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Reading Romantic Poetry introduces the major themes and preoccupations, and the key poems and players of a period convulsed by revolution, prolonged warfare and political crisis. Provides a clear, lively introduction to Romantic Poetry, backed by academic research and marked by its accessibility to students with little prior experience of poetry Introduces many of the major topics of the age, from politics to publishing, from slavery to sociability, from Milton to the mind of man Encourages direct responses to poems by opening up different aspects of the literature and fresh approaches to reading Discusses the poets' own reading and experience of being read, as well as analysis of the sounds of key poems and the look of the poem on the page Deepens understanding of poems through awareness of their literary, historical, political and personal contexts Includes the major poets of the period, Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, Keats, Burns and Clare -as well as a host of less familiar writers, including women. Intro -- Reading Romantic Poetry -- Contents -- Preface -- 1 The Pleasures of Poetry -- Painful Pleasures -- Public and Private -- Further Reading -- 2 Solitude and Sociability -- Romantic Solitude -- Romantic Resistance to Solitude -- The Public and Private Friendships of Poets -- Friendships Tested and Tried -- Further Reading -- 3 Common Concerns and Cultural Connections -- Common Causes: The Abolition -- Common Culture: Romantic Rainbows -- Further Reading -- 4 Traditions and Transformations: Poets as Readers -- The Sonnet Revival -- Paradise Lost -- Paradise Lost and The Prelude -- Native Traditions -- Further Reading -- 5 Reading or Listening? Romantic Voices -- The Language of Conversation: Lyrical Ballads -- Oral and Rural -- Standard English and the Freedom of Speech -- Further Reading -- 6 Sweet Sounds -- Romantic Nightingales -- Hidden Birds that Sing -- Sound and Sense -- Further Reading -- 7 Poems on Pages -- Reading Romantic Poetry: Then and Now -- Illuminated Books -- From Vision to Volume -- Christabel, and Other Poems, 1816 -- Reading according to Composition or Publication? -- Further Reading -- References -- Index.
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