Romanticism Movement: History, Features and Authors

Romanticism: A Cultural and Political Movement

Romanticism is a cultural and political movement that developed in the 18th century, affecting both Europe and America. It was an attempt to create new ways of understanding life apart from politics and the Industrial Revolution. Pre-romanticism also emerged in the 18th century, seeking to freely express feelings through art and politics. The Romantic poet is a rebel who feels socially marginalized; his favorite topic is love.

Key Features of Romanticism

1. Exaltation of self and subjectivity: The Romantic is isolated, experiencing a deep sentiment of loneliness. This subjectivism is manifested in a consistent focus on wild and mysterious nature, dominated by cemeteries and ruins to express the author's melancholy.
2. Disagreement with the world: There is an eternal discontent where illusions lead to disappointment. Themes include political rebellion, escape in time and space, and ascetic withdrawal from the world.
3. Freedom: The movement jumps over the rules of behavior and is characterized by an obsession with fate.
4. History and the people: There is a strong interest in history and the development of nationalism, extolling the primitive, the Medieval, and the Baroque.
5. General themes: These include historical-legendary subjects, customs, folklore, love, and death. Sentimental love takes love as an unattainable ideal, while passionate love is an overwhelming feeling that often terminates in unhappiness or death.
6. Religion: Frequent confrontation with a God who is presented as detached and insensitive to human problems.
7. Political and social concern: Authors claim social issues through marginalized beings.
8. Characters: Common archetypes include the passionate hero, the treacherous and cruel antihero, and the marginalized individual.
9. Style and language: The style combines contrasting comic drama and rhetoric abounds.

Phases of Romantic Literature

• Phase 1: Transition from Neoclassicism to Romanticism.
• Phase 2: Maturity.
• Phase 3: Final phase.

Main Forms of Romanticism

Prose and the Historical Novel

Historical Novel: Notable works include The Page of Lord Henry the Sufferer by Mariano José de Larra and Sancho Saldaña by José de Espronceda.

Costumbrismo: Key authors include Serafín Estébanez Calderón and José de Espronceda.

Romantic Theater and Drama

Theater often focuses on impossible love affairs and revenge marked by the strength of "Fate". The characters have strange and unique features: mysterious beings, marginalized figures, and generous, gallant heroes. Environments typically include castles, monasteries, and cemeteries. The genre par excellence is the historical drama. Leading authors are José Zorrilla with his Don Juan Tenorio and the Duque de Rivas with Don Álvaro, or the Force of Destiny.

Romantic Poetry and Major Authors

Poetry is characterized by long verses (hendecasyllable and Alexandrine) and stanzas such as hendecasyllable quartets, octaves, and sextets. It is defined by metrical innovations, subjectivism, and high-sounding rhetoric.

• José de Espronceda: Author of The Pirate's Song, The Beggar, The Executioner, and The Student of Salamanca.
• Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer: In prose, his works include Letters from My Cell, but he is best known for his Rhymes.
• Rosalía de Castro: Wrote in Galician (Galician Songs and Follas Novas) and in Castilian (On the Banks of the Sar).
• Carolina Coronado: Known for love poems and descriptive works like The White Rose, as well as dramatic and little-known novels such as Jarilla (1851) and La Sigea (1854).