Romantic Era

The dictionary defines the term romantic as displaying, expressive of, or conducive to love; imaginative but impractical; visionary; not based on fact; imaginary or fictitious; hence, fanciful; marvelous; extravagant; unreal. Much to my surprise this meaning and the meaning portrayed in its era of poetry are quite similar. The word romanticism has a complex and interesting history. In the Middle Ages 'romance' meant to compose or translate books in the vernacular. The work produced was …

…and forms of classicism, and rebellion against established social rules and conventions. The writers of this period saw older writing more genuine so they self-consciously reverted to earlier styles. Some of the main writers were Keats (When I Have Fears, La Belle Dame Sans Merci), Shelley (Ozymandias), Blake (The Sick Rose, Earth's Answer), Coleridge (Kubla Khan), Lord Byron (Stanzas For Music, She walks in Beauty) and Wordsworth (Most Sweet it is, Composed upon Westminster Bridge).