The Romantic Poets - Blackwell Guides to Criticism - A Guide to Criticism

Sep 21, 2026

The Romantic Poets: A Guide to Criticism, edited by Uttara Natarajan, provides curated excerpts and introductory narratives tracing how major Romantic poets were read and discussed across historic and contemporary scholarship. Early reception material is presented alongside later critical approaches, organized chronologically through extracts from influential books and journal articles, each chosen for classroom relevance. The volume enhances readers’ critical repertoire through structured study of key interpretive methods and selected critical history for prominent figures including Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Byron.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages372

Reading Time9 h 33 min

AccessFree to download

Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

William Blake (1757–1827)

Critical History From First Responses to Northrop Frye

Critical Extract From Northrop Frye, Fearful Symmetry: A Study of William Blake (1947)

Further reading

William Wordsworth (1770–1850)

Critical History The Contemporary Reception

Critical Extract From William Hazlitt, 'Mr. Wordsworth', in The Spirit of the Age (1825)

Further reading

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834)

Critical History From the 1790s to the 1930s

Critical Extract From J. L. Lowes, The Road to Xanadu (1927)

Further reading

George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788–1824)

Critical History From Contemporary Responses to Victorian Readings

Critical Extract From Joseph Mazzini, 'On Byron and Goethe' (1839)

Further reading

The Romantic Poets Blackwell Guides to Criticism Editor Michael O’Neill Blackwell’s Guides to Criticism series offers students privileged access to and careful guidance through those writings that have most conditioned the historic current of discussion and debate as it now informs contemporary scholarship. Early historic responses are represented by appropriate excerpts and described in an introductory narrative chapter. Thereafter, materials are represented chronologically in extracts from important books or journal articles according to their continuing critical value and relevance in the classroom. Critical approaches are treated as tools to advance the pursuit of reading and study and each volume seeks to enhance the enjoyment of literature and to widen the reader’s critical repertoire. Published Roger Dalrymple Corinne Saunders Emma Smith Emma Smith Emma Smith Uttara Natarajan Francis O’Gorman Michael Whitworth Middle English Chaucer Shakespeare’s Comedies Shakespeare’s Histories Shakespeare’s Tragedies The Romantic Poets The Victorian Novel Modernism The Romantic Poets A Guide to Criticism Edited by Uttara Natarajan Editorial material and organization © 2007 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd BLACKWELL PUBLISHING 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148-5020, USA 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK 550 Swanston Street, Carlton, Victoria 3053, Australia The right of Uttara Natarajan to be identiﬁed as the Author of the Editorial Material in this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988, without the prior permission of the publisher. First published 2007 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd 1 2007 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The romantic poets : a guide to criticism / edited by Uttara Natarajan. [p. cm](p. cm).—(Blackwell guides to criticism) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-631-22931-5 (alk. paper) 1. English poetry—19th century—History and criticism—Handbooks, manuals, etc. 2. English poetry—18th century—History and criticism—Handbooks, manuals, etc. 3. Romanticism—Great Britain—Handbooks, manuals, etc. I. Natarajan, Uttara. PR590 .R595 2007 821′.709145—dc22 2006034810 A catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library. Set in 10 on 12.5 pt Caslon by SNP Best-set Typesetter Ltd, Hong Kong Printed and bound in Singapore by C.O.S. Printers Pte Ltd The publisher’s policy is to use permanent paper from mills that operate a sustainable forestry policy, and which has been manufactured from pulp processed using acid-free and elementary chlorine-free practices. Furthermore, the publisher ensures that the text paper and cover board used have met acceptable environmental accreditation standards. For further information on Blackwell Publishing, visit our website: [www.blackwellpublishing.com](www.blackwellpublishing.com) Contents Acknowledgements x Introduction 1 1 William Blake (1757–1827) 4 Critical History From First Responses to Northrop Frye 4 Critical Extract From Northrop Frye, Fearful Symmetry: A Study of William Blake (1947) 6 Further reading 18 Critical History Historical and Political Readings 20 Critical Extract From David Erdman, Blake: Prophet against Empire (1954) 21 Further reading 35 Critical History To the Present 37 Critical Extract From V. A. De Luca, Words of Eternity: Blake and the Poetics of the Sublime (1991) 39 Further reading 57 Useful editions 60 Reference material 60 Chapter notes 61 vi Contents 2 William Wordsworth (1770–1850) 63 Critical History The Contemporary Reception 63 Critical Extract From William Hazlitt,‘Mr. Wordsw

FAQs

What is the organizing principle of the book’s critical material?

The book presents critical history chronologically, using extracts from important books and journal articles chosen for their continuing classroom relevance.

How does the volume treat early responses versus later scholarship?

Early historic responses are introduced through selected excerpts and an introductory narrative chapter, while later materials are gathered in sequence to reflect their critical value.

Which poets and topics are covered in the table of contents?

The contents include dedicated sections for William Blake, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and George Gordon, Lord Byron, alongside related critical history and extract selections for each figure.

Sep 21, 2026

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