Romanticism is a philosophy that emphasizes the imagination and emotions, while being impractical or unrealistic. This philosophy throws reality to the wind to make room for fantasy. "The Romantics tended to define and to present the imagination as our ultimate "shaping" or creative power, the approximate human equivalent of the creative powers of nature or even deity," (Academic Romanticism). Romantics express the wish for a perfect or ideal world. Idealism holds strong roots in Romanticism. Idealism is the practice of forming or pursuing ideals, especially unrealistically. The ideals expressed through Romanticism are very unrealistic, and unreasonable. Emotion is a greater focus than reason. In fact, there is a complete lack of reason. Due to this, supernatural or mystical aspects are often included. Instinct, intuition, and feelings are presented with more importance than logic. The main goal of romanticism is to inspire or sway others. The philosophy is often used to sway opinion towards a social cause. Some social causes are not reasonable to most people, so in order to sway opinion, romantics will target the people’s emotions. Romanticism focuses more on self-expression than on form or tradition. It also focuses heavily on description and observation. Elevated language is one of the main aspects, because eloquence is powerful when it comes to swaying opinion. Common themes include nature, youth, individualism, heroism, and nostalgia. Nature is portrayed as a safe haven from man-made environments. Man-made environments are seen as false and ugly, while nature is seen as true and beautiful. Youth is glorified in the same way as nature. Children are seen as more wise than adults, because they are not corrupted by society and thus more individual. Romanticism focuses on the importance of the individual over the importance of society as a whole. This is often shown through a hero character. Characters are seen as heroic because of reputation, or because of creation. Creators are seen as inspirational heroes instead of technical masters. This is due to the heavy focus on imagination. Inspiring the imagination is the greatest feat to Romantics, thus the creator is a hero and genius. The romantic tone is often melancholy, meditative, and inspirational. Romantics see the imagination as a “shaping” or creative power.
Which common theme of Romanticism do you find most inspiring? Why?