Romanticism

Romanticism was a cultural movement that originated in the 1770s in England and Germany , and gripped Europe until the turn of the century. The movement found its origins in several sources. It was partially a reaction to the Enlightenment philosophy of the time, which struggled for rationalization of all phenomena. Unlike Enlightenment followers, Romantics yearned for a return to what were seen as the better, simpler times of the past, and their comforting notions of mysticism. Hardly surprisingly, the Romantics also recoiled from or disdained the Industrial Revolution. They had encountered a period of great change, and perhaps because of the brutal realities of life in a capitalist society where each person is attempting to gain all they can for themselves, the artists, writers, musicians, and thinkers involved in this movement tended to look to the past or inward for inspiration. Finally, this was a largely middle-class movement, in contrast to the elitist enlightenment, signifying that the middle class had gained enough socio-cultural power to make a significant impression on the cultural plane.  

The tendency toward nationalism during the time in Europe , a result of long wars among its many nations, led artists to explore and emulate their national heritage. This was also a reaction against the changing times. The Grimm collection of fairy tales became popular along with Goethe's elevation of a traditional story in Faust, and Shakespeare's works were revived in England . This perpetuated nationalism still further, by encouraging the idea that the people of a nation – like the German Volk, or People – thought collectively rather than individually.  

Gothic Romanticism, however, sought to counteract the harsh new world by placing emphasis on emotion. This directly contradicted the Enlightenment philosophy of stoic, logical examination of facts. Writers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Charles Dickens encouraged empathy with the characters, and treated romantic love as a healthy and positive emotion rather than as a sign of weakness.  

This escapism found an outlet in the description of the exotic – that which the average, middle-class European reader would never experience. These works reflected common attitudes of the times about exotic locations – for example, the natives were almost always viewed as savages.  

Finally, Romantics searched for consolation by exploring the inner self. Though religion was still an important element of culture, it had become more of an artistic tradition to be idealized and used as a symbol rather than a devout belief. Rather than accepting the theologies of outside sources as fact, Romantics viewed the Byronic hero – the emotional protagonist who followed his own definitions of right and wrong – as the ideal, and strove to discover truth through personal feeling.  

Above all, this movement embodied a search for the beautiful and exhilarating amid the raw turbulence of social, economic, and political change. 

Sources:

Kreis, Steven.  “Lecture 16: the Romantic Era.” The History Guide: Lectures on Modern European History. 2000. 7 March 2006 . < http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/lecture16a.html >. 

“Romanticism”. Wikipedia. 7 March 2006 . < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanticism >. 

“Romanticism, Economic Liberalism and Political Liberalism.” 7 March 2006 . < http://www.iun.edu/~hisdcl/h114_2002/romanticism.htm >.