English Romantic Literature

Encyclopedic Resources

The volumes that are most relevant to the researcher of Romantic literature are:

Vol. 93 British Romantic Poets, 1789-1832--1st Series
Vol. 96 British Romantic Poets, 1789-1832--2nd Series
Vol. 107 British Romantic Prose Writers, 1789-1832
Vol. 116 British Romantic Novelists, 1789-1832
Vol. 158 British Reform Writers, 1789-1832

Encyclopedia of the Romantic Era. Ed. John Murray. New York: Fitzroy Dearborn, 2004. (Koller-Collins Ref. NX 452.5 .R64 E53 2004)

A two-volume cultural encyclopedia containing 770 alphabetically arranged entries that discuss the individuals, texts, themes, concepts, and events that characterized the Romantic era in Britain, Europe, and America.

Companions to Romantic Literature

Companion to Romanticism. Ed. Duncan Wu. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1998. (Rush Rhees PR457 .C58 1998)

Emphasizing new theoretical approaches to Romantic literature, this resource provides introductory essays in four general areas: (1) the historical, intellectual, and literary contexts out of which Romanticism arose, (2) representative works of Romanticism, (3) the genres and modes of Romantic expression, and (4) divergent critical interpretations of Romanticism.

Oxford Companion to the Romantic Movement: British Culture 1776-1832. Ed. Iain McCalman. New York: Oxford UP, 1999. (Koller-Collins and Art/Music Library Ref. PR 447 .R64 1999)

A broad-ranging guide to the Romantic Movement in Britain. Part One of the guide contains 42 extended essays on the political, social, and philosophical forces that shaped British Romanticism. Part Two contains an alphabetically arranged list of shorter entries that compliment the essays of Part One.

Romanticism: An Oxford Guide. Ed. Nicholas Roe. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. (Koller-Collins PR 457 .R4575 2005

Essays on various aspects of Romantic literature and culture

Reviews of Research

Literature of the Romantic Period: A Bibliographical Guide. Ed. Michael O'Neil. Oxford: Clarendon--Oxford UP, 1998. (Rush Rhees Z 2013 .L58 1998 and as an ebook within NetLibrary)

A critical guide to the most important works of scholarship concerning the major Romantic writers and genres. Among the materials described and evaluated are standard editions, textual studies, bibliographies, biographies, chronologies, and critical studies.

English Romantic Poets: A Review of Research and Criticism. Ed. Frank Jordan Jr. New York: MLA, 1985. (Rush Rhees PR590 .E5 1985)

This two volume work summarizes the most important Romantic scholarship through the early 1980s. In chapters that are devoted to each of the major Romantic poets, this resource describes and evaluates scholarly texts, examines emerging trends, and identifies topics in need of additional attention.

Literary Criticism in the Romantic Era

Romantics Reviewed: Contemporary Reviews of British Romantic Writers. Ed. Donald H. Reiman. New York: Garland, 1972. (Rush Rhees PR590 .R43)

This nine volume set reprints contemporary reviews of significant works of British Romantic literature. The reviews within each of the resource's three main parts, entitled "Lake Poets," "Byron and Regency Society Poets," and "Shelley, Keats, and the London Radical Writers," are arranged alphabetically by the titles of the publications in which the reviews appear.

Cambridge History of Literary Criticism. Ed. Marshall Brown. New York: Cambridge UP, 1989. (Rush Rhees Ref. PN86 .C27 1989)

Volume five of this authoritative nine volume set, titled "Romanticism," contains seventeen chapters concerning the central topics and themes that pervaded literary criticism during the Romantic Era.

Wellek, Rene. A History of Modern Criticism 1750-1950. New Haven: Yale UP, 1955. (Koller-Collins and Rush Rhees PN86 .W44h)

Volume two of this well-known, eight-volume history of modern literary criticism is titled "The Romantic Age" and traces the growth of Romantic criticism and the rejection of neoclassical ideals.

