The Romantic Imagination and Astronomy On All Sides Infinity

The Romantic Imagination and Astronomy is the first book to reconstruct the history of the science of astronomy and its importance to the Romantic imagination in exploration and colonization by imperial England. It examines how the science of astronomy in exploration and discovery, from Edmund Halley and William Herschel to Captain Cook, changed the world by tying the 'pure' science of astronomy to the practical, commercial, and martial aims of navigation for the maritime nation of England. It demonstrates that the same 'pure' science of astronomy also fueled the Romantic poetic imagination, influencing the evolution of form and content of poetry — from formation of the greater Romantic lyric of Barbauld and Coleridge, to the fantastic narratives of Keats and Shelley.

Dometa Brothers is an Assistant Professor of British Literature at Iowa State University. She has published articles and book chapters on Romantic poetry and the history of science and mathematics, ecosemiotics, and travel writing.

Acknowledgements
Introduction
1.The First International Event and the First 'New' Planet: Expanding the Globe and Confronting Infinity
2.Barbauld: 'Embryo Systems and Unkindled Suns'
3.Coleridge: Herschel, and Cosmogonical Time
4.John Herschel and Mary Somerville: Astronomical Legacy and the Proprietary British Scientist
5.Astronomy and Empire: The Pathos of Demystification in Lamia and The Witch of Atlas
6.Rossetti: Reconciliation and Recursivity
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index