The Romantic Reformation
Religious Politics in English Literature, 1789–1824

First book to examine the Romantic poets' engagement with the religious debates that dominated the period.

Robert M. Ryan (Author)

9780521570084, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 13 July 1997

308 pages
23.6 x 15.9 x 2.6 cm, 0.545 kg

'… a much needed challenge to some firmly established views of British Romanticism. Foremost among these is the modernity of the Romantics … It is the virtue of Robert Ryan's important book to call our attention to the religious resonances that extend through Romantic culture, and to the tendencey of the Romantics to view religion in terms of hope for the future.' The Wordsworth Circle

This is the first book to examine the literature of the Romantic period as a conscious attempt to effect the religious transformation of society. Robert Ryan argues that the political quarrel that preoccupied England during the Romantic period was in large part an argument about the religious character of the nation, and that the Romantics became active and conspicuous participants in this public debate. Where critics have traditionally viewed the Romantics as creative metaphysicians articulating private visions of a transcendent order in detachment from actual social conflict, Ryan shows instead that their religious prescriptions were formulated in response to specific historical and social circumstances. This book shows how the careers of Blake, Wordsworth, Byron, Keats, and the Shelleys are radically reconfigured when viewed in the context of the period's passionate debate on religion, politics and society.

Introduction
1. 'A Sect of Dissenters'
2. Blake's orthodoxy
3. Nature's priest
4. The ironies of belief
5. The politics of Greek religion
6. The Christian monster
7. The unknown God
Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: poetry & poets [DSC]