This Enchanted Isle: The Neo-Romantic Vision from William Blake to the New Visionaries
This Enchanted Isle: The Neo-Romantic Vision from William Blake to the New Visionaries
December 16th, 2009 
admin 
Posted in Articles 
Tags: Blake, Enchanted, from, Isle, NeoRomantic, This, Vision, Visionaries, William
An engaged and polemical collection of essays, attractively produced.
Woodcock draws together within an historical overview a collection of writers, poets, artists and film-makers who could be said to locate an ‘essential’or transcendental Englishness in the landscape and the natural environment.
The broad scope limits complex critical discussion, but the book is a stimulating starting point for readers who want to explore the notion of Englishness in the context of Romantic and Neo-Romantic responses to the modern world.
What a shame about the errors! Would have benefited from a closer proof-reading: ‘Daphne and Chloe’[Daphnis], ‘Miss Haversham’[Havisham]- there are several more, and tend to distract the reader from the obvious commitment of the writer.
Rating: 3 / 5
I bought this book many years ago and still find myself being inspired when reading about some of the great Englishmen and women featured in its pages. From John Cowper Powys to William Blake, from Derek Jarman to Peter Ackroyd, and many many others, all of those featured have created brilliant art concerened with the hidden, the occult, the imaginary aspects of the of the British Isles, the genius loci of these lands. As mainstream culture becomes faster,more stupid,and mindlessly obsessed with multiculturalism and diversity, it is only books such as this that remind us of who and what is really important and must never be forgotten.
Rating: 5 / 5