Honors British Literature Vocab List

Romanticism

a movement in literature and art during the late 18th and early 19th centuries that celebrated nature rather than civilization

Rationalism

the idea that everything needs to have a logical answer. (Romanticism was opposition of this)

Sublime

evoking awe and/or terror through vast, overwhelming landscapes.

Negative Capability

being able to find beauty and joy in something without understanding it.

Supernatural

the unexplored and unexplained that will consequently involve feelings.

Glorification of the Ordinary

Romanticizing small ordinary things.

Byronic Hero

hero type that is not perfect, has a haunted past, and dwells on things that are dark and broody and relatable.

Gothic Literature

subgenre of romanticism emerging in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, blends emotion, imagination, and the supernatural to explore human experience in heightened, often eerie settings.

Pathetic Fallacy

figure of speech where the natural world is both described as having emotion and influencing the emotion of the characters.

Iambic Pentameter

unstressed stressed

Trochaic Meter

stressed, unstressed

Characteristics of Romanticism

Sublime, Supernatural, Emotions/Feelings, A focus on the marginalized/oppressed, Individuality as a response to industrialization, and Glorification of the Ordinary.