British Lit Vocab

Romanticism: A movement emphasizing imagination, nature, emotion, and individualism, reacting against Enlightenment rationalism.

Ecocriticism: An interdisciplinary field studying literature's relation to the environment and critiquing cultural views on nature.

Pantisocracy: A utopian theory advocating for an equal, non-hierarchical society.

Imagination: The creative mental power central to perception and artistic expression, seen as divine.

Fancy: A lesser, more superficial form of imagination focused on trivial ideas.

Interpretive Gloss: Marginal notes added to texts to explain or clarify meaning.

Ballad: A narrative poem in quatrains, often telling dramatic stories.

Lyric: A short poem expressing personal feelings or thoughts, usually in first-person.

Apostrophe: Addressing a person, object, or concept directly in a poem.

Contraries: The idea that opposites are necessary for understanding and growth.

Imperfect Rhyme: A rhyme with similar but not identical sounds.

Anaphora: Repetition of a phrase at the beginning of successive lines for emphasis.

Polyptoton: Repetition of a word in different grammatical forms.

Internal Rhyme: A rhyme within a single line of poetry.

Stanza: A grouped set of lines in a poem, often with a fixed rhyme scheme.

Feminist Criticism: A critical approach that examines women’s roles and contributions in literature.

Nature’s Fragility: The theme of nature’s vulnerability to harm.

The Sublime: An overwhelming experience of awe or terror inspired by nature.

The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: Blake’s work arguing that opposites are essential for understanding.

Industrial Revolution: The period of industrialization critiqued by Romantics for its harm to nature.