Rambling and Romanticism: The Right to Roam
Rambling and Romanticism: The Right to Roam

Author(s): Mary Jacobus
Subject(s): Cultural history, 18th Century, 19th Century
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: Romantic literature; poetry; William Cowper; John Clare; Jane Austen; “right to roam” movement
Summary/Abstract: Rambling and roaming (the words are etymologically connected) form part of a tradition that has provided titles and subject-matter for literary works from the 18th century onwards. Enclosure of public land has long been associated with struggles over freedom of access, whether for grazing animals or for recreational walkers. Privatization and public infrastructure projects have galvanized a comparable modern movement. This article focuses on late 18th c. and early 19th c. writers (William Cowper, John Clare, and Jane Austen) arguing that our contemporary “right to roam” movement has a substantial cultural, literary, and political history stemming from the curtailment of public space and the “confinement” of those who wander, mentally or physically. Both rambling and roaming involve issues about well-being and rights, as well as literary formations and physical freedoms.

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