Romanticism and Childhood

Ann Wierda Rowland is an Associate Professor of English Literature at the University of Kansas. She has published articles on William Wordsworth, Walter Scott, the Romantic ballad revival, the Romantic novel and sentimental fiction.

• Introduction: the infantilization of British literary culture; Part I. History of an Analogy: 'For the Savage is to Ages What the Child is to Years': 1. The child is father of the man; 2. Infancy, poetry and the origins of language; 3. Becoming human: animal, infant and developmental literary culture in the Romantic period; Part II. Prattle and Trifles: 4. Retentive ears and prattling mouths: popular antiquarianism and childhood memory; 5. One child's trifle is another man's relic: popular antiquarianism and childhood; 6. The layers and forms of the child's mind: Scott, Wordsworth and antiquarianism.

'Rowland provides a masterful discussion of literature … a rich presentation of Enlightenment and Romantic philosophical traditions.' Donelle Ruwe, European Romantic Review