Wordsworth and the poetics of air : atmospheric Romanticism in a time of climate change / Thomas H. Ford.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ford, Thomas H. (Literary historian), author.

Series:

Cambridge studies in Romanticism ; 121.

Cambridge studies in Romanticism ; 121

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Wordsworth, William, 1770-1850--Criticism and interpretation.

Wordsworth, William.

Wordsworth, William, 1770-1850.

Literature and science--England--History--19th century.

Literature and science.

Air in literature.

Romanticism--England.

Romanticism.

History.

Criticism and interpretation.

England.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

History.

Physical Description:

x, 269 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY, USA : Cambridge University Press, 2018.

Summary:

Before the ideas we now define as Romanticism took hold the word 'atmosphere' meant only the physical stuff of air; afterwards, it could mean almost anything, from a historical mood or spirit to the character or style of an artwork. Thomas H. Ford traces this shift of meaning, which he sees as first occurring in the poetry of William Wordsworth. Gradually 'air' and 'atmosphere' took on the new status of metaphor as Wordsworth and other poets re-imagined poetry as a textual area of aerial communication that could convey the breath of a transitory moment to other times and places via the printed page. Reading Romantic poetry through this ecological and ecocritical lens Ford goes on to ask what the poems of the Romantic period mean for us in a new age of climate change, when the relationship between physical climates and cultural, political and literary atmospheres is once again being transformed.

Contents:

Introduction : An ecophilology of atmosphere

Atmospheric romanticism

Atmospheric mediation

Romantic meteorology

Atmospheric aesthetics

In the breathing chamber : 'lines written a few miles above'

Conclusion : Romantic poetry after climate change.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 217-261) and index.

ISBN:

9781108424950

1108424953

OCLC:

1019854237