Christopher Hibbert’s The Days of the French Revolution (1999) discusses the political and social ideals underlying this revolution that influenced the romantic movement.

Claire Tomalin’s Jane Austen: A Life provides a fascinating biography of the now popular author.

Renowned critic Harold Bloom’s The Visionary Companion: A Reading of English Romantic Poetry (1971) delves into the works of many of the great English Romantic Poets, such as Keats, Shelley, Byron, Blake, Coleridge, and Wordsworth.

Edited by Thomas H. Johnson, The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson (1976) has all 1,775 poems arranged in the chronological order of their writing (as far as could be determined). Dickinson was a poet of the American Renaissance in the nineteenth century. Her style is distinctive and unparalleled, noted for its brevity; its beautiful, sometimes morbid, imagery; and for occassional obscurity.

Florentin (1801), by German romanticist Dorothea Schlegel, tells the story of a typical romantic hero, from his mysterious birth, difficult youth, and amorous encounters until the hero is eventually driven to discover the truth of his existence. However, the full truth of this mystery is never reavled since Florentin was intended to be the first book among several, but Schlegel never finished the series.

French romantic novelist Victor Hugo penned his most famous book Les Misérables in 1862, which was a successful bestseller in its day. Les Misérables is the story of a poor man who is transformed by the generous kindness of another person. Jean Valjean eventually rises to success, despite the fact that his past continues to haunt him.

Alexander Dumas was a novelist of the romantic style who became famous within his lifetime. His book, The Three Musketeers (1844) continues to be a favorite among young readers today as it is unabashedly filled with adventure, intrigue, and romance.