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.

Visual Art

Collection of stamps

Publication Information:

Royal Mail UK

Date:

2020

In 2020 the Royal Mail in the U.K. issued a series of "Romantic Poets"
stamps, postcards, and collectible coins. Some of the promotional material
reads:

Collection of stamps

Publication Information:

Royal Mail UK

Date:

2020

In 2020 the Royal Mail in the U.K. issued a series of "Romantic Poets"
stamps, postcards, and collectible coins. Some of the promotional material
reads:

Doug Savage Poet-Bot cartoon

Date:

2008

In 2008, artist Doug Savage created a "Poet-Bot" cartoon referencing Williams Wordsworth's poem "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud." http://www.savagechickens.com/2008/10/wordsworth.html

A color illustration of the Ghost of a Flea with Boris Johnson's face

Publication Information:

Independent Digital News & Media Ltd

Date:

2019

On September 14, 2019, cartoonist's Dave Brown's "The Ghost of a Flea," a satire of Boris Johnson using William Blake's image of the same name, appeared in the Independent newspaper.

Color image of a boat on choppy seas

Date:

2020

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Big Read, begun in April 2020, is an online read-through of the “Rime" released in forty free daily installments read by forty different readers and with accompanying visuals by forty different artists.

The Big Read was commissioned by the University of Plymouth and curated by Philip Hoare, Angela Cockayne, and Sarah Chapman: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/readings

Games

Date:

2014

A heavily modified version of “Ozymandias” is recited by the character Handsome Jack in a trailer for the video game Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel!, who loses his corporate empire and life at the end of Borderlands 2

Publication Information:

Visceral Games, Behaviour Interactive (PSP Version)

Date:

2010

Assets for the game Dante's Inferno draw upon Blake's illustrations to Dante as well as those by Gustave Doré and Auguste Rodin. -Wikipedia

Elegy for a Dead World

Date:

2014

"There are many stories to write and many places to visit, from the crumbling museum, stone faces, and sweltering plains of Shelley’s World to the central planning station on Keats’s World to the desiccated shores and frigid tundra of Byron’s World."

website: http://www.dejobaan.com/elegy/
 

Ever, Jane

Date:

2016

"Ever, Jane is an on-line role-playing game set in the virtual world of Regency England and the works of Jane Austen. Unlike many multi-player games, it's not about kill or be killed but invite or be invited. Gossip is our weapon of choice. Instead of raids, we will have grand balls. Instead of dungeons, we will have dinner parties. At the moment, we don't have any of these. What we do have, is a village centred round a tree-lined village green, with houses where you may 'squat' and soon even own and redecorate to your taste."

Publication Information:

Developed by Black Isle Studios

Date:

1998

In Fallout 2, if Lt. Col. Dr. Charles Curling is convinced that his research, if used as others plan, will result in genocide, he recites "The Tyger". -Wikipedia

Picture of Pride & Prejudice Trivia game

Date:

2010

"With 300 trivia cards, including 8 bonus Jane Austen trivia questions, you will enjoy testing your knowledge of this book to become the Pride and Prejudice Trivia Champion and learning facts you may not remember" -Amazon

Publication Information:

Developed by Project community

Date:

1990

The online game Lost Souls uses the Proverbs of Hell as magical control phrases for a kind of enchanted wand created by the Aligned, a group of artist-philosopher-magicians. -Wikipedia

Picture of Marrying Mr. Darcy card game

Date:

2014

"Marrying Mr. Darcy is a role-playing game where players are one of the female characters from Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice. Players work to improve themselves and become more desirable as potential wives for the available Suitors." -Amazon

Expansion packs include "Marrying Mr. Darcy: The Undead Expansion" and "Marrying Mr. Darcy: The Emma Expansion."

Publication Information:

Developed by Jagex Games Studio

Date:

2014

The RuneScape character Bill Blakey, a musician and poet, is a William Blake homage. -Wikipedia

Publication Information:

Konami

Date:

1999

The art for the Yu-Gi-Oh! card "Red Dragon Archfiend" appears to be an intentional homage to the Great Red Dragon Paintings. -Wikipedia

Television

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:

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 season 1 poster

Director:

Publication Information:

CBS

Date:

1988

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

Director:

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 the Third poster

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

Date:

1987

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."

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