Why did romanticism start?

Answer 1

The Enlightenment arrived in the early 18th century and attempted to apply Newton's Physics to all of life. The Declaration of Independence and Constitution of the United States were documents of the Enlightenment. At the same time this was happening, a number of people simply had to escape the new creations of the Industrial Revolution.

Then one man, Rousseau, assumed leadership of the movement. He praised the movement. He praised the out of doors. Getting in touch with feelings became important. He wrote down his ideas on education in a book called, "Emil." Those ideas are still used today. His concept was "The General Will." The name has changed to, "The Sense of the Group." His ideas turned into the French Revolution.

In England, the movement became literary with Wordsworth, Coleridge, Scott, Browning, and others leading the way.

In the United States, the movement became literary and Unitarian with the Transcendentalists such as Emerson, Alcott, and Thoreau, leading the movement.

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Answer from Chris:

Romanticism provided a countertendency to neoclassical style during the war

that Naploeon instigated in Spain with Charles IV. It also showed originality

during the French Revolution stating that no author or painter should imitate

another. The artists at this time were fascinated by the strange and the

marvelous, and by dreams and the occult.

Answer 2

Romanticism was important because it was the first time that human emotions were really expanded upon. Some would say that this focus on feelings has gone too far.