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 73 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 of 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.
