ABSTRACT
William Lane has escaped critical attention for almost two hundred years, perhaps because most of his eight volumes of poetry promise, in their tides, the type of pious verse that was extremely common in its own day, but which has proved largely unattractive to readers and critics ever since. The 'Several Detached Pieces' which lurk in obscurity at the end of many of Lane's volumes include attacks on grain merchants who exploit shortage, and several shrewd assessments of a literary marketplace that devalues the work of 'poor labouring men' like himself. The modest profits enabled Lane to set up a village school, though he later had to apply for grants from the Literary Fund on several occasions. The present selection in part concedes to the critical judgement which has served to keep Lane hidden from view.
