Romanticism, which spans from 1790 to 1850, rose as a reactionary wave against the Age of Reason or Enlightenment. Romantics focused on many themes and techniques which characterized their works and by extension the movement: nature, sentimentalism, idealism, imagination, religion, utopia, memory, symbolism, and heroism. This movement is not only confined to literature, but also incorporated music, art, and philosophy. The Enlightenment, which preceded Romanticism, largely emphasized rationalism, science, logic, reason, religious unorthodoxy, and humanism. Enlightenment philosophes of the French Revolution argued that one attained knowledge through the mind whereas romantics thought that knowledge came from feeling and being in touch with. On the other hand, romanticism is set apart from other literary epochs because it asserted the importance of individualism therefore, romantic writers had the liberty to conform to the ideals of the movement and to detour in a new directions according tot their own individual desires. Get Help With Your EssayIf you need assistance with writing your essay, our professional essay writing service is here to help!
romanticism in english literature essay
Romanticism in literature was defined as a literary, artistic and philosophical movement originating in the late 17th century and early 18th century, a movement against the Neoclassicism of the previous centuries. Neoclassism was characterized by emotional restraint, order, logic, technical, precision, balance, elegance of diction, an emphasis of form over content, clarity, dignity, and decorum (Morner 1997). Originating in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, Romanticism emphasized emotions and individualism, as well as glorifying the past and nature, preferring the medieval rather than the classical way of things. Many authors used their voice during this movement to show the five main characteristics of romanticism: interest in the common man and childhood, strong senses, emotions and feelings, awe of nature, celebration of the individual and importance of imagination.Get Help With Your EssayIf you need assistance with writing your essay, our professional essay writing service is here to help!
William Brewer joined the Appalachian State English Department faculty in 1987. His publications include three monographs, five scholarly editions, three essay collections, and numerous essays on the literature of the British Romantic period. Since 2017, he has served as the book review editor of European Romantic Review. Currently, he is writing about duelling, caning, and fencing during the British Romantic period.
Literature changed significantly during the 18th and 19th centuries. The Romantic Movement emerged from the end of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, leading to a new writing style. Authors such as Victor Hugo, Walter Scott, Mary Shelley, John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Goethe, and William Wordsworth defined the Romantic period, with numerous English, French, and American writers leaving their marks on the written word as a whole. Now, this era in literature is called romanticism.
There are many examples of Romanticism in literature. In fact, though the beginnings of the movement can be traced back to the late 18th and early 19th centuries, some of Romanticism's most important writers continue to be popular today. These include the British poets, William Wordsworth, Percy Shelley, and John Keats, and the novelist, Mary Shelley, whose masterpiece, Frankenstein, is an icon of the Romantic movement. American writers also played a leading role in the Romantic movement. In the United States, the poet Walt Whitman broke new ground in American Romantic poetry, particularly in his masterful collection, Leaves of Grass. Meanwhile, Romantic essayists like Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau penned classic works glorying in both the splendors of nature and the miraculous uniqueness of the individual.
The Romantics stressed the importance of the individual, which is why they celebrated subjectivity over reason and rebellion over tradition. This can be seen in some of the most important essays in American literature, Emerson's Self-Reliance and Thoreau's Civil Disobedience. In both of these texts, the authors write that the power of tradition, moral code, and established law, often crushes the individual conscience and turns humanity into obedient sheep by bending their hearts, minds, and wills to the power of custom and authority.
show an informed knowledge of the characteristics of a range of Romantic and Victorian literature; discuss the various methods, strategies, and genres used by authors of the period to construct the self; demonstrate enhanced skills of close textual analysis; be able to relate their own critical readings of literary works to those of published critics; use aspects of critical theory in their own essay writing.
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