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.

Television

30 Rock

Director:

Beth McCarthy-Miller

Date:

2006

In "Operation Righteous Cowboy Lightning," the twelfth episode of the fifth season of the sitcom 30 Rock, two charcters quote from John Keats's "On First Looking Into Chapman's Homer": Jack Donaghy (played by Alec Bladwin) mentions feeling like "stout Cortez," then later in the episode Tracy Jordan (played by Tracy Morgan) also mentions feeling like "stout Cortez," then immediately clarifies that Cortez is the name of his easily amazed gardener.

American Horror Story: Coven, season 3, episode 11 (“Protect the Coven”)

Director:

Bradley Buecker

Date:

2014

American Horror Story: Coven, season 3, episode 11 (“Protect the Coven”): Myrtle Snow (played by Frances Conroy) quotes Keats to Zoe Benson (played by Taissa Farmiga), claiming that Zoe’s and Kyle’s love is, “as the great Keats would say, ‘more happy love! More happy, happy love! / Forever warm and still to be enjoyed / Forever panting, and forever young.”

link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjWrjv1S-Jc

Beauty and the Beast

Director:

Frank Beascoechea

Publication Information:

CBS

Date:

1988

In 1988, the TV show Beauty and the Beast aired an episode called "Ozymandias."

Big Bang Theory

Director:

Gay Linvill

Date:

2007

In The Big Bang Theory season 11, episode 16, "The Neonatal Nomenclature," one of Sheldon’s suggestions of names for Bernadette and Howard's child is Ozymandias.

Blackadder

Publication Information:

BBC

Date:

1987

"In the British TV series Blackadder the Third, Mr. E. Blackadder explains he gave himself a female pseudonym when writing a book. Insisting that every other male author is doing it, Blackadder explains that Jane Austen is really a burly Yorkshireman with a heavy beard. In addition to this, in a deliberate nod to the third series being set in the Regency period, each episode had a title loosely punning Sense and Sensibility, e.g. 'Sense and Senility,' 'Ink and Incapability'." -Wikipedia

Blackadder Season 3 episode 5, “Amy and Amiability”

Director:

Richard Curtis, Ben Elton

Date:

1987

Tags:

Emma Hamilton

A character claims "No one ever made money out of good looks and charm," to which Blackadder retorts, "You obviously haven't met Lady Hamilton, sir."

Blackadder, Season 3 episode 1, “Dish and Dishonesty”

Director:

Richard Curtis, Ben Elton

Date:

1987

Tags:

Emma Hamilton

Blackadder purchases an expensive robe which he believes to be made of ermine fur. Then, however, he discovers a feline's collar decorating the coat which is inscribed with the words "If found, please return to Emma Hamilton, Marine Parade, Portsmouth". Infuriated, Blackadder announces that he is going to a costume party dressed as "Lady Hamilton's pussy!"

Blackadder, Season 3 episode 2, “Ink and Incapability”

Director:

Richard Curtis, Ben Elton

Date:

1987

Tags:

Emma Hamilton

Blackadder pokes fun at Nelson's famous signal at the Battle of Trafalgar. He announces that Nelson used a similar signal at the Battle of the Nile: "England knows Lady Hamilton is a virgin. Poke my eye out and cut off my arm if I'm wrong."

Breaking Bad, "Ozymandias"

Director:

Rian Johnson

Publication Information:

AMC

Date:

2013

"'Ozymandias' is the fourteenth episode of the fifth season of the American television drama series Breaking Bad....Over the course of the episode, most of the main characters fall to their knees out of grief, in comparison to the poem....[Actor] Bryan Cranston recites the entire poem in a 2013 trailer for the series." -Wikipedia

See the video of Bryan Cranston reciting Oxymandias on YouTube

Bridgerton

Director:

Julie Anne Robinson

Date:

2020

In the poilot episode of the Regency-set romance Bridgerton (Netflix, 2020, based on the novels of Julia Quinn), one character quips "Lord Byron he is not" in response to hearing an amatuerish sonnet.

City on a Hill

Date:

2019

Season 1 episode 3 of the Showtime series City on a Hill is named "If Only the Fool Would Persist in His Folly" after William Blake, and characters quote the poet several times.

