Romantic Writing and Pedestrian Travel

Book excerpt: Argues that much Romantic literature stemmed from the rise of pedestrian touring and the popularization of recreational walking in the last quarter of the 18th century. Jarvis (U. of the West of England) reconstructs the walking scene in Britain and on the Continent in the 1790s, analyzing the mentality and motives of the early pedestrian traveller. He then discusses the impact of this cultural revolution on the creativity of major romantic writers, focusing especially on William and Dorothy Wordsworth, Coleridge, Clare, Keats, Hazlitt, and Hunt. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.