(California State University, Fullerton), George Drake (Central Washington University), Ende Duffy (University of California, Santa Barbara), Judy Elsley (Weber State University), Dan Embree (Mississippi State University), Audrey Fisch (New Jersey City University), Annette Federico (James Madison University), Robert Forman (St. John's University), Thomas Frosch (City University of New York, Queens), Dr. Donald Fucci (Ramapo College), Mark Fulk (Buffalo State College), Kevin Gardner (Baylor University), Robert Geary (James Madison University), Marc Geisler (Western Washington University), Jason Gieger (California State University, Sacramento), Cynthia Gilliatt (James Madison University), Julia Giordano (Nassau Community College), Stephen Glosecki (University of Alabama at Birmingham), William Gracie (Miami University of Ohio), Kenneth Graham (University of Waterloo), Loren C. Gruber (Missouri Valley College), Leigh Harbin (Angelo State University), H. George Hawn (Towson University), Douglas Hayes (Winona State University), Aeron Haynie (University of Wisconsin, Green Bay), Begina Hewitt (University of South Florida), Matthew Hill (University of Maryland, College Park), Jim Hoogenakker (Washburn University), Bobert Hoskins (James Madison University), Kathy Houff (University of Georgia), Claudia House (Nashville State Tech Community College), Darren Howard (University of California, Los Angeles), Bebecca Kajs (Anne Arundel Community College), Bridget Keegan (Creighton University), Erin Kelly (University of Maryland), Julie Kim (Northeastern Illinois University), Jackie Kogan (California State University, Northridge), Neal Kramer (Brigham Young University), Jonathan Kramnick (Butgers University), Deborah Knuth (Colgate University), E. Carole Knuth (Buffalo State College), Wai-Leung Kwok (San Francisco State University), Elizabeth Lambert (Gettysburg College), Mary Lenard (University of Wisconsin, Parkside), George Evans Light (Mississippi State University), Henry Limouze (Wright State University), Sherry Little (San Diego State), Debbie Lopez (University of Texas, San Antonio), Susan Lorsch (Hofstra University), Thomas Lyons (University of Colorado, Boulder), Susan Maher (University of Nebraska, Omaha), Phoebe Mainster (Wayne State University), W. J. Martin (Niagara University), Nicholas Mason (Brigham Young University), Ian McAdam (University of
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS / xlv
Lethbridge), Ruth McAdams (Tarrant County College), John McCombe (University of Dayton), Kristen McDermott (Central Michigan University), Joseph McGowan (University of San Diego), Christian Michener (St. Mary's University, Minnesota), D. Keith Mikolavich (Diablo Valley College), Nicholas Moschovakis (George Washington University), Gwendolyn Morgan (Montana State University), Daniel Mosser (Virginia Polytechnic Institute), K. D. Neill (University of Victoria, British Columbia), Douglas Nordfor (James Madison University), Michael North (University of California, Los Angeles), Bernie O'Donnell (University of Florida). Michael Olmert (University of Maryland, College Park), C. R. Orchard (Indiana University of Pennsylvania), Jennifer Panek (University of Ottawa), Cynthia Patton (Emporia State University), James Persoon (Grand Valley State University), Sara Pfaffenroth (County College of Morris), John Pfordreshen (Georgetown University), Jennifer Phegley (University of Missouri, Kansas City), Trey Philpotts (Arkansas Technical University), Brenda Powell (University of St. Thomas, St. Paul), Tison Pugh (University of Central Florida), Katherine Quinsey (University of Windsor), Eric Reimer (University of Montana), Kathryn Rummel (California Polytechnic State University), Harbindar Sanghara (University of Victoria, Canada), William Scheuede (University of South Florida), Michael Schoenfeldt (University of Michigan), R. M. Schuler (University of Victoria, British Columbia), D. Schwartz (Cal Poly, Saint Louis Obispo), Michael Schwartz (California State University, Chico), Richard Sha (American University), George Shuffelton (Carleton College), Brandie Sigfried (Brigham Young University), Elizabeth Signorotti (Binghamton University), Dawn Simmons (Ohio State University), Erik Simpson (Grinnell College), Sarah Singer (Delaware County Community College), Dr. Mary-Antoinette Smith (Seattle University), Jonathan Smith (University of Michigan, Dearborn), Nigel Smith (Princeton University), Malinda Snow (Georgia State University), Jean Sorenson (Grayson County College), C. Spinks (Trinity College), Donald Stone (City University of New York, Queens), Kevin Swafford (Bradley University), Andrew Taylor (University of Ottawa), Bebecca Totaro (Florida Gulf Coast University), Bente Videbaek (State University New York, Stony Brook), Joseph Viscome (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill), Jennie Wakefield (Clemson University), David Ward (University of Pittsburgh), Tracy Ware (Queen's University), Alexander Weiss (Radford University), Lachlan Whalen (Marshall University), Christopher Wheatley (Catholic University of America), C. Williams (Mississippi State University), Jodi Wyett (Xavier University, Cincinnati), Jiyeon Yoo (University of California, Los Angeles), Richard Zeikowitz (University of South Alabama).
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The Norton Anthology of English Literature
EIGHTH EDITION VOLUME 2
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The Romantic Period
1785-1830
1789?1815: Revolutionary and Napoleonic period in France.?1789: The Revolution begins with the assembly of the States- General in May and the storming of the Bastille on July 14.? 1793: King Louis XVI executed; England joins the alliance against France.?1793?94: The Reign of Terror under Robespierre. 1804: Napoleon crowned emperor.?1815: Napoleon defeated at Waterloo
1807: British slave trade outlawed (slavery abolished throughout the empire, including the West Indies, twenty-six years later) 1811?20: The Regency?George, Prince of Wales, acts as regent for
George III, who has been declared incurably insane 1819: Peterloo Massacre 1820: Accession of George IV
The Romantic period, though by far the shortest, is at least as complex and diverse as any other period in British literary history. For much of the twentieth century, scholars singled out five poets?Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Percy Shelley, and Keats, adding Blake belatedly to make a sixth?and constructed notions of a unified Romanticism on the basis of their works. But there were problems all along: even the two closest collaborators of the 1790s, Words- worth and Coleridge, would fit no single definition; Byron despised both Coleridge's philosophical speculations and Wordsworth's poetry; Shelley and Keats were at opposite poles from each other stylistically and philosophically; Blake was not at all like any of the other five.
Nowadays, although the six poets remain, by most measures of canonicity, the principal canonical figures, we recognize a greater range of accomplishments. In 1798, the year of Wordsworth and Coleridge's first Lyrical Ballads, neither of the authors had much of a reputation; Wordsworth was not even included among the 1,112 entries in David Rivers's Literary Memoirs of Living Authors of Great Britain of that year, and Lyrical Ballads was published anonymously because, as Coleridge told the publisher, 'Wordsworth's name is nothing-?to a large number of people mine stinks.' Some of the best-regarded poets of the time were women?Anna Barbauld, Charlotte Smith, Mary Robinson? and Wordsworth and Coleridge (junior colleagues of Robinson when she was poetry editor of the Morning Post in the late 1790s) looked up to them and learned their craft from them. The rest of the then- established figures were the later eighteenth-century poets who are printed at the end of volume 1 of this anthology?Gray, Collins, Crabbe, and Cowper in particular. Only Byron, among the now-canonical poets, was instantly famous; and Felicia
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