While Byron is a Regency hero, other great works of literature were available for the upper class to read such as that of Donne, Burns, and Blake. Poetry was a respectable profession, and long poems such as Prisoner of Chillon, Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and The Lady of the Lake were popular. Writing novels as a profession was looked down upon, but they were immensely favored by the ladies of the Ton and secretly coveted by the beaus.

Popular Novels of the time: (S=Summary; W=Whole Text)

By Ann Radcliffe

The Mysteries of Udolpho  (1794) S W

The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne (1789) S W

The Romance of the Forest  (1791) S W

By Henry Fielding

The History of Tom Jones, a foundling  (1749) S W

By Mathew Gregory Lewis

The Monk: A Romance (1796) S W

By Jane Austen

Sense and Sensibility  (1811) S W

Pride and Prejudice  (1813) S W

 Mansfield Park  (1814) S W

Emma (1815) S W

Northanger Abbey (1817) S W

Persuasion by Jane Austen (1817) S W

By Sir Walter Scott

Waverly (1814)  S W

Ivanhoe (1819) S W