ABSTRACT
Romantic literature of the first generation was wartime literature. This chapter discusses the history of the period of British Romanticism and the position of writers in that period. It focuses on the changed conditions for authorship in the period and in particular at what these meant for women writers. The chapter also discusses the figure of the Romantic artist. The period of Romantic writing is also the period in which Britain became an industrial nation. Published women writers were mostly wealthy and well connected, having access to publishers and to other writers and artists. Maria Edgeworth defends women's writing only against the charge that it is an idle pursuit. The women writers are all seem content with received literary forms and people have noted the importance that Romantic writers gave to novelty. William Wordsworth's 'forms' are threatening emanations of Nature, Mary Shelley's are constructed from Nature.
