Romanticism in the 19th Century: Characteristics & Origins
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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
- 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.
- 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.
- Unsociability and Rebelliousness
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Cult of the Eternal and Infinite (Inherited from Christianity), also called "Titanism": This means they desired to go beyond human limits.
- Idealism: Love, woman, and art were idealized. Reality was transformed, seeking perfection.
- Valorization of Folklore and Old Folk Legends: Unlike Neoclassicism, Romantics were attracted by these demonstrations; some historians speak of nationalism.
- 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