Further reading. 2 Historical context. Introductory texts. Critical theory

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Ralf Hensley
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1 Further reading Introductory texts Critical theory BEFORE you get anywhere in literary studies you will need to work out some theory of what it is you are doing and why you are doing it. Otherwise it will rapidly become a pointless activity and a deeply dreary one too, because you will have no mechanisms for generating your own analyses but will be limited to uncertain repetition of other people's. As I mentioned in the last chapter, there is a basic reference book in this series, John Peck and Martin Coyle, Literary Terms and Criticism (1984), which explains the vocabulary of the subject. Then there are three recent surveys of modern developments in critical theory which will help you to begin formulating ideas in this area. They are Terry Eagleton's Literary Theory: An Introduction (1983), Raman Selden's A Reader's Guide to Contemporary Literary Theory ( 1985), and Modem Literary Theory: A Comparative Introduction, ed. Ann Jefferson and David Robey (2nd edition, 1986). Finally, when you are faced with the problem of turning your ideas into answers, I think you will find David B. Pirie's How to Write Critical Essays (1985) full of lively advice and assistance. 2 Historical context I have emphasised the need to see literary texts in their historical context in order to make sense of them, and there are various books which will enrich your knowledge of the period. The two classic studies are Eric Hobsbawm's The Age of Revolution (1962), and E. P. Thompson's The Making

2 128 HOW TO STUDY ROMANTIC POETRY of the English Working Class (1968). Books that bring together selections from contemporary documents to help you build your own sense of the times are Revolutions 177~1830, ed. Merryn Williams (1971), and Burke, Paine, Godwin and the Revolution Controversy, ed. Marilyn Butler (1984). I have also found the Open University booklets on the Romantic period succinct and informative, and the one to read first is Kelvin Everest's Romantic Poetry: The Historical Context and the Literary Scene (1984). 3 Literary context There have been many introductions to Romantic literature, but you need to be wary of the older ones, which are inevitably out of touch with both the scholarly discoveries and the revolutions in critical theory that have occurred in the past twenty years. Of recent works, the shortest and most accessible is the Open University booklet Romantic Poetry: An Introduction, by Brian Stone (1984). The Romantics, ed. Stephen Prickett (1981), includes essays on specific subjects, as does David Aers, Jonathan Cook and David Punter's Romanticism and Ideology: Studies in English Writing 176~1830 (1981). The fullest and the finest study I have some across is Marilyn Butler's Romantics, Rebels and Reactionaries: English Literature and its Background (1981). Blake Most students working for an examination will have no choice about the edition they use, and in the chapter on Blake I worked from Blake: Poems and Letters, ed.]. Bronowski (1958), simply because it is the one that occurs on most syllabuses. The drawback with this edition is that, in order to keep it reasonably cheap, it has none of Blake's illustrations and no notes; you can find both of these in William Blake: Songs of Innocence and of Experience, ed. Geoffrey Keynes (1970). The standard complete editions of Blake's poems, both with very useful notes, are The

3 FURTHER READING 129 Poems of William Blake, ed. W. H. Stevenson (1971), and William Blake: The Complete Poems, ed. Alicia Ostriker (1977). The Macmillan Casebook series is always worth consulting, because each volume collects both contemporary responses and more recent views; the one on Songs of Innocence and of Experience is edited by Margaret Bottrall (1970). Fuller studies of Blake's Songs are Zachary Leader's Reading Blake's 'Songs' (1981), and Heather Glen's Vision and Disenchantment: Blake's 'Songs' and Wordsworth's 'Lyrical Ballads' (1983). Wider study of Blake could begin with the Open University booklet by John Holloway, Blake (1984), and then move on to David Erdman's Blake: Prophet against Empire (1969), and Stewart Crehan's Blake in Context (1984). Wordsworth When quoting 'Lines Written in Early Spring' in Chapter 3, I used the five-volume The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth, ed. by E. de Selincourt and H. Darbishire ( ). But if you are looking for more manageable texts, try Lyrical Ballads, ed. R. L. Brett and A. R. Jones, (1963), because that has Wordsworth's 1798 Advertisement and 1800 Preface as well as ample notes and so I worked with it when discussing 'Tintern Abbey' in Chapter 3. Recent scholarship has changed our understanding of the composition of The Prelude, and the edition that incorporates that new knowledge most conveniently is William Wordsworth: The Prelude 1799,1805,1850, ed. Jonathan Wordsworth, M. H. Abrams and Stephen Gill (1979). This is the edition I have used. If you want to learn more about Wordsworth's life, the definitive biography is still Mary Moorman's William

