How did Romantic writers represent ‘the self’?

Transcript -- The self

How did Romantic writers address questions of identity? How did their experiences influence the way they expressed themselves? The Romantic period saw a rise in creative, artistic and intellectual pursuits in eighteenth century Europe. The era placed greater emphasis on emotion and intuition as opposed to the scientific rationalisation which had gained prominence during ‘The Age of Enlightenment’. In this audio selection, a panel of experts evaluate various elements of this movement and asses themes such as authorship, the idea of self in addition to the extent to which their work was affected by its historical context. 

This material forms part of The Open University course A230 Reading and studying literature.

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Professor Andrew Bennett discusses the idea of authorship.

Romantic authorship

Transcript -- Romantic authorship

The self

Bill Greenwell adapts one of Wordsworth’s poems ‘To daffodils’ in the voice of Thomas De Quincy.

Transcript -- The self

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