Romanticism Essay

The Romantic era began in 1770, with its peak being from 1800 to 1850. With emphasis on the imagination and emotion, Romanticism emerged as a result of the Enlightenment period, which heavily placed values upon reason and order. Thus, Romanticism depends heavily on “the practical accomplishments of the prior un-Romantic era— a relationship between material wealth and scientific knowledge on one hand, and personal, spiritual, or emotional transcendence on the other, that twenty-first century Americans continue to manage.” The simplest explanation for what is Romantic is “‘anything but the here and now’ or whatever is not realistic” (“Romanticism”). The

The Romanticism art movement praised imagination over reason, emotions over logic, and literature over science. The Romanticism artists were known for replacing the classical 18th century literature heroes with much more complex and passionate characters. Romanticism focuses on self-expression and individual uniqueness that does not lend itself to be defined nor controlled by society. The landscape on Romanticism was commonly displayed in cool rich colors and untamed peaceful surroundings. In Romanticism, nature was used to represent the extension of the human personality, the capability of feeling love, serenity, and sympathy.

Romanticism first came about in the 18th century and it was mostly used for art and literature. The actual word “romanticism” was created in Britain in the 1840s. People like Victor Hugo, William Wordsworth, and Percy Bysshe Shelley had big impacts on this style of art. Romanticism is

The period of Romanticism, occurring between the years 1800 and 1860, left a significant impact on not only the literature of that time, but the literature of today as well. Prior to romantic writings, the world focused on society and logic. Romanticism allowed people to start valuing individualism and to appeal to emotional responses. This new way of thinking brought new literary styles, themes, and genres that were never explored before and are still found today. The literature of Romanticism allowed people to escape the harshness of reality and enter a different world.

To understand how Romanticism changed the way society thought, you must first understand the meanings and reason behind the movement. The Romantic Movement in the late 18th and early 19th centuries was described as a movement in the history of culture, an aesthetic style, and an attitude of mind. (Fiero) Romanticism provided expression of their thoughts and ideas toward their own societies, which was in effect predominantly in Europe and in the United States. The movement was a reaction to the Enlightenment which provided strict ideology and rationalism. The Church had much to do with the Enlightenment seeing as if religion and the importance of God were incorporated into most aspects of their culture. Thus, Romanticism was a response to

Romanticism was a period time 1750 to 1870 in Europe, Latin America and The United States. Romantic Movement didn’t reach to France until the 1820’s. Romanticism main spirit was against of rule, law and formulas that classicism the different characterized of general in 18th century. Imagination, Subjectivity of approach, freedom, Expression and the idealization of nature will be focused in movement of Romantic Literature. In this period industrial revolution with the social and political norms form as age of enlightenment and against of scientific rationalization of nature. Some Literature element of that period will be emotional, imagination and suspense. Romanticism movement brings some of different writes such as John Keats, Blake William, Wordsworth William and other. They came with the different illustrated, poetry that expresses the language, emotion and imagination. Romanticism is a phenomenon characterized by subjectivity of approach and reliance on the imagination, An Idealization of nature and freedom of though and expression.

Imagine a candle-lit dinner on a starry night in Paris, the Eiffel Tower just in view with dazzling lights shining into the night. This image is probably what you think of when you hear the word “romantic,” correct. However, this image is a stumbling block when people think of the “Romanticism Period” in literature. Where “romantic” means having a lovely time with the person you love the most, “Romanticism” is a piece of literature written with key themes in mind. Those themes tend to be a strong emotion, imagery or worship of nature, and individuality and subjectivity. The peak of inspiration for these pieces was in the years 1800-1850, and there are famous poems that are well loved today from this period. Many of the poets that you enjoy reading and know are, in actuality, Romanticism writers, and instill the themes above in our minds.

