Romanticism in the 19th Century: Characteristics & Origins

Information About Romanticism in the Nineteenth Century

Dates: Romanticism began at the end of the eighteenth century and covered the entire first half of the nineteenth century.

Definition

We define it as a school, movement, and flow. As a school, it had a leader, the French poet Victor Hugo, and had a manifesto in the preface of the book *Cromwell* (a drama). As a school, it was very important in France.

It was a literary and artistic movement, but it could be considered a stream because it washed away everything; it was in all the arts, philosophy, economics, politics, and even life itself.

Origins

The origins are Nordic; it began simultaneously in Germany and England, and immediately spread to France, expanding from there to the rest of Europe.

Characteristics

1. Lyricism: Derived from "lyrical," referring to the lyre (a musical instrument that accompanied poetry in antiquity). Lyricism is a very subjective art, emphasizing individualism and expressing feelings and ideas.
2. Predominance of Fantasy and Imagination: Unlike Neoclassicism, which was a rational, regulatory art linked to classical antiquity and optimistic in its ideas, Romanticism unleashed imagination, and nothing stopped its fantasy. Freedom was its only guide.
3. Unsociability and Rebelliousness
4. Loneliness and Melancholy: One of the major themes of Romanticism is solitude. Another theme is melancholy. There was an "evil of the century" that sometimes led to suicide.
5. Landscaping (Love of Nature): Romantics loved wild nature (not gardens, but nature untouched by man), landscapes in the moonlight, twilight, old abandoned cemeteries, and ruins. Romantic painting was still naturalistic (imitating reality, the so-called art of mimesis). Nature served as comfort, refuge, evasion, and inspiration for the Romantic.
6. Return to the Middle Ages: Romantics looked to other times and other countries to evade reality (which is known as exoticism). The Middle Ages made them dream, with its knights and ladies.
7. Cult of the Eternal and Infinite (Inherited from Christianity), also called "Titanism": This means they desired to go beyond human limits.
8. Idealism: Love, woman, and art were idealized. Reality was transformed, seeking perfection.
9. Valorization of Folklore and Old Folk Legends: Unlike Neoclassicism, Romantics were attracted by these demonstrations; some historians speak of nationalism.
10. Openly: There are no rules that limit inspiration and writing. The artist is not limited.

Some Representatives

• French: Chateaubriand, Rousseau, Lamartine, Vigny, Victor Hugo
• German: Goethe, Schiller, Novalis, Heine
• English: Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats, Lord Byron, Walter Scott
• Spanish: Larra, Espronceda, Rosalía de Castro, Bécquer
• Italian: Leopardi