Summary
Alford, Steven E. Irony and the
Logic of the Romantic Imagination.
New York: P. Lang, 1984.
PT3503 .S7 A75
Summary by Chris Dotson
In Irony and the Logic of the Romantic
Imagination, Alford himself seems
to take a rather ironic stance at
the beginning. He says, "The poetry
doesn't please and instruct; it simply
seems to be a record or the disordered
emotional states of people who place
their emotional `sensitivity' over
coherence." He also says later,
"The problem with Romantic writing
is that it seems to lack any content.
When we strip away the ornamentation,
nothing seems to remain." After
these rather nasty statements are
made, Alford goes on to say why this
is the case, using irony as a reason.
The aim of irony, in Blake and Schlegel
particularly, is apparently "to affect
the understanding at the behest of
the imagination."
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Jesse D. Hurlbut--Last Updated November 15, 1993