A Defence of Wandering

"Wandering" in the sense indicated in the title of this book concerns the fact that within the ambit of German and English literature since the days of Shakespeare words based on the root of the verbs 'to wander' and 'wandern' appear with great frequency and prominence in such titles as "Wandrers Nachtlied" and "I wandered lonely as a cloud." Is it not strange then that very little interest has been taken in this phenomenon on the part of leading literary critics and scholars with one or two notable exceptions? One reason for this neglect might lie in intransient attitudes and dogmatic theories that deny the very relevance of high literature to all things external in common life, social conditions and the quest for truth.