I wish I had remembered this quote when I was writing about Angel in my book, b/c what BTVS and ATS do so well is manage to be extremely Romantic and make fun of themselves at the same time. And as I've always said wrt Byron, the best way to be a Romantic is to be able to have a sense of humor about it; otherwise you just get self-pitying mush.

This is Giles talking to Angel in BTVS, "Out of Mind, Out of Sight":

Giles: "A vampire in love with a Slayer! It's rather poetic! In a maudlin sort of way."

I love how he brings up how "poetic" the impossible-lover thing is and then undercuts it w/ the "maudlin" comment immediately. Perfect.