The Educational Legacy Of Romanticism

This international collection of essays by leading authorities in literature and education presents the first comprehensive view of the impact of Romanticism on education over the course of the last two centuries. Romanticism’s reconception of self, nature, writing and the imagination forms a chapter of intellectual history that has led to a number of innovative programs in the schools. The book returns to the educational thinking of key figures from the time—Rousseau, Wordsworth, Mary Shelley and Coleridge—before charting their influence on such historical and contemporary developments as Montessori schools, art education, free schools and current writing programs. The contributors tend to challenge common assumptions concerning Romanticism and do not shy away from its darker side; their work encompasses both theoretical considerations of Romantic and post-modern conceptions of the self and practical concerns with Romanticism’s potential for the school curriculum. The Educational Legacy of Romanticism represents a multi-disciplinary inquiry into the continuing influence which cultural endeavours can have on the social practices of society.

What is Romanticism? In this Very Short Introduction Michael Ferber answers this by considering who the romantics were and looks at what they had in common — their ideas, beliefs, commitments, and tastes. He looks at the birth and growth of Romanticism throughout Europe and the Americas, and examines various types of Romantic literature, music, painting, religion, and philosophy. Focusing on topics, Ferber looks at the 'Sensibility' movement, which preceded Romanticism; the rising prestige of the poet; Romanticism as a religious trend; Romantic philosophy and science; Romantic responses to the French Revolution; and the condition of women. Using examples and quotations he presents a clear insight into this very diverse movement, and offers a definition as well as a discussion of the word 'Romantic' and where it came from. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Taking an original approach to Robert Browning's poetics, Britta Martens focuses on a corpus of relatively neglected poems in Browning's own voice in which he reflects on his poetry, his self-conceptualization and his place in the poetic tradition. She analyzes his work in relation to Romanticism, Victorian reactions to the Romantic legacy, and wider nineteenth-century changes in poetic taste, to argue that in these poems, as in his more frequently studied dramatic monologues, Browning deploys varied dramatic methods of self-representation, often critically and ironically exposing the biases and limitations of the seemingly authoritative speaker 'Browning'. The poems thus become devices for Browning's detached evaluation of his own and of others' poetics, an evaluation never fully explicit but presented with elusive economy for the astute reader to interpret. The confrontation between the personal authorial voice and the dramatic voice in these poems provides revealing insights into the poet's highly self-conscious, conflicted and sustained engagement with the Romantic tradition and the diversely challenging reader expectations that he faces in a post-Romantic age. As the Victorian most rigorous in his rejection of Romantic self-expression, Browning is a key transitional figure between the sharply antagonistic periods of Romanticism and Modernism. He is also, as Martens persuasively demonstrates, a poet of complex contradictions and an illuminating case study for addressing the perennial issues of voice, authorial authority and self-reference.

The book deals with the matter of environmental education applied to education for sustainability, taking into account formal and non-formal education contexts and bearing in mind the relationship between environmental quality and quality of life. The ideas, experiences and perspectives presented by the various specialists contributing to the book, from various geographical regions, provide an overview of the diversity of approaches used internationally in the field of environmental education and supply background information on the different problems inherent to this field, as well as a bird's eye perspective on the initiatives, projects and concrete action on the ground.

Romanticism is taught at universities across the globe and is considered integral to the study of British and European literature. This book, written by leading academics, presents innovative, practical approaches to teaching traditional and newer aspects of the curriculum and is essential to anyone teaching Romanticism at university level.

Excerpts from criticism of the works of novelists, poets, playwrights, short story writers and other creative writers who lived between 1800 and 1900, from the first published critical appraisals to current evaluations.