human individual consciousness

• ‘On the Materialisation of Forms’: ghosts

• ‘Reincarnation’: human fate after death; theory of universal unity via reincarnation; animal ‘race-self’; animal individuality and homogeneity; animal death

Relevant poetic works by Carpenter:

1918: complete edition of Carpenter’s poetry collection Towards Democracy, available at org. Original 1883 edition and 1907 edition available at Western Bank Library, various editions, extracts and foreign language versions available at (Carpenter/Library/1/103-124). 1896 edition available via Archive.org. Four parts and poems of interest within them:

• Part I (1883):

  • ‘Towards Democracy’: Carpenter’s most famous articulation of his philosophy of unity; nonhuman, transcendent voice; suspicion of medicine and science; pastoral descriptions of animal life; embrace of nature; equality of humans and animals; ideal of ancient hunter-gathering; condemnation of (industrialised) animal cruelty; animal freedom vs human bondage; ideal of agricultural labour; animal visibility and audibility; Hindu concept of Maya; women in animal agriculture; horses (humans described as; homoerotic idyll of male horse-riders); the ‘human animal’; the ‘eagle soul’

• Part II (1885):

  • ‘In the Drawing Rooms’: the bourgeois as vampiric, animalistic; unity with nature

  • ‘Squinancy-Wort’: from the perspective of a flower; critique of science, species naming

  • ‘Have Faith’: human souls of animals; empathy with animals; Godhead manifested in animals; critique of human self-consciousness

  • ‘Among the Ferns’: nature’s audibility; unity of creatures

  • ‘I Heard the Voice of the Woods’: animal speechlessness

  • ‘Home’: transcending corporeal form; universal soul diffused among creatures

  • ‘Wings’: extended meditation on winged creatures

  • ‘After Long Ages’: animal visibility; horse consciousness; critique of science; critique of fur; critique of modern civilisation, agriculture

• Part III (1892):

  • ‘The Meaning of it All’: evolutionary paradigms

  • ‘These Populations’: unhuman bourgeois characteristics; hunter-gather historical ideals

  • ‘Andromeda’: human spirit within animals; animality of bourgeois humans

  • ‘Nearer Than Ever Now’: fusion of self and nature

  • ‘A Voice Over the Earth’: prison of human corporeality and consciousness; perspectives of different humans and animals

  • ‘To the End of Time’: radical equality and fusion between creatures

  • ‘The Curse of Property’: inhuman, parasitic capital; warning against natural exploitation

• Part IV (1902)

  • ‘Who Shall Command the Heart’: corporeal prison; ‘the body-machine’

  • ‘From Caverns Dark’: primal animal unselfconsciousness

  • ‘The Songs of the Birds, who Hears’: animal audibility; fluidity of nature

  • ‘Surely the Time will Come’: critique of science and medicine; human and animal co-habitation, human snobbery towards this; critique of contemporary food habits and clothing; animal cruelty

  • ‘The One Foundation’: environmentalism; unhuman-like civilised man

  • ‘India, the Wisdom-land’: jungle ‘beasts’; travels in India; Hinduism

  • ‘The Ploughboy’: birds; kindness to animals

  • ‘The Jackdaw’: from the perspective of a bird

  • ‘The British, A.D. 1901’: birds; animalistic civilised man

  • ‘Portland’: prisoners conditions akin to caged animals

  • ‘Who but the Lover should Know’: becoming animal through universal consciousness

  • ‘The Central Calm’: articulation of theory of unity; biological taxonomy of creatures

  • ‘The Stupid Old Body’ and ‘The Wandering Lunatic Mind’: twin poems containing twin metaphors involving domination of animals

  • ‘Little Brook Without a Name’: description of a diverse ecosystem; arrogance of human knowledge-claims; critique of human knowledge-claims, scientific naming

• End notes: explore poem’s use of ‘I’; Carpenter’s unitary philosophy

Other relevant works by Carpenter:

1916: My Days and Dreams, Carpenter’s 1916 autobiography, available in Western Bank Library and at (Carpenter/Library/1/225). 1916 edition available at Archive.org.

Relevant page references:

• Childhood pets: pp.15-16

• Father’s philosophical meditations on animals: pp.39-40

• Carpenter’s vegetarianism: p.100

• Detailed account of a household dog: pp.153-155

• Detailing a ‘doctrine of the Universal Self’: pp.207-208

• Henry Salt: pp.236-238

• Detailed account of Kate Salt’s relationship with a stray bird: p.239

• P Shelley’s vegetarianism and account of Vegetarian Society meeting: p.264

• Fundamentality of union with nature: pp.302-303

1914: Carpenter’s essay ‘The Meaning of Pain,’ published in The English Review (p.456-470)

• Accounting for human cruelty/animal lack of cruelty

• (Carpenter/cper/28e)

1866: Unfinished MS for Carpenter’s university essay (22 years old), ‘On the Continuance of Modern Civilisation’

• Mapping human progress; early assertion of underlying unity; importance of nature to ‘civilisation’; early interest in India; health and energy; early faith in science and empiricism

• (Carpenter/MSS/1)

1887: Carpenter’s essay collection England’s Ideal, and Other Papers on Social Subjects (Carpenter/Library/1/69). 1887 edition available via Archive.org. Relevant chapters:

• ‘Social Progress and Individual Effort’ (pp.45-61): Exfoliation; society’s organic growth

• ‘Simplification of Life, a paper read before the Fellowship of the New Life in 1886’ (pp.79-99): Simplification of lifestyle; health and diet; vegetarianism and meat-eating; moderation in diet; gendered domestic labour; killing animals for food

1908: Sketches of Life and Town and Country, collection of fiction and non-fiction short stories, poems and translations by Carpenter, available at Western Bank Library. 1908 edition available via Archive.org. Relevant chapters:

• ‘Martin Turner’ (pp.1-16): account of a working class farmer; milking cows; kindness to animals

• ‘Narayan: A Tale of Indian Life’ (pp.49-86): morality tale about Indian child workers; criticises Western consumption of Brahmin cows

• ‘A Country Pub’ (pp.160-183): discussion of dairy farming

• ‘A Couple of Communists’ (pp.196-211): correlation between socialism and animal ethics

• ‘Weeds: A Study of Human and Vegetable Life’ (pp.220-238): conscious evolution; discussion of anthropomorphism; comparing plant and human behaviour