Natural Supernaturalism

M.H. Abrams's magisterial study of the Romantic Age transformed our understanding of the literature produced between 1789 and 1835. Winner of the MLA's James Russell Lowell Prize, this landmark work reveals how Romantic poets and philosophers secularized traditional theological concepts, creating a new imaginative framework that continues to shape modern consciousness.

Abrams demonstrates that Wordsworth, Coleridge, Blake, Shelley, and Keats shared profound philosophical preoccupations beyond their individual styles. Their revolutionary writings participated in a comprehensive intellectual movement that manifested across England and Germany, causally linked to the era's dramatic political and social transformations. The book's brilliant central insight—that Romantic ideas represented "secularized versions of traditional theological concepts, imagery, and design"—illuminates continuities between religious tradition and literary revolution.

This 1973 W.W. Norton paperback edition made Abrams's erudite scholarship accessible to students and general readers. The work remains essential reading for anyone seeking to understand how Romantic literature emerged from and transcended Enlightenment thought, establishing patterns that echo through contemporary culture.

Publishing Details: W.W. Norton & Company, New York, August 1973. Norton Library paperback edition. 550 pages.