Compiles 70 of the key terms most frequently used or discussed by authors of the Romantic period - and most often deliberated by critics and literary historians of the era.* Offers an indispensable resource for understanding the ideas and differing interpretations that shaped the Romantic period* Includes keywords spanning Abolition and Allegory, through Madness and Monsters, to Vision and Vampires* Features in-depth descriptions of each entry's direct meaning and connotations in relation to its usage and thought in literary culture* Provides deep insights into the political, social, and cultural climate of one of the most expressive periods of Western literary history* Draws on the author's extensive experience of teaching, lecturing, and writing on Romantic literature

Introduction ixA 1Abolition 1Allegory 6Antiquarianism 10Art for Art's Sake 14Associationism 17Autobiography 21B 27Bardolatry 27Bluestockings 30C 34Childhood 34Colonialism 38Crime 43D 47Dandyism 47Dialectics 51Dreams 61E 66Ekphrasis 66Eroticism 73F 80Folklore 80G 84Genius 84Gothic 88Grotesque 92Gusto 99H 103Harlequinade 103Hellenism 106Higher Criticism 111Homosexuality 114I 119Illusion 119Imagination 123Imitation 127Incest 131Inspiration 137M 143Madness 143Medievalism 147Melancholy 150Melodrama 154Mesmerism 157Metaliterature (Metapoetry, Metafiction, Metadrama) 162Metonymy 171Monsters 176Mythopoeia 180N 185Nature 185Necessitarianism 189Negative Capability 192O 196Organicism 196Orientalism 200P 206Pantheism 206Parody 210Passion 213Pathetic Fallacy 217Picturesque 221Poetic Form 225Prometheus 229R 234Reflection 234Reform 238Religion 242Revolution 250Rights 255Romantic Irony 258Romanticism 267Ruins 272S 278Satire 278Science 282Sensibility 293Solitude 296Sublime 301Supernaturalism 306Symbol 312Sympathy 316T 321Transcendentalism 321Translation 325Travel 330V 338Vampire Aesthetics 338Vision 342W 347Women's Rights 347Index 353