Reading Romantic Poetry

Coleridge argued that the most powerful poems were those “to which we return with the greatest pleasure.” Reading Romantic Poetry demonstrates, through careful critical analysis, the ways in which the rich poetry of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries can speak directly to modern audiences. The book introduces readers, often for the first time, to the pleasure of reading Romantic poetry. The famous poets of the period are included: Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, Keats, Burns and Clare—together with a host of less familiar writers, such as the women poets Smith, Yearsley, Barbauld, More, and Hemans. Reading Romantic Poetry introduces the major themes and preoccupations, the key poems and players, as well as the crucial literary circles and influences of a period convulsed by revolution, prolonged warfare and political crisis.

Preface vii 1 The Pleasures of Poetry 1 2 Solitude and Sociability 34 3 Common Concerns and Cultural Connections 65 4 Traditions and Transformations: Poets as Readers 95 5 Reading or Listening? Romantic Voices 132 6 Sweet Sounds 162 7 Poems on Pages 193 References 227 Index 230

Fiona Stafford is Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford, and a Fellow of Somerville College, Oxford. She has published on a wide range of Romantic literature, and is especially interested in the literary relationships between England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. She has written several books including Local Attachments: The Province of Poetry (2010 ) and Brief Lives: Jane Austin (2008) and has edited Wordsworth and Coleridge′s Lyrical Ballads (2013), as well as novels by Jane Austen and Mary Shelley.  

"These engagements with the nature of poetry are no mystical celebration of a mysterious power—on the contrary: by focusing on specific attempts Professor Stafford underlines the demystifying facet of these poems which lay bare their own artifice to their readers." ( Cercles , 1 December 2012) "An excellent, well–written resource for those interested in Romantic poetry … Stafford brings a new sensibility and fresh eye to the subject ... Highly recommended." ( Choice , 1 October 2012)