Romanticism

Romanticism was a movement in literature, art and culture in late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth century Europe emphasising feeling, subjectivity and the individual. Romantic works frequently discuss the importance of nature and the relationship of the individual with the natural world.

Romanticism is often seen as a rejection of the focus on rationality, order and balance that typified eighteenth century Neoclassicism and the Enlightenment.

Romantic Science
Romanticism in science promoted the observation of the natural world and challenged the materialist, mechanistic science of the Enlightenment. Romantic scientists did not endorse what they saw as the dissection or manipulation of nature, instead choosing to observe and employ a more organic than mechanistic vision of scientific endeavour.

Examples of Romantic Authors
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834)

John Keats (1795-1821)

Percy Shelley (1792-1822)

Mary Shelley (1797-1851)

William Wordsworth (1770-1850)