Category: Poetry and the Romantic Tradition

June 3, 2019

Romantic Irony (Part 2)

(Pictured: Saint Augustine of Hippo.) I am happy to present the second post of Chapter VII of Rousseau and Romanticism, “Romantic Irony,” by which the romantics stand aloof from what they consider mere rationalism...

Poetry and the Romantic Tradition

April 26, 2019

Romantic Irony (Part I)

(Pictured: Ludwig Tieck.) I am happy to present the first post of Chapter VII of Rousseau and Romanticism, “Romantic Irony,” by which the romantics stand aloof from what they consider mere rationalism and philistinism....

Poetry and the Romantic Tradition

April 7, 2019

Romantic Love (Part 3)

(Pictured: George Sand.) I am happy to present the third and concluding post of Chapter VI of Rousseau and Romanticism, “Romantic Love,” in which Irving Babbitt shows that the romantic lover’s “ever-fleeting” object of...

Poetry and the Romantic Tradition

March 15, 2019

Romantic Love (Part 2)

(Pictured: Antigone.) I am happy to present the second post of Chapter VI of Rousseau and Romanticism, “Romantic Love,” in which Irving Babbitt shows that the romantic lover’s “ever-fleeting” object of desire only turns...

Poetry and the Romantic Tradition

February 25, 2019

Romantic Love (Part 1)

Babbitt shows that the romantic lover’s “ever-fleeting” object of desire only turns out in the end to be the lover himself in disguise.

Poetry and the Romantic Tradition

February 1, 2019

Romantic Morality: The Real (Part 6)

(Pictured: Alfred de Musset.) I am happy to present the sixth and final post of Chapter V, “Romantic Morality: The Real,” in which Irving Babbitt addresses the descent of the romantics from altruistic idealism...

Poetry and the Romantic Tradition

January 10, 2019

Romantic Morality: The Real (Part 5)

(Pictured: Robert Browning.) I am happy to present the fifth post of Chapter V, “Romantic Morality: The Real,” in which Irving Babbitt addresses the descent of the romantics from altruistic idealism to egoistic realism,...

Poetry and the Romantic Tradition

December 28, 2018

Romantic Morality: The Real (Part 4)

“[T]o deal aesthetically with truth is an error of the first magnitude….”

Poetry and the Romantic Tradition

November 30, 2018

Romantic Morality: The Real (Part 3)

(Pictured: Friedrich Nietzsche.) I am happy to present the third post of Chapter V, “Romantic Morality: The Real,” in which Irving Babbitt addresses the descent of the romantics from altruistic idealism to egoistic realism, both...

Poetry and the Romantic Tradition

November 18, 2018

Romantic Morality: The Real (Part 2)

(Pictured: Bismarck.) I am happy to present the second post of Chapter V, “Romantic Morality: The Real,” in which Babbitt addresses the descent of the romantics from altruistic idealism to egoistic realism, both representing...