The late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries were a time of
accelerating cultural, social, economic, and political change. The outbreak
of the French Revolution in 1789 and the passing of the first Reform Bill in
1832 are the political cornerstones of an age that saw the promotion of
human rights and civil liberties against established systems of absolutist
governments and limited possibilities of political participation.
Democratic ideas that form the constitutional basis of modern Western
societies were developed and circulated in a highly-charged political and
cultural climate, represented, defended and contested in a bourgeois
public sphere that had only come into being as a space of rational
contestation in England in the century between the Glorious Revolution
and the French Revolution.1
In philosophy, perhaps the most far-reaching development in the
eighteenth century was the exploration of the individual psyche. John
Locke’s empiricist epistemology was based on the idea that the mind of
the infant is like a tabula rasa and that there are no innate ideas or moral
principles. Instead, Locke argued, the individual’s knowledge springs
from his or her own sensory perceptions. This epistemology carried with
it a serious social problem: in effect perceivers were deprived of shared
views and, isolated in their own perceptions, were cut off from the
environment that had produced their knowledge. “Equally isolated from
objects and from others, Lockian perceivers can be certain of only their
individual mental processes. […] Certainty, knowledge, and truth become,
at best, relational.”2
The problem of the individual’s position in and relation to a society that
was already perceptibly fragmenting as a result of economic developments and increased social mobility was debated by philosophers
throughout the eighteenth century. David Berkeley, the Earl of
Shaftesbury, and Adam Smith all in their own ways tried to find a solution
to the empirical dilemma they had inherited from Locke and sought to
relocate the individual in a social context.3 [...]
1 Cf. Jürgen Habermas, Strukturwandel der Öffentlichkeit: Untersuchungen zu einer
Kategorie der bürgerlichen Gesellschaft (Neuwied: Luchterhand, 1962).
2 Regina Hewitt, Wordsworth and the Empirical Dilemma (New York et al.: Peter Lang,
1990), 5f.
3 Ibid., 7-32.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. The growth of the reading public
2.1 Size and limitations of the reading public
2.2 Causes for the growth of the reading public
2.2.1 Population growth and urbanization
2.2.2 Education and literacy
2.2.3 Technological progress and the impact of the industrial revolution
2.2.4 Growing interest in political events
2.3 Social varieties of the reading public
3. Romantic poets and the literary marketplace
3.1 The transformation of the publishing business
3.2 Authors and publishers
3.3 The commodification of literature: copyrights and best-sellers
3.3.1 The debates over copyright
3.3.2 Best-sellers
3.4 The institutionalization of literature: The British reviews
3.5 Romantic poets in the literary marketplace
3.5.1 The task of a lifetime: William Wordsworth
3.5.2 Unacknowledged legislators: Percy Bysshe Shelley and John Keats
3.5.2.1 Percy Bysshe Shelley
3.5.2.2 John Keats
3.5.3 Aristocratic best-sellers: George Gordon Lord Byron and Sir Walter Scott
3.5.3.1 George Gordon Lord Byron
3.5.3.2 Sir Walter Scott
4. The poet and his audience: Romantic critical theory in its socio-historical context
4.1. Romantic theories of art and their social context
4.2. Conceptions of poets from the Renaissance to the Augustan Age
4.3. Romantic conceptions of poets and their audiences
4.3.1 William Wordsworth
4.3.1.1 The poet’s social function: “one of us” or poetic genius?
4.3.1.2 Wordsworth’s conception of readers and audiences
4.3.2 Samuel Taylor Coleridge
4.3.2.1 Coleridge’s definitions of the poet
4.3.2.2 Attitudes toward the literary marketplace
4.3.2.3 Configurations of readers: Sciolism and the clerisy
4.3.3 Percy Bysshe Shelley
4.3.3.1 Definitions of the poet
4.3.3.2 Shelley’s conception of audiences
4.3.4 John Keats
4.3.4.1 Attitudes toward the collective reading public
4.3.4.2 The poet and his ideal readers
4.3.5 George Gordon, Lord Byron
4.3.5.1 Definitions of the poet: The aristocratic amateur re-established
4.3.5.2 Byron’s attitudes toward the reading public
5. Conclusion: The Romantic dilemma and beyond
Objectives and Topics
This work examines the relationship between English Romantic poets and their reading audiences, focusing on the "Romantic dilemma"—the conflict between the poets' vision of truth and the demands of a growing, commercialized, and increasingly escapist reading public. It analyzes how poets redefined their positions within a nascent literary marketplace, balancing artistic integrity with the practical need to secure an audience.
