Category Archives: Literary Figures
Ann Radcliffe (1764-1823) Emily Arndt, Class of ’13, Dickinson College Influenced by Gothic and Romantic elements of Charlotte Smith’s writing, Ann Radcliffe furthered the literary link between the natural and supernatural worlds in her novels. Her six novels: The Castles … Continue reading
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William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth (1770-1850) is the Romantic poet most often described as a “nature” writer; what the word “nature” meant to Wordsworth is, however, a complex issue. On the one hand, Wordsworth was the quintessential poet as naturalist, always paying close … Continue reading
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge perhaps took his revolutionary ideals to an extreme when he spoke directly to a quadruped in “To A Young Ass” by saying, “I hail thee BROTHER.” Coleridge’s poetry and prose writings, however, are pervaded by a sense … Continue reading
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Lord Byron
George Gordon, Lord Byron may have referred to Erasmus Darwin as “that mighty master of unmeaning rhyme” (“English Bards and Scotch Reviewers” [1809]), but Byron’s poetry helped to construct a version of the natural world that affected readers throughout the … Continue reading
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822). The quote in the picture caption–at left: “I wish no living thing to suffer pain”–suggests precisely the shift embodied in the idea of Romantic natural history. The poet exhibited a fascination with natural phenomena from his early … Continue reading
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Tagged astronomy, chemistry, Frankenstein, poetry, science, Shelley
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Felicia Hemans (1793 – 1835) Emily Arndt, Class of ’13, Dickinson College Felicia Hemans has received increased attention in recent years as scholars focus more and more on verse written by women during the nineteenth century. She was born in … Continue reading
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John Clare
John Clare (1793-1864) is often considered to be the quintessential nature poet of the Romantic era. He was acclaimed as a “nature poet” from the time his first volume, Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery, appeared in 1820. Unlike Robert … Continue reading
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Tagged animals, natural history, plants, poetry
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John Keats
John Keats had as much sensitivity toward the natural world as any author of the period. From his earliest lyrical fragments and letters to the great odes of 1819, his writing consistently incorporates an astonishing number of natural images, as … Continue reading
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Tagged animals, bird, poetry, Romanticism, seasons
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Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797-1851) was the daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin, the wife of Percy Bysshe Shelley, and the author of one of the most widely read and often redacted novels of the past two centuries. Frankenstein; or, … Continue reading
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Tagged Erasmus Darwin, fiction, Frankenstein, Gothic, prose, Shelley, women
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Letitia Landon (1802-38) Emily Arndt, Class of ’13, Dickinson College I teach my lip its sweetest smile, My tongue its softest tone; I borrow others’ likeness, till Almost I lose my own. (“Lines of Life,” The Venetian Bracelet) … Continue reading
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