Born out of the French Revolution and its radical faith that a nation could be shaped and altered by the dreams and visions of its people, British Romantic poetry was founded on a belief that the objects and realities of our world — whether natural or human — are not fixed in stone but can be molded and transformed by the visionary eye of the poet.

This key Romantic notion — that the external world is, in part, a projection of the mood of the poet — found its first full flowering in two collections of poetry that serve as entrée to the rich and vibrant world of British Romantic poetry: William Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience and Wordsworth's and Coleridge's Lyrical Ballads.

Louis Markos, professor in English, scholar in residence and Robert H. Ray Chair in humanities at Houston Baptist University, explores how these visionary poets viewed images and events through both innocent and experienced eyes, describing them with a wonder that lends an air of the mystical, while presenting the strange and supernatural with an emotional intensity and psychological truth that makes them seem real and natural.