Romanticism

Romanticism was an artistic and intellectual movement in the history of ideas that originated in late 18th century Western Europe. It stressed strong emotion—which now might include trepidation, awe and horror as aesthetic experiences—the individual imagination as a critical authority, which permitted freedom within or even from classical notions of form in art, and overturning of previous social conventions, particularly the position of the aristocracy. There was a strong element of historical and natural inevitability in its ideas, stressing the importance of "nature" in art and language. Romanticism is also noted for its elevation of the achievements of what it perceived as heroic individuals and artists. It followed the Enlightenment period and was in part inspired by a revolt against aristocratic social and political norms from the previous period, as well as seeing itself as the fulfilment of the promise of that age.

Origins and precursors

The term 'Romanticism' derives ultimately from the fictional romances written during the Middle Ages ("romance" being the medieval term for works in the vernacular Romance languages rather than in Latin). These each involved the episodic adventures of a single individual, though long digressive inner narratives might follow a secondary figure for a time, and they revolved around some central figure: Charlemagne, Alexander the Great and King Arthur were each central figures in such "cycles" of romances, which were notable for their use of magic and focus on personal characteristics of honor and valor, as well as a sense of lofty idealism and a "lost world". The atmosphere of accursed magic and a revived taste for the macabre amid the gloomy thrill of ruinous Gothic architecture is essential in Gothic novels of erotic horror and suspense such as Vathek and The Monk.

Related Topics:
Romances - Middle Ages - Romance languages - Latin - Charlemagne - Alexander the Great - King Arthur - Gothic novel - Vathek

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Coleridge and Wordsworth were the true architects of this movement, beginning with their lyrical ballads.

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The revival of 'romance' in this narrower sense was preceded by a cult of Sensibility. The 'Sturm und Drang' (Storm and Stress) movement in German drama was associated with Friedrich Schiller, and the early work of Goethe, in particular his play "Goetz von Berlichingen", about a Medieval knight who resists submission to any authority beyond himself. Goethe's novel "The Sufferings of Young Werther" (1774) had huge international success. This too concerned an individual who felt a strong contradiction between his own internal world of intense feeling, and the external world that failed to correspond to it. Werther eventually commits suicide. In later works Goethe rejected Romanticism in favour of a new sense of classical harmony, integrating internal and external states.

Related Topics:
Sensibility - Sturm und Drang - Friedrich Schiller - Goethe

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In English, the term 'Romantick' also embodied the experience of human inadequacy and guilt, quite separate from traditional Christian grounding; such a sense of and ever-present dark forces seemed most appropriate in settings of Medieval culture. In Germany and France, Herder praised the aurora.

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While these precursors partly explain the Romantic fascination with the Middle Ages, the pleasures of stressful emotions, and the thrill derived from wilfulness, the actual expression of the Romantic movement itself corresponded to the sense of rapid, dynamic social change that culminated in the French Revolution and the Napoleonic era. However, Romantic literature in Germany preceded these crucial historical events.

Related Topics:
French Revolution - Napoleonic

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