Events in the lives of leading figures in the romantic age are placed in their historical context in this useful chronology. Covering the period from 1780 to 1832, a month-by-month summary depicts milestones in the lives of major writers and other prominent personalities alongside significant political and cultural events. The emphasis is on some major British authors, including familiar figures such as Austen, Blake, Byron, Burns, Coleridge, Keats and Walter Scott. However, many lesser writers also feature including Hemans and Elizabeth Landon. This is not all, as publishers, scientists, artists, politicians and composers are also included.
The work is the latest volume in a well-regarded series of author chronologies, and the author is an established authority on English literature. With a considerable amount of primary material available, it has been possible for him to tease out a wealth of detail from letters, diaries and notebooks besides having access to a number of excellent biographical and bibliographical secondary sources. The work is a testament to a prodigious amount of research. The amount of detail in its pages is impressive. Publication details of both major and minor works are listed alongside personal details such as the travels of authors such as Wordsworth, Keats and Peacock as well as more colourful episodes such as Lady Caroline Lamb’s attempt to stab herself in front of Byron in 1813. Significant historical events such as the Spithead naval mutiny in 1797 are listed alongside Thomas Girtin’s exhibition of watercolours at the Royal Academy.
The ease with which information can be extracted makes this a particularly valuable reference tool. Three excellent indexes facilitate access to even the most obscure detail. The Author/Name Index leads us to all the important milestones in lives of the major figures, but it also directs us to the more peripheral characters such as Babbage and Beddoes. The Title Index is extremely broad with all the predictable publication histories of works such as The Heart of Midlothian alongside lesser works such as Juvenilia by Branwell and Charlotte Bronte as well as paintings such as Blake’s Loaves and Fishes. The third index is a Subject Index, and this covers places and a wide variety of topics ranging from atomic weights to the Greenock Burns Club. These excellent indexes make retrieval of a wealth of fascinating information in the chronology highly rewarding.
The amount of detail contained within its pages is impressive. It will be an indispensable resource for all those with an interest in the romantic period. So many snippets of fascinating information flesh out the lives of some of our greatest literary and cultural personalities. It should be on the shelves of all institutions teaching English literature at tertiary level, but there is much within its pages to delight the general reader.
