
Wordsworth and the Poetics of Air
Thomas H. Ford(Author)
Cambridge University Press
Published on 5. July 2018
Book
Hardback
288 pages
978-1-108-42495-0 (ISBN)
Description
Before the ideas we now define as Romanticism took hold the word 'atmosphere' meant only the physical stuff of air; afterwards, it could mean almost anything, from a historical mood or spirit to the character or style of an artwork. Thomas H. Ford traces this shift of meaning, which he sees as first occurring in the poetry of William Wordsworth. Gradually 'air' and 'atmosphere' took on the new status of metaphor as Wordsworth and other poets re-imagined poetry as a textual area of aerial communication - conveying the breath of a transitory moment to other times and places via the printed page. Reading Romantic poetry through this ecological and ecocritical lens Ford goes on to ask what the poems of the Romantic period mean for us in a new age of climate change, when the relationship between physical climates and cultural, political and literary atmospheres is once again being transformed.
Reviews / Votes
'... richly theorized and discursively broad-ranging ... Ford convincingly argues that we in the Anthropocene, confronted by a new literalization of cultural atmosphere as climate, have much to learn from this Romantic discourse on atmosphere.' Scott Hess, Review 19 '... Ford offers intriguing readings of a suite of natural history and medico-material texts both central and somewhat peripheral to standard Romantic criticism, including Herder, Goethe, Keats, Howard, Priestley, and Faraday.' Michelle Levy, The Wordsworth CircleMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
College/higher education
Illustrations
Worked examples or Exercises; 6 Line drawings, black and white
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
574 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-108-42495-0 (9781108424950)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Thomas H. Ford
Wordsworth and the Poetics of Air
Book
06/2020
Cambridge University Press
€49.10
Shipment within 15-20 days

Thomas H. Ford
Wordsworth and the Poetics of Air
E-Book
07/2018
Cambridge University Press
€21.99
Available for download

Thomas H. Ford
Wordsworth and the Poetics of Air
E-Book
06/2018
Cambridge University Press
€88.99
Available for download
Person
Thomas H. Ford is a Lecturer in the School of Culture and Communication at the University of Melbourne. He has translated Boris Groys's The Communist Postscript (2010), co-edited A Cultural History of Climate Change (2016), and had articles published in journals including New Literary History, ELH, European Romantic Review and Australian Literary Studies.
Content
1. Atmospheric Romanticism; 2. Atmospheric mediation; 3. Romantic meteorology; 4. Atmospheric aesthetics; 5. In the breathing chamber: 'lines written a few miles above'.