This section contains an alphabetical list of the primary writers and their literary texts that appeared between 1780 and 1830, the general dates of the British Romantic period. The section can serve as a fairly comprehensive reading list for undergraduates and graduates alike, although students should be aware that any set of representative works in the period is changeable and subject to debate.

This section represents a tremendous range of creativity from a diverse cross-section of writers, and our courses (Eng.458 and 557) can only hope to sample this range and diversity. Required texts for the course are from the list, but students are encouraged to read broadly and to explore individual writers in depth.

The three sections of primary works (Poetry, Prose, Anthologies) are designed to serve student access to the primary writers and texts of the period. The Poetry section includes but does not identify the different genres practiced by writers of the period—odes, epics, romances, sonnets, plays, etc—but students are encouraged to read individual works with an awareness of their genres. Several subsections appear under Prose to distinguish the variety of fiction (novels) and non-fiction genres (writings on slavery, literary essays, and political writing) in the period and to provide areas for research and analysis. Most academic anthologies contain both poetry and prose as well as scholarly material, including introductions to the period, bibliographies, and contextual matter.