Chris Townsend. George Berkeley and Romanticism: Ghostly Language.

This text focuses on the influence of philosopher George Berkeley on British Romanticism, as explored in a detailed study that addresses a previously overlooked connection. The study argues that Berkeley’s empirical idealism and concept of "ghostly language" provided philosophical foundations for Romantic themes such as spiritual knowledge and the critique of Enlightenment rationalism. It examines Berkeley’s impact on key Romantic figures—William Blake, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Wordsworth, and Percy Bysshe Shelley—highlighting how each engaged with Berkeley’s ideas in distinct ways while ultimately modifying his immaterialism. The work contributes to Romantic scholarship by revealing Berkeley’s nuanced role in shaping the philosophical and poetic dimensions of Romantic thought.