The calamity form : on poetry and social life / Anahid Nersessian.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Nersessian, Anahid, 1982- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

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

Wordsworth, William.

Keats, John, 1795-1821--Criticism and interpretation.

Keats, John.

Wordsworth, William, 1770-1850.

Keats, John, 1795-1821.

English poetry--18th century--History and criticism.

English poetry.

Romanticism--England--History and criticism--18th century.

Romanticism.

Figures of speech.

Criticism and interpretation.

England.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

213 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Chicago : The University of Chicago Press, 2020.

Summary:

"The Romantic period in literature coincided with two of the most significant transformations in modern history: the Industrial Revolution and, with it, the inflection point of the Anthropocene. Literary critics have shown that much of Romantic poetry expresses an uncanny insight into both of these transformations, including the human and ecological costs of what we now call a carbon-based economy. But was art really capable of making sense of the emerging crisis-or of changing the future? In a superbly nuanced work of literary criticism, Anahid Nersessian shows that poets began to disqualify themselves from explaining the train of consequences that industry set in motion. Their form of knowledge-if knowledge it be-was of an order different from science or economics, and could not bear the burden of accounting for environmental calamity. Romanticism, Nersessian argues, is of the Anthropocene but not about it, and she cautions against investing its poetry with a straightforwardly testimonial power. In doing so, she models an approach to criticism that reads within what Charles Olson calls "the shapeful," emphasizing the role of rhetorical figures in fashioning the posture a poem takes on a historical question. While focusing on the Romantics, Nersessian also ranges back to the seventeenth century (e.g., the poetry of Andrew Marvell) and forward to examples of contemporary poetry and conceptual art (e.g., Derek Jarman's poetry, and installations by Agnes Denes and Helen Mirra). Within literary studies, this is a widely anticipated book by one of the most brilliant critics of her generation"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Parataxis; or, Modern gardens

Wordsworth's obscurity

Keats and catachresis

Apostrophe: Clouds.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [181] -201) and index.

ISBN:

9780226701318

9780226701288

022670128X

022670131X

OCLC:

1117929771

Publisher Number:

99985145753