Poetic Form and Romantic Provocation

"An elegant, sharply argued, and engaging intervention in conversations on affect studies, ontologies, and materialism."-Jacques Khalip, Brown University "With stunning formal readings of the poetics of anticipation and disappointment, and a transformative account of Romanticism's Spinozist undercurrents, Mathes's elegant book offers a new and exciting framework for thinking about the intertwining of poetry and affect."-Lily Gurton-Wachter, Smith College "In contributing to dynamic inquiries at the core of contemporary Romantic literary studies, Poetic Form and Romantic Provocation is a significant achievement. The book introduces new approaches to Romantic literature and opens opportunities for further scholarship."-Stephen Dedeschi, Review 19 "Mathes's keenly immersive, glittering formalist readings do not eschew politics, nor poetry's instrumental potential. Her study deliberately draws upon the musical language underlying critics' approach to poetry's material presence in order to unsettle the sociopolitical resonances that have accrued around notions of harmony and discord-here, crucial to conveying the tentative shape and space of our shared world."-Samantha Botz, European Romantic Review "Overall, Mathes's close readings of the provocations of poetic form are especially illuminating: Charlotte Smith's sharp voltas and extended meters, Wordsworth's prosy lyrics and transgressed boundaries, and Keats's four missing beats. When these lyric provocations expand to interrogate social cohesion or Spinozist ethics, the results are themselves provocative. At its best, the book corrals a wide range of concepts and methods-Romantic psychologies of reading, affect theory, and careful attention to form."-Jeanne Britton, The Coleridge Bulletin