Grounded in the thought of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, this text explores the religious dimensions of imagination in the Romantic tradition, both theoretically and in the poetry of Wordsworth and Coleridge. J. Barth suggests that we may look to Coleridge for the theoretical grounding of the view of religious imagination proposed in this book, but that it is in Wordsworth above all that we see this imagination at work. Barth first discusses the relationship between Romanticism and religion, arguing that the Romantic imagination - with the symbolic import of its very nature - has religious implications. He studies the role of religious experience in Wordsworth, using
The Prelude
as a privileged source. After comparing the conception of humanity and God in Wordsworth and Coleridge, Barth considers the role of religious experience and imagery in two of Coleridge’s central poetic texts,
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
and
Christabel . Barth examines the continuing role of the Romantic idea of the religious imagination today and concludes this book by linking it with the thought of theologian Karl Rahner and literary critic George Steiner.
Romanticism and Transcendence
brings together literary theory, poetry and religious experience, areas that are inter-related but are not often seen in relationship. By exploring levels of Wordsworth and Coleridge’s poetry that are often ignored, Barth provides a poignant understanding of how and why the imagination was so important to their sense of poetry. He also demonstrates how rich with religious value and meaning poetry itself can be. The interdisciplinary nature of this study should make it useful not only to Wordsworth and Coleridge scholars and other romantic specialists, but also to anyone concerned with the intellectual history of the 19th century and to theologians in general.