Attar, S: Borrowed Imagination

By Samar Attar

Borrowed Imagination: The British Romantic Poets and Their Arabic-Islamic Sources deals with the influence of specific Arabic materials on English Romantic poetry during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. It reflects on philosophers and literary and cultural critics' neglect of the role played by Arabs and Muslims in helping the British Romantic poets develop their themes, characters, imagery, and narrative modes. It also highlights the ambiguous feeling of the poets themselves toward the East.

Table of ContentsPrefaceIntroduction. The English Romantic Poets: Their Background, Their Country's History, and the Sources that Influenced Their Literary OutputChapter One. Borrowed Imagination in the Wake of Terror: Samuel Taylor Coleridge and the Arabian NightsChapter Two. The Riots of Colors, Sights, and Sounds: John Keats' Melancholic Lover and the EastChapter Three. The Natural Goodness of Man: William Wordsworth's Journey from the Sensuous to the SublimeChapter Four. Poetic Intuition and Mystic Vision: William Blake's Quest for Equality and FreedomChapter Five. The Interrogation of Political and Social Systems: Percy Bysshe Shelley's Call for Drastic Societal ChangeChapter Six. The Infatuation With Personal, Political, and Poetic Freedom: George Gordon Byron and his Byronic HeroConclusion. How Valid is Kipling's Phrase that East and West Can Never Meet?BibliographyAppendicesAbout the authorIndex