Romanticism and Popular Culture

This evolving bibliography collects media that represent Romantic-era works and historical figures in fictional contexts. We welcome feedback and additions from the RC community.

Music

cover art for Rough and Rowdy Ways
"I Contain Multitudes"

Recording Artist:

Bob Dylan

Album:

Rough and Rowdy Ways

Publication Information:

Columbia Records

Date:

2020

In Bob Dylan's 2020 album Rough and Rowdy Ways, the song  "I Contain Multitudes" includes the lines:

I'm just like Anne Frank, like Indiana Jones
And them British bad boys, The Rolling Stones
I go right to the edge, I go right to the end
I go right where all things lost are made good again
I sing the songs of experience like William Blake
I have no apologies to make
Everything's flowing all at the same time
I live on a boulevard of crime
I drive fast cars, and I eat fast foods
I contain multitudes

Medicine, The Mechanical Forces of Love
"Negative Capability"

Recording Artist:

Medicine

Album:

The Mechanical Forces of Love

Date:

2003

Medicine's fourth studio album The Mechanical Forces of Love includes a song entitled "Negative Capability."

Ed Sanders, The Keats Negative Capability Letter
"The Keats Negative Capability Letter"

Recording Artist:

Ed Sanders

Album:

American Bard

Publication Information:

Olufsen Records

Date:

1996

On Ed Sanders's (formerly of the Fugs) album American Bard, there is a song entitled "The Keats Negative Capability Letter." The lyrics are taken directly from Keats's letter.

Welcome to the Pleasuredome
"Welcome to the Pleasuredome"

Recording Artist:

Frankie Goes to Hollywood

Album:

Welcome to the Pleasuredome

Date:

1984

Contains the lyrics “In Xanadu did Kublai Khan / A pleasuredome erect”

A Negative Capability
A Negative Capability

Recording Artist:

Fancie

Album:

A Negative Capability

Date:

2001

Fancie, A Negative Capability (2001)

Adonais

Recording Artist:

The Cure

Album:

The 13th

Publication Information:

Fiction Records

Date:

1996

"For an unexpected musical setting of Shelley's Adonais, see the B-side to The Cure's 1996 single 'The 13th.' The cd has a wind-up panda on the front. A great song very much worth hearing. Additionally, the linernotes for their 1992 cd Wish featured the 'We look before and after' stanza from 'To a Skylark.'" —James Alexander

Adonais (Live Performance)

Recording Artist:

Mick Jagger

Album:

Adonais

Date:

1969

Mick Jagger, live performance of Adonais in 1969 at memorial for Brian Jones

link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDHzVkfASb4&feature=youtu.be

Albion Crags

Recording Artist:

Ed Sanders

Album:

Beer Cans on the Moon

Publication Information:

Reprise Records

Date:

1973

 "'Albion Crags' (1973) from Ed's 2nd solo LP 'Beer Cans On The Moon.'" -Youtube

The poem references William Blake and his poetry.

Ancient of Days

Recording Artist:

Van Morrison

Album:

A Sense of Wonder

Publication Information:

Mercury Records

Date:

1985

The song references the writings of William Blake.

The 1984 album, A Sense of Wonder, includes "Ancient of Days," possibly referencing Blake's famous painting. -Wikipedia

Image of Mick Jagger reading from book
Andonais

Recording Artist:

The Rolling Stones

Date:

1969

During the free festival in Hyde Park, The Stones in the Park, "Mick Jagger read a short eulogy [in memory of former band member Brian Jones] on stage before the Stones' set began, reading two stanzas of Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem on John Keats's death, Adonaïs, from a calf-bound book." -Wikipedia

Angel Passage

Recording Artist:

Alan Moore

Album:

Angel Passage

Publication Information:

Top Shelf Productions

Date:

2001

William Blake also becomes an important figure in Moore's later work, and is a featured character in From Hell (1991–98) and Angel Passage (2001). [...] Angel Passage was performed at the 2001 Tate Gallery exhibition of Blake accompanied with art by John Coultart.

