Nineteenth-Century Literature-The Romantic Period

This book has been conceived as an attempt to make available to students of English Literature a reliable, informative, and student-friendly course-book in Romantic as well as early 19th century literature. The book provides a thorough introduction to Romantic literature as well as early 19th century literature. The first chapter of the book acquaints the students with the main characteristics of Romantic literature and gives a brief idea about its historical, social and political context. As the canon of Romantic literature consists mainly of the poetry of the six major Romantic poets – Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley and Keats –the book introduces selected poems by these poets before it shifts attention to Romantic fiction and drama. Poets are chronologically introduced, each in a separate chapter. Chapters in the poetry part begin with a short biography of the poet as well as a brief introduction to his poetry and art / philosophy. This is followed by a full analysis of three to four representative poems by the poet under consideration. Each chapter ends with a further reading list which contains material that students may wish to consult but is not discussed in the book. The book begins with a chapter on ‘How to Read Romantic Poetry.’ This is intended to alert students to the major aspects of a poem that they have to look into when reading poetry. In addition to the poetry readings, the book also provides an introduction to Romantic drama and novel, lists the major writers and their works, and draws attention to the links between them and the canonical works of Romantic poetry. Dr. Mhd Noor Al-Abbood is associated professor of English Literature at Taif University, Saudi Arabia. Al-Abbood is a graduate of the University of Oxford, where he completed a PhD in Postcolonial Literature and Modern Literary Theory. Al-Abbood has taught various English literature courses at several universities in Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Al-Abbood has many research interests. He has published many articles on Resistance in Postcolonial Literary and Cultural Theory, American Minority Literature, and the poetry of John Keats.