Romanticism

Romanticism was an international artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement that originated in Europe toward the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate period from 1800 to 1850. The movement developed in reaction against the rationalism of the Enlightenment, and later on, against the materialism of the Industrial Revolution.

Romanticism, at its heart, values: nature, emotionality, subjectivity, and individuality. But above all, the Romantic strives towards the enigmatic ideal of the "sublime". Because Romanticism is so idealistic, it often aligns itself with Nationalism which is why the traits and visual tropes of Romanticism vary from country to country. However, this fascination with national ideals often resulted in a Romantic fetishization of non-western/European societies and cultures.

Fashion[]

Romantic fashion peaked in the 1820s and 1830s, serving as a transition between the Regency and Victorian Eras. Following the minimalist, Classical 'Empire' style of the early 1800s, the Romantic Era saw a return to structured silhouettes and elaborate embellishment, reflecting Romanticism's opposition to Enlightenment rational philosophy.

Skirts became increasingly flared with gores (long triangular inserts of fabric), though this technique was later replaced by gathering and pleats. Puffed sleeves of several different styles were incredibly popular, reaching an extreme in the 1830s. Fabric was commonly dyed bright colors or printed with patterns, and dresses were often embellished with lace, embroidery and ruffles.

The men's fashionable silhouette mirrored the women's, emphasising wide shoulders and a narrow waist. Trousers became more dominant, in place of pantaloons and stockings from previous decades. Lord George Byron and John Keats were common inspirations, and popularised the 'Byronic' masculine ideal which glorified a melancholic mood, pale complexion, and what is now recognised as symptoms of tuberculosis.

Texts[]

The Key Texts of Romanticism:

Early Romantic Texts

Lyrical Ballads (1798) by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth.
The Prelude (1799) by William Wordsworth.
Songs of Innocence and Experience (1794) by William Blake.

Second Generation Romantic Texts

Don Juan (1819) by Lord George Byron.
She Walks in Beauty (1814) by Lord George Byron.
The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794) by Ann Radcliffe.
Ode on a Grecian Urn (1820) by John Keats
Prometheus Unbound (1820) by Percy B. Shelley
Frankenstein (1823) by Mary Shelley.

Russian Romantic Texts

A Hero of Our Time (1840) by Mikhail Lermontov.
Eugene Onegin (1830) by Alexander Pushkin.

French Romantic Texts

Les Misérables (1862) by Victor Hugo.
Indiana (1832) by George Sand.

Polish Romantic Texts

Dziady by Adam Mickiewicz
Ballads and Romances by Adam Mickiewicz
Balladyna by Juliusz Słowacki

Music[]

The cumulative Romantic musical form is the symphony—a form of music dependent on subjective experience and emotions.

Basics of Romantic classical music: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7qXaPjzDlR7cbsweXbH0tu (by Spotify user pomooney).

Romantic Composers

Ludwig Van Beethoven (https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DX12YIlzNkccL).
Frederic Chopin (https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DWV7cvDzE3MOI).
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DX2kvBlhyEkb6).
Franz Liszt (https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DX93wmY669mVj).
Franz Schubert (https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DWY3VlkBR4Jhb).
Hector Berlioz (https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DWWq1x4amZ5Ls).

Subgenres[]

Dark Romanticism[]

Dark Romanticism is a subgenre of Romanticism, reflecting popular fascination with the irrational, the demonic and the grotesque. It is characterized by the fact that it particularly emphasizes irrational, melancholic features and is also fascinated by the design of human madness and by Evil.

Often conflated with Gothicism, it has shadowed the euphoric Romantic movement ever since its 18th-century beginnings. At the end of the 18th century, Schauerliteratur ("Gothic fiction") developed in England as a separate style. In the 19th century, modern horror literature developed from black romanticism, like Edgar Allan Poe, Emily Dickinson, and Mary Shelley, for example, but more modern examples of Dark Romanticism include Stephen King, Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series, and the modern, more-twisted variations of the Alice in Wonderland story in literature, as well as TV shows such as Supernatural, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Gravity Falls, and American Horror Story.

Themes in Dark Romanticism include:

Longing, window motive, wanderlust, escapism, wandering motive, somnambulism
Nature (e.g. hiking trails, mountains, caves, deep water, dark forests, lonely clearings; but also symbol-related animals, plants and natural phenomena such as fog, moonlight, thunderstorms, shadows)
Night, stars, moon
Places and buildings (e.g. castles, haunted mansions, monasteries, dungeons, cellar vaults, tombs, artificial ruins, ruined architecture, cemeteries)
Evil
Philosophy, theology, religion, doubts about faith, nihilism
Fantasy
Mythical creatures (e.g. elves, fairies, ghosts, revenants, demons, shapeshifters and doppelgangers)
Femmes fatales
Para science, parapsychology, alchemy, magic, necromancy, occultism, satanism, witchcraft, magnetism
Paraphilic eroticism
Drugs (e.g. alcohol, opium, morphine, mushroom extracts, animal elixirs)
Dream and reality, nightmares
Melancholy, depression, resignation, despair, longing for death
Hysteria, obsession, madness
Expiration
Death