This collection traces new directions in the study of Thomas Moore (1779–1852) and examines the multiple facets of his complex identity, not only as the foremost Irish poet of his time, but also as a lyricist, satirist, polemicist, patriot and journalist. The range of contributors is interdisciplinary and international, and includes leading scholars of literature, music, history and digital humanities. The essays collected here present a new assessment of Moore’s career and reflect on the future directions for Moore scholars enabled by digital resources and methodologies. They highlight Moore’s far-reaching influence on nineteenth-century European Romanticism, his formative participation in Whig political discourse and his central role in the construction of Irish identity from the nineteenth to the twenty-first centuries.

Francesca Benatti is Research Associate in Digital Humanities with the Open University. She has held appointments at NUI Galway and University College Dublin and is co-editor of the Thomas Moore Archive. Sean Ryder is Professor of English at NUI Galway and Director of the Thomas Moore Archive. He has published on various aspects of nineteenth-century Irish nationalism and culture, and on Irish cinema. Justin Tonra is an Irish Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow at NUI Galway. He is co-editor of the Thomas Moore Archive and has previously been employed at University College London and the University of Virginia.