Doctor Who

Director:

Emma Sullivan

Date:

2020

In season 12, episode 8 of Doctor Who, "The Haunting of Villa Diodati," the Doctor and her companions visit the Villa Diodati on the night of the famous ghost-story contest in June 1816. A spoiler-free summary from IMDB.com: "Villa Diodati, 1816 - on a night that inspired Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. The plan was to spend the evening in the presence of literary greats - but the ghosts are all too real. And the Doctor is forced into an earth-shattering decision."

Downton Abbey Season 6: Episode 5

Director:

Michael Engler

Date:

2016

Downton Abbey, season 6, episode 5: character Henry Talbot (Matthew Goode) refers to Lady Mary Crawley (Michelle Dockery) as “la belle dame sans merci.”

External link to PBS video

Edgar Allan Poe's Murder Mystery Dinner Party

Director:

William J. Stribling

Date:

2016

The Youtube Series "Edgar Allan Poe's Murder Mystery Dinner Party" by Shipwrecked Comedy brings together several literary characters (including
Mary Shelley) for an evening of potluck and mayhem.

Frankenstein Chronicles

Director:

Barry Langford, Benjamin Ross

Date:

2015

The Frankenstein Chronicles (2015-2017) follows a murder investigation in 1827 London. Mary Shelley, William Blake, and Ada Lovelace are prominent characters, and Frankenstein is of course heavily featured, as are the works of William Blake.

Frisky Dingo, season 1, episode 1

Director:

Adam Reed, Matt Thompson

Date:

2006

In season 1, episode 1 of the animated series Frisky Dingo, the character Killface introduces a weapon called the Annihilatrix and says "so look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair" and later claims "'Ozymandias' just felt right, ya'know?," worries that it might be copyrighted, and mocks his interlocutors for not recognizing Shelley.

Futurama: The Day the Earth Stood Stupid

Director:

Mark Ervin

Publication Information:

Curiosity Company, 20th Century Fox Television, Rough Draft Studios

Date:

2001

"In the episode "The Day the Earth Stood Stupid" of Futurama, Fry follows the leader of the brainspawn into several books, including Pride and Prejudice, where Fry is in attendance at a ball where the brain is introduced as the most eligible bachelor." -Wikipedia

Lost in Austen

Director:

Dan Zeff

Publication Information:

Mammoth Screen Ltd

Date:

2008

"Lost in Austen is a four-part 2008 British television series for the ITV network, written by Guy Andrews as a fantasy adaptation of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Amanda, a woman from modern London, enters the plot of the novel through a portal in her bathroom, to join the Bennet family and affect events disastrously." -Wikipedia

Mad Men, "Dark Shadows"

Director:

Scott Hornbacher

Publication Information:

AMC

Date:

2012

"In the [ninth episode of the] fifth season of the TV series Mad Men entitled 'Dark Shadows,' copywriter Michael Ginsberg quotes the line 'Look on my works ye mighty, and despair.' Stan accuses Ginsberg of failing to heed the context: 'You should read the rest of the poem, you boob!'" -Wikipedia

Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 1, Episode 4: "Owl-Stretching Time"

Director:

Ian MacNaughton, John Howard Davies

Publication Information:

Monty Python, BBC

Date:

1969

In the episode "Full Frontal Nudity" (Episode 8, Season 1) of Monty Python's Flying Circus, produced in 1969, it is "Jerusalem" that must be sung to get a salesman to remove a bag from over his head. The song is also used repeatedly in the episode "Owl-Stretching Time" (Episode 4, Season 1) as Eric Idle sings it from "The Cardiff Rooms", Libya (although he replaces the word "feet" with "teeth"). During the line about "England's mountains green.. " the scene cuts to a "Rustic monologue", which is broken up by the Colonel.

Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 1, Episode 8: "Full Frontal Nudity"

Director:

Ian MacNaughton, John Howard Davies

Publication Information:

Monty Python, BBC

Date:

1969

Search form

Television

Director:

Date:

Director:

Date:

Director:

Publication Information:

Date:

Director:

Date:

Publication Information:

Date:

Director:

Date:

Tags:

Director:

Date:

Tags:

Director:

Date:

Tags:

Director:

Publication Information:

Date:

Director:

Date:

Date:

Director:

Date:

Director:

Date:

Director:

Date:

Director:

Date:

Director:

Date:

Director:

Publication Information:

Date:

Director:

Publication Information:

Date:

Director:

Publication Information:

Date:

Director:

Publication Information:

Date:

Director:

Publication Information:

Date:

Pages

General Editors

Technical Editors:

Technical Consultant:

Published by

Contact Us