Romanticism

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Caspar David Friedrich, Wanderer above the Sea of Fog, 38.58 × 29.13 inches, 1818, Oil on canvas, Kunsthalle Hamburg

Romanticism (or Romantic movement) is a movement, or style of art, literature and music in the late 18th and early 19th century in Europe.

The movement said that feelings, imagination, nature, human life, freedom of expression, individualism and old folk traditions, such as legends and fairy tales, were important.[1] It was a reaction to the aristocratic social and political ideas of the Age of Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution.[1][2]

It was also a reaction against turning nature into a mere science.[2]

The movement showed most strongly in arts like music, and literature. However, it also had an important influence on historiography,[3] education,[4] and natural history.[5]

Examples[change | change source]

United Kingdom[change | change source]

Romanticism in Britain was notable as the country was an early adopter of industrialization and science, and included such figures as:

Germany[change | change source]

During the same period as Britain, there was a notable romantistic movement in Germany. Important motifs in German Romanticism are traveling, nature, and Germanic myths. Involved were such figures as:

Related pages[change | change source]

References[change | change source]

  1. 1.0 1.1 "Romanticism -- Britannica Online Encyclopedia". britannica.com. Retrieved 14 April 2010.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Casey, Christopher (2008). "Grecian grandeurs and the rude wasting of old time: Britain, the Elgin Marbles, and post-revolutionary Hellenism". Foundations. Volume III, Number 1. Archived from the original on 2009-05-13. Retrieved 2009-06-25.
  3. David Levin, History as Romantic Art: Bancroft, Prescott, and Parkman (1967)
  4. Gerald Lee Gutek, A history of the Western educational experience (1987) ch. 12 on Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi
  5. Ashton Nichols, "Roaring Alligators and Burning Tygers: Poetry and Science from William Bartram to Charles Darwin," Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 2005 149(3): 304-315

Other websites[change | change source]