MLA International Bibliography

MLA stands for the Modern Language Association, which for many years has compiled a list of studies (both articles and books) relating to languages and literature. For literature in English it is the most comprehensive listing of critical material available, and it is updated regularly. When you search MLA, in your results you may find journal articles, book articles, or books.

Bibliographies of Literary Reviews

Index to Book Reviews in England 1775-1800. Comp. Antonia Forster. London: British Library, 1997. (Koller-Collins Ref Z 1035 .A1 F67 1990)

This resource provides an index to reviews of 4,984 works of poetry, drama, and fiction that were published in British 27 periodicals from 1775 to 1800. The index is arranged alphabetically by the names of the authors whose texts have been reviewed.

Literary Reviews in British Periodicals 1789-1797: A Bibliography with a Supplementary List of General (Non-Review) Articles on Literary Subjects. Comp. William S. Ward. New York: Garland, 1979. (Koller-Collins Ref. Z 2013 .W36 1979)

Literary Reviews in British Periodicals 1798-1820: A Bibliography with a Supplementary List of General (Non-Review) Articles on Literary Subjects. Comp. William S. Ward. New York: Garland, 1972. (Koller-Collins Ref. Z 2013 .W36 v. 1 and 2)

Literary Reviews in British Periodicals 1821-1826: A Bibliography with a Supplementary List of General (Non-Review) Articles on Literary Subjects. Comp. William S. Ward. New York: Garland, 1977. (Koller-Collins Ref. Z 2013 .W36 1977)

These three bibliographies can be used to locate citations to reviews of poems, plays, and other literary texts that were published in British periodicals from 1789 to 1826. Each bibliography is arranged alphabetically by the names of the authors whose texts have been reviewed; in addition, the bibliographies contain appendices that allow the user to search for reviews by genre and subject heading.

Bibliographies of Twentieth-Century Criticism

Keats, Shelley, Byron, Hunt, and Their Circle: A Bibliography, July 1, 1950-June 30, 1962. Comp. David Bonnell Green and Edwin Graves Wilson. Lincoln NE: University of Nebraska, 1964. (Rush Rhees PR457 .K4)

Keats, Shelley, Byron, Hunt, and Their Circle: A Bibliography, July 1, 1962-December 31, 1974. Comp. David Bonnell Green. Lincoln NE: University of Nebraska, 1978. (Rush Rhees PR457 .K42)

Reprinting the annotated bibliographies published annually in the Keats-Shelley Journal from 1950 to 1974, this set of resources attempts to provide comprehensive coverage of the scholarly literature on Keats, Shelley, Byron, and Hunt.

"Current Bibliography." Keats-Shelley Journal. 1975-Present. (Rush Rhees PR 4836 .K24)

For the time period from 1975 to the present, the researcher can access the Keats-Shelley Journal's annual bibliography by examining the concluding pages of each volume of the journal.

"Current Bibliography." Keats-Shelley Journal. 1994-1998. Online. http://www.rc.umd.edu/reference/ksjbib/

For the years from 1994 to 1998, the Keats-Shelley Journal has also published an electronic version of its annual bibliography.

Romantic Movement Bibliography, 1936-1970; A Master Cumulation from ELH, Philological Quarterly, and English Language Notes. Ed. A. C. Elkins Jr., and L. J. Forstner. Ann Arbor MI: Pierian, 1973. (Rush Rhees PN603 .R65)

This multi-volume bibliography cumulates the annual bibliography of Romanticism in Britain and Europe that appeared in ELH from 1936 to 1948, Philological Quarterly from 1949 to 1963, and English Language Notes from 1964 to 1970. The entries in each yearly bibliography are organized into the following divisions: general, English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish. When searching for materials not concerning Keats, Shelley, Bryon, or Hunt, this resource, rather than the annual bibliography found in the Keats-Shelley Journal, is most effective.

"Romantic Movement Bibliography." English Language Notes. 1971-1978. (Rush Rhees PR 1 .E583)

For the time period from 1971 to 1978, the researcher can access English Language Notes' annual bibliography of Romanticism by examining the first-issue supplements of volumes 10 through 17.