Beautiful Ghost / Introduction to Songs of Experience

Recording Artist:

U2

Album:

The Complete U2

Publication Information:

Island Records

Date:

2004

The song references the writings of William Blake.

U2's The Joshua Tree album was originally intended to open with a track entitled "Beautiful Ghost," in which Bono recites "Introduction to Songs of Experience" over a sombre instrumental; the song was ultimately cut from the final album, but appeared seventeen years later as an unreleased and rare track in The Complete U2 set on iTunes. -Wikipedia

Blake's View

Recording Artist:

M. Ward

Album:

Hold Time

Publication Information:

Merge Records

Date:

2009

Song in reference to the writing of William Blake.

Singer/songwriter M. Ward references Blake's poem set "Nurse's Song" on his 2009 album Hold Time in the song "Blake's View." -Wikipedia

Blue Jean music video; "Jazzin' for Blue Jean" promotional video

Recording Artist:

David Bowie

Album:

Blue Jean

Publication Information:

EMI

Date:

1984

This is a long form music video in which Bowie portrays “Screaming Lord Byron”

1984 – David Bowie: Music video for Blue Jean and short promotional video for Blue Jean, Jazzin' for Blue Jean features him playing a rock star named Screaming Lord Byron (cf. Screaming Lord Sutch). His attire for the rock star mimics that of Lord Byron's in the portrait by Thomas Phillips. -Wikipedia

See the video on YouTube

 

Cemetry Gates

Recording Artist:

The Smiths

Album:

The Queen is Dead

Date:

1986

The Smiths, “Cemetry Gates” [sic], from The Queen is Dead (1986). Lyrics reference John Keats, William butler Yeats, and Oscar Wilde

link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knM7ow5vMPA

Cover art features William Blake's monotype Nebuchadnezzar

Recording Artist:

Atomic Rooster

Album:

Death Walks Behind You

Publication Information:

B&C (UK), Elektra (US), Philips (German)

Date:

1970

This cover art reference the illustrations of William Blake.

Atomic Rooster used Blake's painting "Nebuchadnezzar" for the cover of their 1970 album, Death Walks Behind You. -Wikipedia

Cover art for Boris' album, Pink

Recording Artist:

Boris

Album:

Pink

Publication Information:

Diwphalanx Records (Japan), Southern Lord Records (world)

Date:

2005

The cover art features William Blake's depiction of Satan for Milton's Paradise Lost

Deshacer el Mundo (Vanish The World) and La Chispa Adecuada (Bendecida III) (The Suitable Spark) (Blessed III)

Recording Artist:

Héroes del Silencio

Album:

Avalancha

Publication Information:

EMI

Date:

1995

The songs reference the writings of William Blake.

Enrique Bunbury from Spanish band Héroes del Silencio was influenced by Blake's work, with songs like "El Camino del Exceso (The Road of Excess)," "Los Placeres de la Pobreza (The Pleasures of Poverty)," "Deshacer el Mundo (Unmake the World)" and "La Chispa Adecuada (The Right Spark)". -Wikipedia

Deux poèmes de Lord Byron

Recording Artist:

Germaine Tailleferre

Date:

1934

1934 – Germaine Tailleferre: Two Poems of Lord Byron (1. Sometimes in moments... 2. 'Tis Done I heard it in my dreams... for Voice and Piano (Tailleferre's only setting of English language texts) -Wikipedia

Dog Is Life/Jerusalem

Recording Artist:

The Fall

Album:

I Am Kurious Oranj

Publication Information:

Beggars Banquet

Date:

1988

Songs referencing the writing of William Blake.

Manchester group The Fall had a track on their 2000 album The Unutterable entitled "WB," a song about Blake's visions, taking several lines from his work. -Wikipedia

End of the Night

Recording Artist:

The Doors

Album:

The Doors

Publication Information:

Elektra Records

Date:

1967

Contains lyrics from Blake's "Auguries of Innocence": "Realms of bliss, realms of light / Some are born to sweet delight / Some are born to the endless night"

"The line 'Some are born to sweet delight, some are born to endless night' from 'End of the Night' is a quote from William Blake's poem 'Auguries of Innocence.'" -Wikipedia

Pages