The soul in British romanticism
Subtitle: negotiating human nature in philosophy, science and poetry
By: Ralf Haekel
Series: Studien zur englischen Romantik -- Neue Folge, Band 14; Studien zur englischen Romantik -- n.F., Bd. 14.
Publisher: WVT, Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier
Published: 2014
Place of publication: Trier
Language: eng
Number of pages: 245
ISBN-13: 9783868215274
Subjects: English literature; History and criticism; Romanticism; Soul in literature
Other titles: Negotiating human nature in philosophy, science and poetry
Description: The Soul in British Romanticism provides a history of the modern concept of the human and the nascence of the human sciences during the long eighteenth century as well as a theory of Romantic poetry. The book investigates the forms and functions of the human soul from the late seventeenth to the early nineteenth century: during the Enlightenment, the traditional notion of an immortal and immaterial soul was replaced by immanent concepts such as vitalism, the nervous system and the brain. In the course of this development, the key faculties associated with the soul - transcendence, immortality and imagination - were increasingly negotiated in poetry. Thus, the transformation of the soul, leading to a fundamentally new and different understanding of what it is to be human, also created a new conception of the medium of literature. Romantic poetry tries to recapture the lost qualities of the human soul in and through the creative imagination which becomes the essence of poetry and a warranty of art's transcendence and immortality. On the other hand, this triggers a reflection on the immanent and material basis of poetry because, paradoxically, the constant reference to transcendence in immanence ultimately leads to a profound reflection on language, texture and on the materiality of the medium of poetry. Through this medial self-reflexivity, Romantic poetry becomes the first form of modern literature.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 217-235) and index.