Romantic Atheism: Poetry and Freethought, 1780-1830 (Cambridge Studies in Romanticism) [Hardcover]

Martin Priestman (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521621240 | ISBN-13: 978-0521621243 | Publication Date: February 13, 2000

Romantic Atheism explores the links between English Romantic poetry and the first burst of outspoken atheism in Britain, from the 1780s onward. Martin Priestman examines the work of Blake, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Shelley, Byron and Keats in their most intellectually radical periods, as well as a host of less canonical poet-intellectuals and controversialists of the time. Above all, the book conveys the excitement of Romantic atheism, whose dramatic appeals to new developments in politics, science and comparative mythology lent it a protean energy belied by the more recent conception of "loss of faith."

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Priestman's study adds the obvious but still overlooked and unquestionably important feature of atheism, especially as it gets expressed in the discourse of Romantic poetry. By addressing attacks (both oblique and direct) on conventional religion expressed in Romantic poetry, Priestman presents us with a study that is long overdue." Religion & Literature

"...a very conscientious, diligent, helpful, even moving book. Readers who share his assumptions may consider it definative." North Dakota Quarterly

Book Description

Romantic Atheism explores the links between English Romantic poetry and the first burst of outspoken atheism in Britain, from the 1780s onwards. Martin Priestman examines the work of Blake, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Shelley, Byron and Keats in their most intellectually radical periods, and a host of less canonical poet-intellectuals and controversialists of the time. Above all, the book conveys the excitement of Romantic atheism, whose dramatic appeals to new developments in politics, science and comparative mythology lend it a protean energy belied by the more recent conception of 'loss of faith'.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 324 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (February 13, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521621240
• ISBN-13: 978-0521621243
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,962,432 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Subject treated well, August 25, 2004

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Professor Goatboy (Cambridge, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Romantic Atheism: Poetry and Freethought, 1780-1830 (Cambridge Studies in Romanticism) (Hardcover)

_Romantic Atheism_ points out the ways in which writers of the Romantic era flirted with and sometimes encouraged different kinds of lack of belief that tended (and still tend) to be lumped together under the term Atheism. Priestman is masterful in untangling all the shades of dissent from orthodox Christian belief in Romantic-period Britain, and shows how the even accusation of atheism entwined with politics. His mastery of the subject and the periodical literature of the era is complete.