This book provides a lively exploration of the way in which several of the major British Romantic poets confront the writing and theorising of poetry. The question 'What is a poet?' is asked and answered with great frequency and variety; invariably there is an underlying sense of unease, often in the shadow, as it were, of Wordsworth's lines: We poets in our youth begin in gladness;/ But thereof comes in the end despondency and madness . The apparent confidence of the manifestoes is undermined by the self-doubts of much of the poetry, ranging from Coleridge to John Clare.

Autorentext

MARK STOREY is Professor of English Literature at the University of Birmingham; his previous works include The Poetry of John Clare: A Critical Introduction, Poetry and Humour from Cowpen to Clough, Byron and the Eye of Appetite, and Robert Southey: A Life.

Inhalt

Preface Lyrical Ballads: The Burden of the Mystery Coleridge: The Self-Consuming Breast The Prelude: The Wavering Balance of My Mind Keats and Shelley: The Dark Idolatry of Self Clare: This Sad Non-identity Byron and Clare: An Indigestion of the Mind Postscript Notes Index