Kenning, Douglas

About the author: Dr. Kenning received his PhD from the University of Edinburgh. He is currently an Associate Professor of English Literature a Fukuoka Jo Gakuin College. He has recently published The Romanticism of 17th Century Japanese Poetry with Mellen in 1998.

Necessity, Freedom and Transcendence in the Romantic Poets: A Failed Religion

1998 0-7734-8347-0
This work takes another look at the old and vexed question of freewill and determinism and the way they define our ethics. Especially interesting is how they form the frame of those great works where literature and religion merge. This study traces a clear and fascinating narrative through the thought of the major British Romantic poets, from its rise in Wordsworth and Coleridge, through Shelley and Keats, to its decline with Byron. Chapter Headings include: Preface; Definitions; Mechanical Necessity; Freedom as Liberty; Teleological Necessity; The Liberty of Obedience; Separateness.

The Romanticism of 17th Century Japanese Poetry

1997 0-7734-8478-7
This Romantic look at Zen poetry examines the historical situation and developments in Japan and points out the parallels between English Romanticism and the poetics of the Kambun and Genroku periods, and especially shómon poets of the Japanese 17th century. It illuminates the way in which extra-poetic forces shape the poetry of an age with a comparison of poetic expression between cultures entirely isolated from each other.