Romantic Poetry: An Annotated Anthology

" ... this anthology's real strength lies in its wide-ranging, brilliant, and erudite annotations, which sometimes occupy as much space as the poetry itself.  One could nearly read this volume in lieu of formal instruction.  Packed with wonderful readings, excellent references (and recommendations for additional reading), extremely helpful footnotes, and engaging attention to the workings of form, Romantic Poetry:  An Annotated Anthology could make a significant contribution to many instructors, students, and general readers." (Keats-Shelley Journal)

"The head notes and commentary will prove invaluable, as they expertly identify literary sources and allusions.... The extensive biographies are superb, especially Charles Mahoney's on Keats, and the suggestions for further reading helpful ... Romantic Poetry does what it sets out to do and is a useful new addition to Blackwell's ongoing series of annotated anthologies." (Keats-Shelley Reviews, December 2008)

"The editors have a particular commitment to the role that an appreciation of poetic form can play in critical understanding, and it is on account of this formal detail that the anthology is so valuable. Introductory headnotes elucidate the subtleties of each poem's craft, while footnotes comment on line endings, rhyme patterns, and other features of the text. Some comments are so brilliantly incisive as to deserve separate publication, such as the account of the metre of Christabel: 'each line seems like a stealthy event' (p. 207). Without question, this is by far the best way that any reader could be introduced to these poets, and the anthology is careful not to suggest that an attention to poetic detail precludes other types of investigation. Understanding how a poem creates meaning, however, is the vital first step, and for this reason Romantic Poetry: An Annotated Anthology will doubtless be the standard teaching anthology for many years." Year's Work of English Studies (2010)

 

"Romantic Poetry is the ideal anthology for students and specialists alike, defining a new canon of ten Romantic poets and reflecting the full diversity of Romantic poetic forms. All readers will welcome the freshly-edited texts, the authoritative headnotes and annotations, and the thought-provoking introduction. Edited by two leading scholars of Romanticism, the new Blackwell anthology of Romantic poetry will be the first choice for the classroom, library, and private study."
–Nicholas Roe, University of St Andrews

"This is a welcome and usefully up-to-date new anthology, providing, in a concise and manageable selection, a genuinely representative overview of the canon of romantic poetry, as it is comprised today by the works of poets of both sexes. O’Neill’s excellent introduction pulls off the difficult feat of offering, to the first-time reader or student, a coherent and accessible summary of its subject without being reductive or overly simplifying. The introduction is nicely complemented by the thematically divided list of texts, particularly user-friendly from the undergraduate point of view. Prefaces, which address both individual poems as well as each poet more generally, are critical rather than merely informative; the annotations too, are more detailed and explanatory than the more minimal glosses usually provided in comparable publications."
–Uttara Natarajan, Goldsmiths College, University of London