Romanticism in Literature: From Sturm und Drang to Poetry
Preromanticism and the Roots of Romanticism
Before talking about Romanticism, we must talk about Preromanticism. Authors emphasize figures like Rousseau, showing in his work a sensitivity analysis of the most important intimate aspects.
The Sturm und Drang Movement
Although there was a German movement called Sturm und Drang (Storm and Stress), it clearly marked the distance from 18th-century rationalism, choosing passion instead. The playwright Schiller is an example of Sturm und Drang, seeking intense works in his scenography. His traits include individualism, the sentimental explosion, and the defense of liberty, as seen in The Robbers and William Tell.
The Influence of Goethe
Another important German author is Goethe. In his first phase, coinciding with Sturm und Drang, he defended artistic freedom and the idea of the Genius that influenced Romanticism. He announces Romantic themes, especially in The Sorrows of Young Werther, which uses exalted language to tell the exciting love story of Werther for Charlotte—an impossible love for which life loses meaning, leading the protagonist to suicide.
In Goethe's second stage, when Romanticism starts in Germany, he takes a personal classicism. A major work in literature and for Goethe was Faust.
The Great Genre: Romantic Poetry
Poetry was the great genre of the moment, being the right medium to express the author's personal feelings and lyricism. Even the author's persona collaborates with the Romantic idea.
Hölderlin and the Search for Beauty
A good example of this is Hölderlin (Hyperion and The Death of Empedocles), where poetic emotion dominates the narration. Poets sometimes opt for an intimate tone and content (Novalis, Keats) or a more grandiose and epic rebellion full of wit (Lord Byron, Victor Hugo).
Germany was the great country of Romanticism in both thought and works. Hölderlin, in his poetry, seeks Romantic fulfillment in nature or a certain medievalism far from other Romantics. He shows the alternation between enthusiasm and despair in the search for union with the infinite. In his fullness, the idea of beauty emerges, placing art and the poet in a privileged place; the poet is a being capable of reaching the limit of what is beautiful.
Novalis and the Hymns to the Night
Novalis, besides a novel, wrote a single work of poetry, Hymns to the Night, written after the death of his beloved. It deals with her absence and the desire to be reunited with her. From there, the work is loaded with sense and presents a journey into oneself and a vision of the night full of effect. Night is fullness; it is death and life. It is the mysterious and hidden reality that the poet discovers.
The English Lyric Tradition
English lyricism begins with William Blake, a visionary poet for whom reason is a power against the unleashed instinctive forces or "dreams." Other poets dominated by rebellion against social, moral, and political norms are Lord Byron and Percy B. Shelley.
John Keats and the Poetic Imagination
John Keats emphasizes the creative capacity of the poetic imagination. Through it, he sought beauty, which he believed is the only truth. Keats gives great importance to the sensual and the senses, sensing that beauty is located in the distance.