The Anthology presents the philosophy of British Romanticism as concerned with individuality and social mobility. The ideology was highly influenced by the ideals behind the various Revolutions happening concurrently with the movement. Politically, they were inward-looking. While conflict and revolution were rampant abroad, the country felt forced to close ranks. This lead to both fierce nationalism and an increasingly authoritarian government. However, it also brought about an exploration of the arts composed by authors, poets, and so on native to the collective nations under Great Britain's flag.
The women of the movement were large in number and popular in their day, but remained largely unstudied until recently. The Anthology discusses a number of the women, including Mary Robinson, Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary Shelley (There are lots of Marys in Romantic Literature), and Jane Austen, Their works were inspired by the social climate of the time, such as Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Women directly referencing the early French Revolutionary ideals, or Austen's Pride and Prejudice commenting on the stigmas associated with the upward mobility of the working classes at this time.
From what the Anthology provides, it seems like the women writers of the Romantic Period were more radical than their male counterparts. For instance, the Anthology describes Anna Laetitia Barbauld as "unusual" for having written a poem about humanity's effect on nature rather than the reverse, as well as her concern for the plight of the poor rural farmers that went more or less unremarked upon by contemporary writers.
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