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Romanticism, Economics and the Question of 'Culture'

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Connell takes us back to the Romantic Age, with an analysis of the key figures of that era. The emphasis in his book is on writers such as Shelley and Wordsworth. But he places them and their works squarely in the context of the political and social movements then occurring.

Thus we see descriptions of parliamentary struggles. And of the economic thoughts of Malthus, Ricardo and Smith. The musings of early industrial capitalism. Perhaps, the book seems to suggest, some of the literary figures can be understood in part as being influenced by those other ideas, and reacting to them.

Connell's synthesis is interesting, because many histories of this era might study the economists and politicians totally separately from the literary writers.