Romanticism: Keywords

To gain an understanding of any literary era, one should be exposed to the language of its time and place in history. This is especially critical when considering the innovations in creativity introduced during Europe’s Romantic era. Romanticism Keywords offers readers an invaluable collection of 70 key terms most frequently discussed by authors of the Romantic period—and most often deliberated and debated by contemporary critics and literary historians of the era. From Abolition and Allegory through Madness and Monsters to Vision and Vampires, each entry is accompanied by an in–depth description of the term’s direct meaning and connotations in relation to its usage and thought in British literary culture. Collectively, the terms represent a time capsule to the ideas and concerns that shaped the literature of an age of revolution, social and political reconstruction, impassioned individualism, and probing subjectivity. In introducing and defining the terms that characterized the era, Romanticism Keywords is an indispensable resource for developing a conceptual understanding of Romantic aesthetics—and provides deep insights into the political, social, and cultural climate of one of the most expressive periods of Western literary history.

Introduction A Abolition Allegory Antiquarianism Art for Art’s Sake Associationism Autobiography B Bardolatry Bluestockings C Childhood Colonialism Crime D Dandyism Dialectics Dreams E Ekphrasis Eroticism F Folklore G Genius Gothic Grotesque Gusto H Harlequinade Hellenism Higher Criticism Homosexuality I Illusion Imagination Imitation Incest Inspiration M Madness Medievalism Melancholy Melodrama Mesmerism Metaliterature Metonomy Monsters Mythopoeia N Nature Necessitarianism Negative Capability O Organicism Orientalism P Pantheism Parody Passion Pathetic Fallacy Picturesque Poetic Form Prometheus R Reflection Reform Religion Revolution Rights Romanticism Romantic Irony Ruins S Satire Science Sensibility Solitude Sublime Supernaturalism Symbol Sympathy T Transcendentalism Translation Travel V Vampire Aesthetics Vision W Women’s Rights Index

Frederick Burwick is Research Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. The author or editor of 30 books and more than 140 scholarly articles, Burwick is also co–editor of the three–volume Encyclopedia of Romanticism (2012). Other recent publications include Romantic Drama: Acting and Reacting (2009) and Playing to the Crowd, London Popular Theatre, 1780–1830 (2011).