Individualism

• Romantic authors found individualism, and individual expression, very important. One indicator of this theme is the common use of a "Byronic hero." A Byronic hero is a flawed anti-hero with dark qualities as well as good, who may rebel against traditional social norms. The name "Byronic" comes from the Romantic writer Lord Byron, who often included anti-heroes in his works such as "Childe Harold." Heathcliff from Emily Bronte's "Wuthering Heights," whose actions at times seem criminal, is an example of a Byronic hero.
  
  

Nature

• Romantics often looked to nature as an alternate to the constraints they saw in society at the time. Rather than see nature as something to be dissected and studied, Romantics saw nature as primeval and wild, offering an alternative to the structure of society. "Moby Dick," the famous work of American Romanticism by Herman Melville, portrays the wilds and dangers of the ocean as a preferable alternative to New England town life. Many Romantic poets meditated on nature, such as Wordsworth in his "Tintern Abbey."
  
  

Imagination

• Romantics let their imaginations roam free in many of their works in marked contrast to studied Enlightenment authors. Samuel Taylor Coleridge's famous poem "Kubla Khan" incorporates surreal and disturbing images to create a dreamworld. This love of imagination spread even into magic and mysticism. Gothic works such as Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" or Edgar Allan Poe's short stories are subsets of the Romantic movement.
  
  

Emotion

• Romantic poets directly engaged their emotions in their works. As Brooklyn College's "Guide to the Study of Literature" states, William Wordsworth declared good poetry to be "the spontaneous outflow of powerful feelings." Other authors created autobiographical or semi-autobiographical works, such as Lord Byron's "Childe Harold." This also manifested itself in the common Romantic theme of the artist as a hero.