What was Romanticism in literature?

The Romantic movement in literature was a period in the late 1700s and early 1800s when writers rejected the restrictions of order, rule, and rationality. A response to the previous age of scientific and organized Enlightenment, it allowed authors to explore freedom, emotions, nature, independence and related ideas, all while pushing the limits of the imagination. While experts largely agree that it started in Western Europe, it soon spread to other areas, such as the United States and Russia, with long-lasting effects on people around the world.

General history

Challenges with travel and communications, coupled with varying degrees of political and social stability, have prevented this movement from emerging in all areas simultaneously. Even so, most experts say that, literature-wise, the era spans about 100 years, ranging from about 1760 to 1860 in most regions. It arose in Western Europe in the wake of the French Revolution as countries started to become more industrialized which drastically changed the way people lived.

Main features

Romanticism was largely a response to earlier Enlightenment ideas, which focused on order and logic. The emphasis on imagination, emotion, and intuition over rational thinking are all hallmarks of the writing of the era. The movement emphasizes nature, individualism and the common man rather than civilization, the infinite and mysterious instead of science, and freedom from rules over strict regulation. Much of the work from this period is of a sentimental quality, looking back sympathetically and attempting to transcend reality.

Even though Romantic thought emphasized individualism, nationalism is another characteristic. Many people who lived during this period believed that coming together to fight personal injustices or to uphold human rights was fundamental to being physically and intellectually free. For this reason, writers of this era often used rebellion and revolution, real or imagined, as the backdrop for their stories.

Literary changes

The concepts behind Romanticism have led writers around the world to generally reject more restrictive methods. For example, even though they have shown a renewed interest in poetry, like that of Shakespeare, they have begun to move away from strict poetic forms in favor of more experimental styles and free verse, letting the works become more prose with more everyday language. Also, they generally focused less on realistic boundaries and let their imaginations rule plots and characters without restraint, often highlighting emotions.

Various forms of texts were particularly popular, as were problem, sentimental and historical novels. Gothic and metric novels were successful and many people enjoyed ancient myths and ballads. Critical essays allowed people of this time to point out what they thought was problematic with Enlightenment ideas and practices, reinforcing and spreading romantic beliefs.
The first works

Some of the earliest examples of this movement in literature emerged in Germany, where the most important literary figure of the period was probably Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. His first novel, The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774), about a sensitive young artist, was popular throughout Europe. Goethe also used local myth and folklore as subjects for his poetry, inspiring a sense of German nationalism in the decades before a unified Germany. The American and French revolutions in the late 18th century increased the popularity of romantic ideals such as freedom, liberty and national pride.

English writing

Romanticism dominated English literature throughout the 19th century, with poetry being prominent. Notable British poets include William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Blake, Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley and John Keats. Common themes in their work include religious fervor, nature, ancient Greek aesthetics, and the emotional response to beauty. Novels, especially gothic ones that exploited emotions such as fear and love, were also popular in Britain. Some well known examples are Frankenstein (19) by Mary Shelley, Wuthering Heights (1818) by Emily Bronte and Jane Eyre (1847) by Charlotte Bronte.
American examples

Early American settlers, who left Britain with Romantic ideas of freedom and independence in mind, planted the seeds of this movement in America as early as the 1600s. Though life in the settlement was harsh, many people loved and were inspired by to the wild and chaotic beauty of their new land. In literature, the movement peaked between 1830 and 1865, as conflicts over slavery became increasingly tense and raised questions and awareness about human dignity and worth.

Much of what American writers produced was in the Gothic style, such as the work of Edgar Allen Poe, Washington Irving and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Transcendentalists, including Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson, emphasized the beauty of nature and man’s identity as a natural being, themes echoed in his later work
poet
Walt Whitman. James Fennimore Cooper focused on the nationalist aspect of Romanticism with his tales of the American frontier and Native Americans.

Reach other areas

This movement also influenced the literature of other areas. In France, for example, the novels of Victor Hugo and Stendhal have shown some romantic influence, but more often experts include them in the realist movement. In Eastern Europe, Russian writers Alexander Pushkin and Mikhail Lermontov, as well as the Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz worked in a romantic picture.

---

Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN