As the title suggests, this collection in the Ashgate Nineteenth Century series covers an impressive range of material, working as it does with a very broad definition of Romanticism- from William Cowper's writings in the early 1780's to Wallace Stevens' work in the late-twentieth-century. The collection attempts a re-reading of the key literary figures of Romanticism - Shelley, Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats, and Byron - in the light of a postmodern return to religion, or, what Gavin Hopps and Jane Stabler term the postmodern 'theological turn'. Hopps and Stabler begin by discussing the once 'vital interruptive force' of secular criticism which challenged the 'totalising hold' of religious interpretation of Romantic writings. They suggest that this vital force extended too far, that the questioning of religious content became a dogmatic refusal of such. Moving away, then, from an overly secular or even secularist criticism of Romanticism - as epitomised by Jerome McGann - many of the contributors to this collection undertake a re-examination of the relationships between Romanticism and its religious influences and intentions.

The collection comprises fourteen highly interesting chapters. Particularly notable are Vincent Newey's fascinating reading of William Cowper's poetry in relation to a Romantic and religious anxiety about the relationship of self and nature. He also links this with an inevitable influence on contemporary environmentalist concerns. The relationship between scientific and religious influences in the upbringing of Byron in Presbyterian Scotland is astutely discussed by Christine Kenyon Jones who makes some intriguing connections between the concerns of Byron's Cain and the writings of the Scottish minister Dr Thomas Chalmers. Edward Burns' wittily titled study, 'Byron's Monk-y Business: Ghostly Closure and Comic Continuity,' explores Byron's fascination with the figure of the monk which recurs throughout his work. Burns considers the possibility that Byron is, in a sense, haunted by this figure which comes to represent the liminal space between the sacred and the profane that Bryon often treads.

A collection which aims to address such a wide historical range as this will always encounter challenges, and at times the collection does seem to be spread a little too thinly. Moreover, in attempting to redress the imbalance given to Byron studies in other Romanticism collections by dedicating just under half of its content to Byron alone (six out of fourteen chapters) this occasionally feels too heavily weighted in one direction. Whilst Byron scholars will find a wealth of scholarly and fascinating discussion, scholars of Romanticism more generally may be disappointed to find that other canonical figures feature only occasionally.

In all though, Romanticism and Religion from William Cowper to Wallace Stevens offers a highly scholarly, interesting and refreshing collection of essays which demonstrate some new and exciting applications of post-secular thinking to the study of Romanticism.

Gemma Twitchen (Loughborough University)

More details about this book can be found at the Ashgate Press website.