In tracing those deliberate and accidental Romantic echoes that reverberate through the Victorian age into the beginning of the twentieth century, this collection acknowledges that the Victorians decided for themselves how to define what is 'Romantic'. The essays explore the extent to which Victorianism can be distinguished from its Romantic precursors, or whether it is possible to conceive of Romanticism without the influence of these Victorian definitions. Romantic Echoes in the Victorian Era reassesses Romantic literature's immediate cultural and literary legacy in the late nineteenth century, showing how the Victorian writings of Matthew Arnold, Wilkie Collins, the Brontës, the Brownings, Elizabeth Gaskell, Charles Dickens, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Thomas Hardy, and the Rossettis were instrumental in shaping Romanticism as a cultural phenomenon. Many of these Victorian writers found in the biographical, literary, and historical models of Chatterton, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, Keats, and Wordsworth touchstones for reappraising their own creative potential and artistic identity. Whether the Victorians affirmed or revolted against the Romanticism of their early years, their attitudes towards Romantic values enriched and intensified the personal, creative, and social dilemmas described in their art. Taken together, the essays in this collection reflect on current critical dialogues about literary periodisation and contribute to our understanding of how these contemporary debates stem from Romanticism's inception in the Victorian age.

'This excellent and timely collection brings together prominent scholars of Romantic and Victorian culture to challenge and enrich our understanding of both. Ranging across biography, poetry, the novel, visual art and more, the volume offers a rich and varied picture of Romanticism's powerful and pervasive presence throughout the Victorian period. With a great deal to offer Romanticists and Victorianists alike, Romantic Echoes in the Victorian Era significantly enhances our view of the ideological and aesthetic dynamics of nineteenth-century British culture'. Alan Rawes, University of Manchester, UK ’So, this is a book that distinctively reworks and deepens our understanding of the interrelations of the Romantic and Victorian periods. As a collection it will remain of great interest to scholars of both periods, as well as offering an accomplished model of critical writing that works on a case basis to illuminate, often with verve and imagination, the larger historical, cultural, and literary issues associated with the long nineteenth century.’ Journal of British Studies ’Taken together, the essays collected here highlight the diverse influence of Romanticism on Victorian authors and audiences, adding usefully to existing scholarship in the field. This volume offers fresh insights that productively reshape critical notions of influence through close intertextual readings.’ Keats-Shelley Journal

Andrew Radford is Lecturer in the Department of English Literature at the University of Glasgow, UK and Mark Sandy is Senior Lecturer in the Department of English Studies at Durham University, UK.