CONTENTS

I.[COMMON CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PERIOD]
II.[NATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS]
III.[THE POLITICAL BACKGROUND]
IV.[THE BEGINNINGS OF NATURALISM]
V.[STRENGTH AND SINCERITY OF THE LOVE OF NATURE]
VI.[RURAL LIFE AND ITS POETRY]
VII.[NATURALISTIC ROMANTICISM]
VIII.[THE LAKE SCHOOL'S CONCEPTION OF LIBERTY]
IX.[THE LAKE SCHOOL'S ORIENTAL ROMANTICISM]
X.[HISTORICAL NATURALISM]
XI.[ALL-EMBRACING SENSUOUSNESS]
XII.[THE POETRY OF IRISH OPPOSITION AND REVOLT]
XIII.[EROTIC LYRIC POETRY]
XIV.[THE BRITISH SPIRIT OF FREEDOM]
XV.[REPUBLICAN HUMANISM]
XVI.[RADICAL NATURALISM]
XVII.[BYRON: THE PASSIONATE PERSONALITY]
XVIII.[BYRON: THE PASSIONATE PERSONALITY—(Continued)]
XIX.[BYRON: HIS SELF-ABSORPTION]
XX.[BYRON: THE REVOLUTIONARY SPIRIT]
XXI.[COMIC AND TRAGIC REALISM]
XXII.[CULMINATION OF NATURALISM]
XXIII.[BYRON'S DEATH]
XXIV.[CONCLUSION]

LIST OF PORTRAITS
[WORDSWORTH]
[COLERIDGE]
[SCOTT]
[KEATS]
[MOORE]
[SHELLEY]
[BYRON]

"I am as a spirit who has dwelt
Within his heart of hearts; and I have felt
His feelings, and have thought his thoughts, and known
The inmost converse of his soul, the tone
Unheard but in the silence of his blood,
When all the pulses in their multitude
Image the trembling calm of summer seas.
I have unlocked the golden melodies
Of his deep soul as with a master-key,
And loosened them, and bathed myself therein—
Even as an eagle in a thunder-mist
Clothing his wings with lightning."
—SHELLEY (Fragment).