Title: Romanticism - Wikipedia
Headings: Romanticism
Romanticism
Contents
Defining Romanticism
Basic characteristics
Etymology
Period
Context and place in history
Literature
Germany
Great Britain
Scotland
France
Poland
Russia
Spain
Portugal
Italy
South America
United States
Influence of European Romanticism on American writers
Architecture
Visual arts
Music
Outside the arts
Sciences
Historiography
Theology
Chess
Romantic nationalism
Polish nationalism and messianism
Gallery
Emerging Romanticism in the 18th century
French Romantic painting
Other
Romantic authors
Scholars of Romanticism
See also
References
Citations
Sources
Further reading
External links

Content: Contents
1 Defining Romanticism
1.1 Basic characteristics
1.2 Etymology
1.3 Period
1.4 Context and place in history
2 Literature
2.1 Germany
2.2 Great Britain
2.2.1 Scotland
2.3 France
2.4 Poland
2.5 Russia
2.6 Spain
2.7 Portugal
2.8 Italy
2.9 South America
2.10 United States
2.10.1 Influence of European Romanticism on American writers
3 Architecture
4 Visual arts
5 Music
6 Outside the arts
6.1 Sciences
6.2 Historiography
6.3 Theology
6.4 Chess
7 Romantic nationalism
7.1 Polish nationalism and messianism
8 Gallery
9 Romantic authors
10 Scholars of Romanticism
11 See also
11.1 Related terms
11.2 Opposing terms
11.3 Related subjects
11.4 Related movements
12 References
12.1 Citations
12.2 Sources
13 Further reading
14 External links
Defining Romanticism
Basic characteristics
The nature of Romanticism may be approached from the primary importance of the free expression of the feelings of the artist. The importance the Romantics placed on emotion is summed up in the remark of the German painter Caspar David Friedrich, "the artist's feeling is his law". For William Wordsworth, poetry should begin as "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings", which the poet then "recollect [s] in tranquility", evoking a new but corresponding emotion the poet can then mold into art. To express these feelings, it was considered that content of art had to come from the imagination of the artist, with as little interference as possible from "artificial" rules dictating what a work should consist of. Samuel Taylor Coleridge and others believed there were natural laws the imagination—at least of a good creative artist—would unconsciously follow through artistic inspiration if left alone. As well as rules, the influence of models from other works was considered to impede the creator's own imagination, so that originality was essential. The concept of the genius, or artist who was able to produce his own original work through this process of creation from nothingness, is key to Romanticism, and to be derivative was the worst sin. This idea is often called "romantic originality". Translator and prominent Romantic August Wilhelm Schlegel argued in his Lectures on Dramatic Arts and Letters that the most phenomenal power of human nature is its capacity to divide and diverge into opposite directions. William Blake, The Little Girl Found, from Songs of Innocence and Experience, 1794
Not essential to Romanticism, but so widespread as to be normative, was a strong belief and interest in the importance of nature.