Romantic Era
The dictionary defines the term romantic as displaying, expressive of, or conducive to love; imaginative but impractical; visionary; not based on fact; imaginary or fictitious; hence, fanciful; marvelous; extravagant; unreal. Much to my surprise this meaning and the meaning portrayed in its era of poetry are quite similar. The word romanticism has a complex and interesting history. In the Middle Ages 'romance' meant to compose or translate books in the vernacular. The work produced was then called romanz, roman, romanzo and romance. A roman or romant came to be known as an imaginative work and a 'courtly romance'. The terms also signified a 'popular book'. There are early suggestion
Romanticism was a movement in poetry (and art and literature in general) of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, in revolt against the type of poetry of previous centuries. It was later used in the sense of 'gentle', 'melancholy'. The German poet Friedrich Schlegel first used the term romantic to describe literature, defining it as "literature depicting emotional matter in an imaginative form. s that it was something new, different, divergent. It was an intellectual movement originating in Europe in the late 18th century and characterized by a heightened interest in nature, emphasis on the individual's expression of emotion, departure from the attitudes and forms of classicism, and rebellion against established social rules and conventions. The Romantic Era is no different than any other. By the 17th century in Britain, 'romance' had acquired the derogatory connotations of fanciful, bizarre, exaggerated, chimerical. Imagination and creativity along with youth and self-renewal were embraced. It allowed poets to write about anything; no longer were there 'fit subjects for writing'. Many hold to the theory that it was in Britain that the romantic movement really started. At any rate, quite early in the 18th century, a definite shift in sensibility and feeling can be easily seen, particularly in relation to the natural order of life and nature itself. Some of the main writers were Keats (When I Have Fears, La Belle Dame Sans Merci), Shelley (Ozymandias), Blake (The Sick Rose, Earth's Answer), Coleridge (Kubla Khan), Lord Byron (Stanzas For Music, She walks in Beauty) and Wordsworth (Most Sweet it is, Composed upon Westminster Bridge). As time progresses, each era can be pinpointed with just a few defining elements. The writers of this period saw older writing more genuine so they self-consciously reverted to earlier styles.
Common topics in this essay:
Middle Ages,
Romantic Era,
French Revolution,
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Friedrich Schlegel,
British Romantic,
Stanzas Music,
18th century,
Westminster Bridge,
term romantic,
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