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The Romantic period is the most appealing but also the most confusing period of English literature for the student. Crucially, this book distinguishes between 'the Romantic' as modern critics use the term and 'the romantic' as it was used during the period itself.
The Two Romanticisms, and Other Essays is a collection of critical essays on Romanticism and select Romantic texts, designed to help teachers and students to make sense of the period as a whole and of the poems and novels that appear most frequently on school and university curricula. Each chapter offers a self-contained reading of a different canonical work while engaging with broader themes.
Through close readings of Jane Austen, Lord Byron, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, John Keats, Mary Shelley, Percy Bysshe Shelley and William Wordsworth, William Christie explores the complexities of the Romantic period and offers fresh insights into pivotal Romantic texts.
About the author
William Christie is Professor and Head of the Humanities Research Centre at the Australian National University, Director of the Australasian Consortium of Humanities Research Centres, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. He was founding President of the Romantic Studies Association of Australasia (2010-2015) and his work in Romantic studies has been widely published. His 'Samuel Taylor Coleridge: A Literary Life' (2006) was awarded the NSW Premier's Biennial Prize for Literary Scholarship in 2008 and subsequent publications include 'The Letters of Francis Jeffrey to Thomas and Jane Welsh Carlyle' (2008), 'The Edinburgh Review in the Literary Culture of Romantic Britain' (2009), 'Dylan Thomas: A Literary Life' (2014), and 'The Two Romanticisms and Other Essays' (2016).
Summary
This book is a collection of critical essays on Romanticism and select Romantic texts, designed to help teachers and students to make sense of the period as a whole and of the poems and novels that appear most frequently on school and university curricula.
