A clear-eyed portrait of a literary revolution and the mind behind it.
This study surveys the rise of Romanticism in English and French literature and examines how new ways of thinking changed poetry, prose, and criticism.
In these essays, Gates traces the shift from eighteenth‑century clarity to a living, soulful literature. He discusses Wordsworth, Coleridge, Scott, Byron, Shelley, and Keats, and shows how their work opened fresh ways to feel, imagine, and understand life. The book also surveys selections from Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe, Charlotte Brontė, and others, and it explains how later critics and movements reinterpreted art and culture. The collection reflects on how critics of the day shaped and were shaped by evolving tastes, including the rise of impressionism in art and criticism.
- Understand the major ideas behind the Romantic Movement and its literary rebels.
- See how critics reassessed poetry, prose, and the arts in a shifting cultural landscape.
- Explore how historical context, national identity, and artistic form interact in key works.
- Learn about the origins and debates that influenced modern literary criticism.
Ideal for readers seeking a compact, insightful guide to early modern literature and its reception, especially those curious about how critics helped shape our sense of literature today.