Given that the Industrial Revolution had impacted all forms of society, including how people thought, felt, worked, and related to each other, it would not be totally crazy to think that such a change might have been the reason why Romanticism was quickly adopted. Romanticism as a reaction to the hyper-active period of change might have been the only way to deal with the backlash of the Enlightenment's scientific thoughts and concerns. Romanticism gave people spontaneity, the chance to dream again, to explore fantasy, whereas the Enlightenment made everything predictable, taking the fun out of life. First expressed by the English poets, these ideals of Romanticism spread to other artistic models, such as art and music, and on to other countries. Because of this, the value of the arts, emotions and the value of the individual was able to reestablish a place in the minds and practices of people and society.

My definition of romanticism is when nature played a huge part to all the great artists and writers of the time. The Period of romanticism took place during the 1800s when individuals put emotion into their work and cared about education, literature, and natural history. The true romantics wanted to escape the industrial age and move away from urbanization and population in general. The romantic revolution paved the way for many writers and artists because people felt free and it gave inspiration for original ideas. Some of the great novelists surfaced during the Romanic age, one of which was marry shelly who wrote Frankenstein a masterpiece during its time.

Romanticism was a movement that swept over all of Europe; it affected all areas of life and society, not only just literatruture. At its base was a belief in the rights of man and this impetus led to two enormously important resolutions: the American Revolution and the French Resolution. Romanticism does not only mean romantic love, it is a literary term characterized by elements. Some elements of romanticism are growth of industrialization, mingling of races, frontier, experimentation, and optimism. One of the writers that include romanticism in their writings is Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly.

Romanticism started during the end of the 18th century as politics and society were changing in Europe. Gaps were growing farther and farther apart between the rich and the poor, which created changes for the time period (Class notes). Paul Brians, a English Professor at Washington State, says that Romanticism:

The Romantic Era was a period of that examined emotions and put them into words. Romantics abandoned the logical traditional Western World thought which believed that intelligence was the method used to understand the world. However, the Romantics opted to espouse imagination and feelings as a veritable approach to empathize the world. (James ,488)

Romanticism can be used to describe a time period when poets, painters, essayists and composers increasingly came to view nature itself as the greatest teacher (Sayre 177). Romantic artist believed that the past Classical values of dominance were over. Romanticism believed by a new way of living one where emotion and feeling can into play. Romantics had a very deep and passionate feeling for the beauty of nature and how it corresponds to life. The emotion of the new view of an individual creator, whose creative spirit is more important than strict adherence to formal rules and traditional procedures in romanticism (Britannica). I feel that people felt a time of relief when painting they did not need to feel like they were subject to a certain

In reaction to The Enlightenment, the period of Romanticism rises in the nineteenth century; with its major influences in the arts. Romantics focused on the individual and emotion over reason. Nature is their biggest influence. Through nature romantics could be closer to a supreme being. When it came it religion, the romantics were drawn to Christianity, but did not consider themselves Christians. In her essay “Defence of Poetry,” Percy Shelley describes the characteristics of Romanticism, when describing poetry. She uses phrases like “the expression of the imagination,” to describe poetry. (Percy Shelley, Defence of Poetry). In her essay Shelley describes what true poetry is and consists of. Her descriptions resemble the ones of Romanticism. Thus, what is Romanticism? It is one of the hardest periods to define as Hobsbawm states, “As a style, a school, an era in the arts, nothing is harder to define or even describe in terms of formal analysis…” (The Age of Revolution, 257). Even though Romanticism can be described as undefinable, its presence could be felt throughout Europe.

Artists and paintings can have a significant influence over the general attitude of a time period by spreading a certain sentiment throughout their paintings, and overall these artists played a major role in the spread of romanticism during the late eighteenth century. The romantic movement defined Europe by shifting the focus from rationalism and classicism of the Enlightenment towards emphasizing the expression natural human emotions and imagination in art. Romanticism in general can be characterized as a sort of rebellious reaction to the Enlightenment and Neoclassicism, and the movement produced a new aesthetic form of art based around addressing human nature. In this way, romantic works successfully stood as sort of refreshing contrast to the overdone impressions of classicism. In the late eighteenth century, romanticism would continue to emerge as a literary, artistic, and musical movement throughout Europe.