Wordsworth and the Empirical Dilemma |
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| Author:
| Hewitt, Regina |
| Series title: | American University Studies |
| ISBN: | 978-0-8204-1358-7 |
| Publication Date: | Aug 1990 |
| Publisher: | Peter Lang Publishing, Incorporated
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| Book Format: | Hardback |
| List Price: | USD $50.50 |
Book Description:
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Departing from the familiar view of Wordsworth as an encomiast of shared ideas, this study finds him engaged in a revaluation of a consensual ideal privileged by most other heirs to British Empiricism. Hewitt argues that Wordsworth faced the isolating tendencies within his cultural tradition by accepting individual limits and that he devised a poetics to help his contemporaries explore how respect for individuality can foster a viable community. Insights from reader-response theories...
More DescriptionDeparting from the familiar view of Wordsworth as an encomiast of shared ideas, this study finds him engaged in a revaluation of a consensual ideal privileged by most other heirs to British Empiricism. Hewitt argues that Wordsworth faced the isolating tendencies within his cultural tradition by accepting individual limits and that he devised a poetics to help his contemporaries explore how respect for individuality can foster a viable community. Insights from reader-response theories help Hewitt probe Wordsworth's involvement with his audience, develop new interpretations of poems from An Evening Walk to The Excursion, 1790's lyrics to 1820's sonnets, and offer a new perspective on Wordsworth's «egotism» and «decline».