| The purpose of this study is to argue that children's stories by many writers of the Romantic period were written not, as so often thought, to reinforce rigorously good behavior in children, but in order to promote gradual reform in British culture and public policies. Though others such as Mitzi Myers have written on the subversive nature of Romantic children's literature, no one has yet presented a comprehensive study of Romantic children's literature as a rich forum for debate in areas of pedagogy, gender, religion, social reform, race, and imperialism. Only a holistic examination of Romantic children's authors' voices in their literature showcases children's literature as the period's most conversant genre—where cross-writing allowed authors to take risks in their children's stories which they could not always do in their other writings. Because most children's literature of the period was written by women, the majority of this study will focus on women writers such as Mary Wollstonecraft, Charlotte Smith, Anna Letitia Barbauld, and Maria Edgeworth. But writers such as William Blake and Charles Lamb also wrote for children in a way that responded to and engaged in the politics of the period. Specifically, this study examines the politics of pedagogy, gender, religion, and charity, as well as the politics of race and imperialism in children's literature of the Romantic era. |