Romantic Movement: A Selective and Critical Bibliography. Ed. David V. Erdman. New York: Garland, 1985. (Rush Rhees PN603 .R63 1980-1985)

This six-volume bibliography continues the coverage that the journal English Language Notes provided until 1978. It consists of annotated citations for materials relevant to the study of Romanticism in Britain and Europe that were published from 1979 to 1984. Like its predecessor, it is divided into the following sections: general, English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish.

Bibliographies of Primary Materials

Nineteenth Century Short Title Catalogue, Series 1, Phase 1, 1801-1815. Ed. J. W. Jolliffe. Newcastle-upon Tyne, UK: Chadwyck-Healey, 1984-185. (Rush Rhees Ref. Z 2013 .N5)

A five-volume set that uses the catalogues of six major British libraries in order to provide a list of books published in Britain and its colonies from 1801 to 1815. The resource arranges entries alphabetically by author and contains indexes that can be searched by subject and place of publication.

Annals of English Verse, 1770-1835: A Preliminary Survey of the Volumes Published. Comp. J. R. de J. Jackson. New York: Garland, 1985. (Rush Rhees Z 2039.P6 J32 1985)

A preliminary catalogue of all volumes of verse that were published in the United Kingdom from 1770 to 1835. The resource arranges entries chronologically by year of publication and indexes these entries according to author.

Romantic Poetry by Women: A Bibliography, 1770-1835. Comp. J. R. de J. Jackson. New York: Oxford UP, 1993. (Rush Rhees Z 2013.5.W6 J33 1993)

Superseding the entries for women poets provided in Annals of English Verse, 1770-1835, this catalogue attempts to provide a comprehensive list of volumes of English verse published by women from 1770 to 1835. Entries are arranged by author and then by order of publication.

Horwitz, Barbara J. British Women Writers, 1700-1850: An Annotated Bibliography of Their Works and Works about Them. Lanham, MD: The Scarecrow Press and Pasadena, CA: Salem Press, 1997. (Rush Rhees Z 2013.5 .W6 H67 1997)

Covers 46 "British Women Authors," some famous, some obscure. Also covers topics such as "Social Change," "The Novel," and "Poetry by Women."

Mazzeno, Laurence W. The British Novel 1680-1832: An Annotated Bibliography. Lanham, MD: The Scarecrow Press and Pasadena, CA: Salem Press, 1997. (Rush Rhees Z 2014 .F4 M385 1997)

An annotated bibliography of criticism relating to 20 important writers of the period. The criticism is primarily from the three decades preceding publication of the book.

Frank, Frederick S. The First Gothics: A Critical Guide to the English Gothic Novel. New York: Garland, 1987. (Rush Rhees Z 2014 .H67 F7 1987)

Lists 500 early Gothic novels (1753-1835), "a representative cross-section of the entire Gothic canon," and describes each in a "critical synopsis." In addition to giving original publication information, the compiler also lists modern editions, if there are any.

Electronic Texts

Manuscripts

See the Koller-Collins webpage on Locating English and American Literary Manuscripts for more information on mss.

The National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC)

NUCMC contains descriptions of over 70,000 manuscript collections located in more than 1400 repositories.

Vols. 1-29 (for the years 1959-1993) (Rush Rhees Ref. Z 106 .N27)

There is also an Index to Personal Names in the National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections 1959-1984 (2 vols.; also in the Rush Rhees Ref. Z 106 .N272)

From 1986/1987 to the present there has been online cataloging of NUCMC available on the web.

Location Register of English Literary Manuscripts and Letters: Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. Ed. David C. Sutton. 2 vols. London: The British Library, 1995. (Koller-Collins Ref PR 441.L62 1995.

Websites

See the British Romanticism section of Koller-Collins' website on Web Resources for English and American Literature for information concerning websites useful for the research of Romantic literature.

Special Collections in the Department of Rare Books

The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections has a significant collection of Robert Southey materials. For more information see the Department of Rare Books' Southey Register.