- The growth and social diversification of the reading public in England.
- The transformation of the publishing business and the commodification of literature.
- Romantic responses to the literary marketplace and the role of critical reviews.
- Critical analyses of Romantic poets' engagements with their audiences, including Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley, Keats, and Byron.
- The tension between Romantic theories of art and historical/material conditions.
Excerpt from the Book
The commodification of literature: copyrights and best-sellers
An important corollary of the literary marketplace is the valuation of literary copyright. Copyright follows the logic of the print market by commodifying writers’ and publishers’ share of literature in quantifiable sums of money. Since Elizabethan times it had been common practice to regard copyright as the perpetual property of the bookseller. The first proper Copyright Act of 1709 limited copyright to 21 years (28 when the author was still alive), excluding works already under copyright. While a 1769 act reinstated the booksellers’ right to perpetual copyright, this concept was effectively terminated in the case of Donaldson vs. Beckett in 1774. As a consequence a number of cheap reprint series such as Bell’s Poets of Great Britain enjoyed huge popular success and proved that the market for literature was greater than supply had previously suggested. In 1814 the period of copyright was extended from fourteen to twenty-eight years and further extended to forty-two years in 1842, or, if the author lived longer than this, to the duration of his or her life plus seven years.
The copyright question was hotly debated during the Romantic period. Arguing for the rights of authors, D’Israeli found that they are heirs to fortunes, but by a strange singularity they are disinherited at their birth; for, on the publication of their works, they cease to be their own property. […] The natural rights and properties of AUTHORS not having been sufficiently protected, they are defrauded, not indeed of their fame, though they may not always live to witness it, but of their uninterrupted profits, which might save them from their frequent degradation in society.
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction: Introduces the "Romantic dilemma" and outlines the methodological approach, emphasizing the importance of socio-historical context in understanding Romantic poetic theories.
2. The growth of the reading public: Explores factors contributing to the expansion of the readership, including population growth, urbanization, and technological changes in the book trade.
3. Romantic poets and the literary marketplace: Examines the transformation of the publishing industry and the professionalization of authors, analyzing the specific market experiences of major Romantic poets.
4. The poet and his audience: Romantic critical theory in its socio-historical context: Analyzes the critical theories of major Romantic poets, contrasting their views on poetry and readers against their material realities.
5. Conclusion: The Romantic dilemma and beyond: Synthesizes the findings, arguing that the Romantic dilemma was fundamentally insoluble without sacrificing the original Romantic sense of mission.
Keywords
Romanticism, Romantic poets, literary marketplace, reading public, Romantic dilemma, publishing history, copyright, readership, poetic theory, literary reception, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Keats, Lord Byron.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the primary focus of this work?
The book investigates how English Romantic poets navigated the transition from a traditional patronage system to a commercial literary marketplace, focusing on the tension between their artistic ideals and the realities of being read by an expanding public.
What are the central thematic fields covered?
Key themes include the growth of the reading public, the professionalization of authors, the development of literary copyright, the impact of critical reviews on literary taste, and the evolving social role of the poet during the Romantic era.
What is the "Romantic dilemma" discussed in the text?
It refers to the professional and existential challenge faced by Romantic poets: how to adapt their belief in a special, non-marketable vision of truth to a social context where literature was increasingly treated as a commodity.
What methodology is employed in the study?
The work utilizes a methodological pluralism, combining close readings of Romantic critical texts with socio-historical analyses of literature, economics, and psychology to contextualize the poets' statements.
How does the book treat the poets' engagement with the literary market?
The book shows that Romantic poets were not merely isolated "nightingales." Instead, they had complex, often conflicted relationships with the marketplace, ranging from commercial exploitation to deliberate avant-garde withdrawal.
Which key terms characterize the discussion?
The analysis is centered on concepts such as "commodification," "literary marketplace," "Romantic ideology," "posterity," "the public vs. the people," and "negative capability."
How did the concept of "posterity" serve the Romantic poets?
Many Romantic poets used "posterity" as an authority to bypass the criticism of their contemporaries. By claiming that true genius is only recognized by future generations, they could ignore the negative reception of current literary reviews.
How did the career of John Keats reflect these market anxieties?
Keats's career highlights the struggle for artistic autonomy; despite his own rejection of writing for a "public," his letters reveal profound anxieties regarding his market failure and the power of critical reviews to control literary reputation.
- Citar trabajo
- Karsten Runge (Autor), 2002, English Romantic Poets and their Reading Audiences, Múnich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/13961
