Wordsworth, Hemans, and Politics, 1800–1830

Wordsworth, Hemans, and Politics, 1800–1830: Romantic Crises is a study of the political lives of William Wordsworth and Felicia Hemans between 1800 and 1830. Benjamin Kim argues that the dominant paradigm for their political thought was that of “crisis.” Obsessed with the mysterious connections between the individual, the home, and the state, Wordsworth and Hemans portrayed all three in a common crisis that would be resolved in the future. Both writers articulated historical moments when the tenuousness of the present society gives glimpses into a future one. Wordsworth, Hemans, and Politics presents revisionary readings of major works and contributes to long-standing discussions on a number of different topics such as dissenting politics, poor relief, gender roles in peace and wartime, and the nature of historical memory. By focusing on the dramatic nature of the narratives of crisis, Kim adds complexity to the master narratives of the Romantic period that so often limit and simplify political expression.