The language of the senses

Description:

McSweeney discusses the sensory acuity that informs the finest achievements of Wordsworth, Coleridge, Thoreau, Whitman, and Dickinson and which, when blunted by illness or age, contributes to an attenuation of their creative power. He supplies a "sensory profile" or sensory history for each author and through close readings shows how this profile affected their relationship to the external world and their powers of symbolic perception.

subjects: American literature,  Emotions in literature,  English poetry,  History and criticism,  Intellectual life,  Perception in literature,  Poetry,  Psychological aspects,  Psychological aspects of Poetry,  Senses and sensation in literature,  Poesie anglaise,  Litterature americaine,  Letterkunde,  Histoire et critique,  Emoties,  Emotions dans la litterature,  Sens et sensations dans la litterature,  Sens et sensations dans la littérature,  Senses and sensation,  Critique et interprétation,  American,  Wahrnehmung,  American poetry,  Poésie anglaise,  Perception,  Littérature américaine,  General,  LITERARY CRITICISM,  Poésie américaine,  Thèmes, motifs,  Lyrik,  American poetry, history and criticism, 19th century

People: Emily Dickinson (1830-1886),  Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862),  Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834),  Walt Whitman (1819-1892),  William Wordsworth (1770-1850)

Places: English-speaking countries

Times: 19th century