Romanticism Summary

Romanticism Explained

Context: The Age of Enlightenment

• Romanticism emerged as a reaction to the Age of Enlightenment, an 18th-century intellectual movement which emphasized:
  • Reason
  • Science
  • Classical traditions
  • Opposition to superstition and absolute monarchies
• Enlightenment ideals influenced the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence.
• Enlightenment thinkers believed intellect could create a perfect, free society.

What Romanticism Is

• Romanticism was an artistic movement in Europe and the U.S. in the 1