The Poetics of Sensibility

A study of 18th-century and Romantic poetry. The book aims to explore neglected poetry, principally by women, which qualifies as either poetry of "sensibility" or poetry of "sentiment", and which exposes the new stylistic devices that writers began to discover and exploit. Jerome McGann's exciting new work represents the most significant intervention in Romantic studies since his own The Romantic Ideology. It takes as its prime aim the reading of neglected poetry, principally by women, which qualifies as either poetry of sensibility or poetry of sentiment. It is certain to provoke discussion among anyone interested in the hundred years of poetry it considers. Writers discussed include: Ann Batten Cristall, Benardin, Coleridge, Erasmus Darwin, Thomas Gray, Francis Greville, Felicia Hemans, William Jones, Keats, Ossian, Mary Robinson, Schiller, Shelley, Wordsworth, and Ann Yearsley.