4 130 HOW TO STUDY ROMANTIC POETRY Wordsworth (2 vols, 1957 and 1965). The relevant Casebooks are Wordsworth's 'Lyrical Ballads', ed. A. RJones and W. Tydeman (1972), and Wordsworth: 'The Prelude', ed. W.J. Harvey and R Gravil (1972). The Open University booklet Wordsworth and Coleridge, by Simon Eliot and others (1984), is a good place to start further study, and I have found a lot of intelligent information in Mary Jacobus, Tradition and Experiment in Wordsworth's 'Lyrical Ballads' 1798 (1976). Coleridge The edition I used for the Coleridge poems discussed in Chapter 5 was Coleridge: Poetical Works, ed. E. H. Coleridge (1912). The Portable Coleridge, ed. I. A. Richards (1977), has a long introductory essay and a wide selection from the prose as well as the poetry, but no notes. There are very brief notes in Selected Poems of s. T. Coleridge, ed. James Reeve (1959). Further reading on Coleridge could begin with Richard Holmes's Coleridge (1982), because it is brief, up-to-date and includes a potted biography. Students interested in following up Coleridge's problems with drugs should read Molly Lefebure's Samuel Taylor Coleridge: A Bondage of Opium (1974), while his problems with plagiarism are covered by Norman Fruman in Coleridge, the Damaged Archangel (1972). The Casebook is The Ancient Mariner and Other Poems, ed. A. R Jones and W. Tydeman (1973). To this may be added Coleridge: The Critical Heritage, ed. J. R. de J. Jackson (1970), which collects reviews and essays on Coleridge by his contemporaries, and Coleridge: A Collection of Critical Essays, ed. Kathleen Coburn (1967), which anthologises criticism of Coleridge's work from the first two-thirds of the twentieth century. More recent and very stimulating on its subject is Kelvin Everest's Coleridge's Secret Ministry: The Context of the Conversation Poems (1979).

5 Keats FURTHER READING 131 My source for the poems I discussed in Chapter 6 was Keats: Poetical Works, ed. H. W. Garrod (1956). Probably the most useful modern edition, with full notes on the same page as the text of the poems, is The Poems of John Keats, ed. Miriam Allott (1970). The standard lives of Keats are W.J. Bate'sJohn Keats (1964), and Robert Gittings'sJohn Keats (1968). I used The Letters of John Keats, ed. Hyder E. Rollins (2 vols, 1958), for the letters I quoted in Chapter 6; this or the paperback selection edited by Robert Gittings, Letters of John Keats (1970), is a marvellous source of ideas and excitement about Keats and his work supplied by the poet himself. Students fresh to Keats could begin with William Walsh's Introduction to Keats (1981), and with the Open University booklet by Roger Day and P. N. Furbank, Keats (1984). The Casebook is Keats: The Odes, ed. G. S. Fraser (1971) and it can be updated with Helen Vendler's The Odes of John Keats (1983).

English 495: Romanticism: Criticism and Theory

English 495: Romanticism: Criticism and Theory Tuesdays and Thursdays 2-3.40pm, Morrison 210 Keene State College, Fall 2008 Dr. William Stroup Office: Parker 102, office phone: 358-2692, email wstroup@keene.edu