Just asRomantic artwas great departure from the classical style of theEnlightenment,Romantic literature branched out from the world of natural science, mathematics and logic, creating a new style of writing that focused on human emotion and expression. The most notable Romantic writers include Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Emily Bronte, Charlotte Bronte, Mary Shelly, Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and John Keats.
Poetry of the era focused on love, religion, the Ancient World and nature. Novels explored both love and fear. With wars being waged all over Europe especially in France, Romanticism embraced the ideas of freedom and liberty. A typical Romantic hero would often be portrayed as a rebel against the social conventions and political tyranny. Napoleon embodies these romantic qualities in the early years of his political career. Romantic heroines, like Jane Eyre, overcame personal adversity to eventually find great happiness.
Revival of Fairy Tales
In keeping with the Romantic fascination with the past, it is no wonder that stories of days past began circulating in the early 19th Century. In Germany especially, folk lore became all the rage. The reawakening of German folklore, brought on in part by the poet, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, led to the rise of the Fairy Tale. Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, better known as the Brothers Grim, collected and recorded several old folk tales from throughout Europe, publishing a book of their findings in 1812. These early “children’s tales” were filled with violence, promiscuity and characters with generally bad morals. (Did you know that Rapunzel was pregnant in that tower? Or that the wicked stepmother was Hansel and Gretel’sreal mother!) Over time the stories were made into more child friendly versions.
Gothic Horrors in Romantic Literature
Gothic horrors (not considered very romantic nowadays) were produced by some of the leading writers of the Romantic Movement. Mary Shelley, wrote her famous horror,Frankenstein, while visiting the German countryside with her writer husband. She claimed to have had vision in a dream of “the creature.”Frankenstein(which refers to the mad scientist, by the way, not the monster) illustrates the romance associated with science. Dr. Frankenstein is more tragic hero than geek in a lab coat.
Romanticism in the United States
It wasn’t long before Romantic ideas began popping up in the United States. Well know American writers including Edgar Allen Poe, Washington Irving, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson helped shape the literary world of the burgeoning United States.
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