British Literature: Romanticism

A late 18c and early 19c movement in art, literature and music, characterized by an emphasis on feelings and emotions, often using imagery taken from nature, and creating forms which are relatively free from rules and set orders. MORE

From Encyclopedia of the Romantic Era, 1760-1850
In popular cultural reception, the literary legacy of “Romanticism” tends to be identified with the idea of “imagination.” MORE

From The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales
Although Romanticism appeared in Wales at the end of the 18th century, its roots are to be found in the work of antiquarians at the end of the 17th, with their enthusiasm for the remote Celtic and druidic past. MORE

English novelist, noted particularly for the insight and delicate irony of her portrayal of middle-class families. MORE

British writer of ballads and historical novels, a genre he developed. His works include Waverley (1814) and Ivanhoe (1819). MORE

British feminist and writer, author of A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792); wife of William Godwin and mother of Mary Shelley. MORE

William Blake, born in London where he spent all but three years of his life, was both poet and visionary artist. MORE

English Romantic poet; major works include Don Juan (1819-24) and Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812-18). MORE

British poet; author of spurious medieval verse and prose: he committed suicide at the age of 17. MORE

English poet, critic, and philosopher; well-known for poems such as The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798) and Kubla Khan (1816). MORE

English poet. His finest poetry is contained in Lamia and other Poems (1820), which includes The Eve of St Agnes, Hyperion, and the odes On a Grecian Urn, To a Nightingale, To Autumn, and To Psyche. MORE

English poet and essayist. He lived much of his life abroad, dying in Florence, where he had fled to avoid a libel suit in 1858. MORE

Poet and political thinker, born at Field Place, near Horsham, West Sussex, S England, UK. MORE

Southey was born at Bristol on 12 August 1774, and died at his home near Keswick, Cumberland, on 21 March 1843. MORE

English poet, born in Cockermouth, Cumberland. One of the great English poets, he was a leader of the romantic movement in England. MORE