Revision and Romantic Authorship

The Romantic author is often portrayed as spontaneous, extemporizing, otherworldly, and alone. Zachary Leader argues that this influential fiction is much in need of revision. Romantic attitudes to authorship profess a preference for what comes naturally, with a concomitant devaluing of secondary processes, including second thoughts, yet many Romantic writers such as Wordsworth, Byron, Keats, Coleridge, Clare, and Mary Shelley revised their works. Revision and Romantic Authorship looks at the revisionary practices of these writers, showing that second thoughts (including those of collaborators) in fact play a crucial role in "Romantic" composition.