The Romantic Imagination and Astronomy - (Palgrave Studies in the Enlightenment, Romanticism and Cultu) by Kenneth A Loparo (Paperback)

About the Book

"The Romantic Imagination and Astronomy is the first book to reconstruct the history of the science of astronomy and its importance to the Romantic imagination in exploration and colonization by imperial England. It examines how the science of astronomy in exploration and discovery, from Edmund Halley and William Herschel to Captain Cook, changed the world by tying the 'pure' science of astronomy to the practical, commercial, and martial aims of navigation for the maritime nation of England. It demonstrates that the same 'pure' science of astronomy also fueled the Romantic poetic imagination, influencing the evolution of form and content of poetry -- from formation of the greater Romantic lyric of Barbauld and Coleridge, to the fantastic narratives of Keats and Shelley"--

Book Synopsis

In the nineteenth century the beauty of the night sky is the source of both imaginative wonder in poetry and political and commercial power through navigation. The Romantic Imagination and Astronomy examines the impact of astronomical discovery and imperial exploration on poets including Barbauld, Coleridge, Keats, Shelley, and Rossetti.

Review Quotes

"Informative and engaging, written throughout in a lucid style, and persuasive in its recovery of the contours of astronomical debate in the period, this book undoubtedly adds to our understanding of the place of astronomy in the cultural history of the romantic period and of the processes by which the modern scientific disciplines began to develop out of eighteenth-century 'natural philosophy.'" (Cian Duffy, Journal for the History of Astronomy, Vol. 48 (1), February, 2017)

About the Author

Dometa Brothers is an Assistant Professor of British Literature at Iowa State University. She has published articles and book chapters on Romantic poetry and the history of science and mathematics, ecosemiotics, and travel writing.