Romanticism

The change in status of Scotland, distinguished by Duncan et al. as being from ’Romantic commodity’ to being ’a site of Romantic production’, from Romantic Scotland to Scottish Romanticism, is the topic of this chapter. Assessing Blair's career and achievements in relation to more familiar categories of ’Romanticism’ demonstrates how appreciating a broad sweep of Scottish writers expands the possibilities of Romantic thought and periodisation. Addressing ’Romantic Blair’ necessitates addressing critical dilemmas in current scholarly debate beyond Romantic and literary studies, including the relationship between literary and religious discourse in the late eighteenth century and the question of the critical purchase to be gained on texts such as sermons. The chapter offers an outline of a critical approach to Blair's Sermons through a consideration of them as a version of the ’Romantic’.