浪漫主義時期從華茲華斯、柯立瑞芝開始，再由三位優秀的接棒者拜倫、雪萊、濟慈，為這個時代的英國文學寫出許多美麗的詩篇。「美即是真，真即是美」出自浪漫主義詩人濟慈，令人印象深刻的頌體〈希臘古甕頌〉，這短短幾行詩句幾乎是每個研讀浪漫主義詩篇的讀者都會接觸到的作品，而真與美的具體或抽象題材，也成為浪漫詩中常出現的重要元素之一。
濟慈與好友班傑明●貝禮的書信往來中，曾說：「想像據以為美者，定必為真」，可以發現詩人濟慈以為，真與美的來源似乎跟想像元素有很大的關係。尤其可從濟慈與家人、朋友的信中發現很多對想像元素的解釋。
華生教授曾說：「浪漫詩人在運用想像元素創作詩篇的能力，就是一個浪漫詩人在勾勒自己作品時最基本的能力……」。因此，想像元素不只是一個浪漫詩人在創作時，很重要的元素，同時，也是每個有意研究英國浪漫主義詩篇的研究者，一個不可或缺的研究方向。
這篇論文是根據多位文學評論者的理論，來論述想像元素在英國浪漫主義詩篇中是否真實存在，以及探討其對這時期詩篇創作有何影響。論文的章節基本上是以華茲華斯、柯立瑞芝、濟慈的出生先後順序作安排，再針對詩人的各別作品作解析，以求得想像元素對浪漫主義時期不同作家的創作是否皆產生影響。
雖然英國浪漫主義時期只有匆匆數十載，但已漸成為現代東西方讀者遙想古希臘神話，探索中世紀眾多傳奇故事一個很重要的時期。此篇論文從引言到本文，以至於結論，都試著探討浪漫主義時期詩人作品與想像元素的關聯性，期能為有意探究浪漫詩學的讀者提供另一個研究方向，以能進入浪漫主義詩篇的美好世界。
In English literature, the publication of the Lyrical Ballads in 1798 by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge is recognized as the start of Romanticism. And the peak of the creation of the Romantic poems are by Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and John Keats. The three young poets accomplished many of the finest Romantic poems. “Beauty is truth, truth beauty” from “Ode on Grecian Urn” of Keats, expresses the beauty and the truth are the two important elements of creating the Romantic poems.
In a letter between Keats and his friend Benjamin Bailey, Keats wrote: “What the imagination seizes as Beauty must be truth.” From this, imagination seems to be a crucial element between beauty and truth in the Romantic poems. In particular, the letters of Keats include many notions of imagination.
J. R. Watson remarks that “The ability of the Romantic poet to use his imagination in such a way is a fundamental feature of his art . . . . ” Imagination is not only to be an important creative element of poets, but also is an essential studying topic for the researcher who intends to explore the Romantic poems.
This thesis analyzes the imagination to see whether it exists in the poems of Romanticism, and also strive to study the effects on the poems by many critics’ perceptions. The order of the chapters is chronologically edited in the birth year of Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Keats. And the intention is to probe the relationships between imagination and the three poets’ masterpieces respectively.
Although the Romantic era only lasts for decades, it still becomes a time which expresses the beauty of Greek mythology and the Middle ages legends. This thesis would like to offer readers with a different way to appreciate the aesthetics of the Romantic poems.
