Examines the origins of English Romantic poetry.

"The author provides detailed comparisons of the novels of Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte and George Eliot, showing how their styles differ and why the differences are significant. He discusses their unique forms of characterization, point of view and imagery." Book Jacket.

In arguing that literary criticism needs to reestablish connections with a wide range of social activities, Kroeber offers new means to develop mutually enriching interactions between humanistic and scientific modes of assessing humankind's dependence on the natural environment. In this book, he focuses attention on the English Romantic poets who sought to describe and evaluate the natural origins of human culture. -- book cover.