Download or read book Ruins and Empire written by Laurence Goldstein and published by University of Pittsburgh Pre. This book was released on 1977-07-15 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the most common scenes in Augustan and Romantic literature is that of a writer confronting some emblem of change and loss, most often the remains of a vanished civilization or a desolate natural landscape. Ruins and Empire traces the ruin sentiment from its earliest classical and Renaissance expressions through English literature to its establishment as a dominant theme of early American art.