British Children's Poetry in the Romantic Era Verse, Riddle, and Rhyme

British Children's Poetry in the Romantic Era: Verse, Riddle, and Rhyme is a thorough study of secular children's verse between 1780 and 1835. Donelle Ruwe reveals the formula for Romantic-era children's poetry and considers the creation of a children's poetry canon, the rise of sentimental children's verse, the first verse-novel for children, and the fads for fantasy poems, rhyming puzzles, and versified study guides. Through in-depth historical research, Ruwe challenges the myths behind the significance of the groundbreaking Original Poems for Infant Minds and also explores the breakout hits from this collection, Ann Taylor's 'My Mother' and Adelaide O'Keeffe's 'The Use of Sight'. This book highlights the manuscript poems of Sara Coleridge, the challenging children's verse of Charlotte Smith, and the impact of Madame de Genlis, John Aikin, Elizabeth Turner, Rousseau, Barbauld, Watts, and Blake on the development of a children's poetry aesthetic.

Donelle Ruwe is Professor of English at Northern Arizona University, USA, and Co-President of the 18th and 19th-Century British Women Writers Association. She has edited Culturing the Child, 1690-1914: Essays in Memory of Mitzi Myers (2005) and has published two award-winning poetry chapbooks. Her work has appeared in Children's Literature, Eighteenth-Century Life, European Romantic Review, English Journal, and Lion and the Unicorn.

Introduction
1. Reading Romantic-Era Children's Verse
2. Myths of Origin: Original Poems for Infant Minds
3. The Mother Attitudes: Ann Taylor's "My Mother" and the Rise of the Sentimental
4. Teaching Nature and Nationalism: Adelaide O'Keeffe and the Poetry of Active Learning
5. Utilitarian Poetry: Versified Study Guides and Riddles, and the Handmade Verse Cards of Sara Coleridge
6. The Limits of the Romantic-Era Children's Poem: The Case of The Butterfly's Ball