Romanticism: A 19th-Century Cultural Movement

Romanticism

Romanticism was a cultural movement that opposed the characteristic principles of the Enlightenment. It emerged as a result of the profound social and ideological crisis of the early decades of the 19th century. The origins of Romanticism can be found in the 18th century, especially in German philosophy and culture.

Key Characteristics of Romanticism

• Irrationalism: Romanticism refused to fully explain reality through reason.
• Subjectivism: If reason has its limits, other forms of knowledge are necessary. For the Romantics, these included intuition, imagination, and instinct.
• Idealism: Romantics had a predilection for the ideal, for the absolute.
• Individualism: Romantics had an acute and painful awareness of their own personality, distinct from others. This constant confrontation of the self with the surrounding world led to loneliness, a fundamental theme of Romanticism. Lyric poetry and music were considered the supreme arts.
• The Creative Genius: The artist is born, not made. Hence the appreciation of the spontaneous, intuitive, and original, which are characteristic of creative genius.
• Radical Insecurity: The Romantic is, by nature, insecure and unhappy. Having lost confidence in reason, there are no absolute certainties in the world. Traditional responses to the questions that reality offers are no longer sufficient.
• Disillusionment: The clash between the Romantic's inflated ego and the prosaic, gray reality that does not satisfy their aspirations and ideals leads to a deep sense of disappointment, tedium, and vital boredom. This often results in rebellion against moral, social, political, or religious norms.
• Escape: To escape from a world that does not accommodate extreme idealism, the Romantic chooses to escape from an immediate reality that they dislike.
• Solitude: Escaping from reality through refuge in oneself becomes important, making the taste for solitude one of the quintessential Romantic themes.
• Dynamic Nature: Against the bucolic artifice of Neoclassicism, the Romantic artist represents nature dramatically, in motion, and with a preference for the night.
• New Sensitivity: Romanticism brings to the fore intimacy, introspection, nostalgia, melancholy, and loneliness.
• Nationalism: Romantics find an existential foothold in the community spirit that binds them to their environment.