The Romantic Movement

1. Define the romantic movement. Identify the 5 I and provide an

explanation for each
A movement in literature and art during the late 18th and early 19th centuries that
celebrated nature rather than civilization.
Romanticism is characterized by the 5 I
Imagination:
-

Imagination was emphasized over reason.

This was a backlash against the rationalism characterized by the Neoclassical
period or Age of Reason.
Imagination was considered necessary for creating all art.

Intuition:
-

Romantics placed value on intuition, or feeling and instincts, over reason.

Emotions were important in Romantic art.
The Romantic thinkers believed that we should listen to that inner voice that tries
to lead and direct us. We should follow our hunches and follow our gut feelings.

Idealism:
-

Idealism is the concept that we can make the world a better place.
Idealism refers to any theory that emphasizes the spirit, the mind, or language
over matter thought has a crucial role in making the world the way it is.

Inspiration:
-

The Romantic artist, musician, or writer, is an inspired creator rather than a

technical master.
What this means is going with the moment or being spontaneous, rather than
getting it precise.

Individuality:
-

Romantics celebrated the individual.

During this time period, Womens Rights and Abolitionism were taking root as
major movements.
Romanticism promotes an anti-social emphasis on individuality and selfabsorption.

2. What was the Romantic movement a reaction against? Explain in detail

with reference to the The Enlightenment and Neo-classical thought.
The Romantic movement was a reaction against the forms and conventions of the
eighteenth century. Romanticism rejects the defined set of rules, balance, idealization,
and rationality that typified Classicism in general and the idea of an established order
in society including its rigid rules during the Neoclassicism thought of which poets, play
writers and artists were expected to follow and observe in order to produce a perfect
composition. It was also to some extent a reaction against the intellectualism of the
Enlightenment with its materialistic ideologies and its fixed social structures protecting
the privileged. Enlightenment told the people how exactly to think, feel and behave
which was why romanticism was a revolt against classical restraint, intellectual
discipline and artificial standards.

Nancy Ho, English Advanced

The Romantic Movement

3. Define the Romantic concept of sublimity or the subline. What

characterises the sublime?
"Sublime" (in terms of "things in nature and art") is defines as "affecting the mind with
a sense of overwhelming grandeur or irresistible power; calculated to inspire awe, deep
reverence, or lofty emotion, by reason of its beauty, vastness, or grandeur." Some
characteristics that Edmund Burke alludes to in his analysis of the subline includes its
positive ideas of novelty, infinity (connoting to the idea of eternity), magnificence and
light. In combination with the adverse concepts of terror as Burke believes that this is
the essential foundation that makes up the sublime and of obscurity as he states when
we know the full extent of any danger, when we can accustom our eyes to it, a great
deal of the apprehension vanishes. Pertaining to the idea the unknown and vagueness
of the sublime. Furthermore, the visual characteristics of the sublime consist of its
privation of vacuity, darkness and solitude, its vastness and difficulty of achieving
the sublime, colour (of gloominess and cloudiness) as well as its loud and sudden
nature.

Nancy Ho, English Advanced