Romantic Literature: Characteristics, Authors, and Themes
Characteristics of Romantic Literature
A consequence of that defense of freedom is the importance attached to originality and individualism: the writer must find their voice and build their own universe. For this reason, the romantic style is usually very lively and rhetorical, to highlight both the author’s personality and the intensity of their feelings.
- The Rebellion: Romantics questioned the morality of their time and bourgeois values. Many texts devoted to marginal characters symbolize their rebellious attitude.
- Evasion: Confrontation with the reality of society encourages the flight into the past and remote locations.
- The Projection in Nature: Romantics expressed their emotions through nature.
- Nationalism: Romanticism is interested in what it considers genuine manifestations of the soul of the people. Hence, legends, traditions, and stories of each region are collected.
Romantic Poetry
The poetry of Romanticism has these features:
- It uses polymetry, so they often blend verses and stanzas of varying degrees.
- Favorite themes are ideal love and passion in all its facets.
During Romanticism, two types of poetry coexisted:
- A lyric poetry that expresses the feelings and the poet’s vision of the world. This includes Jose de Espronceda, Gustavo Adolfo Becquer, and Rosalia de Castro.
- A narrative poem, in which there are frequent stories based on legends.
Rosalia de Castro
Rosalia de Castro embodies the most intimate stream of Romanticism. She composed in Galician (Follas Novas) and Castilian.
Romantic Prose
Both fiction and journalistic texts were cultivated. Within the fictional narrative, the Legends of Gustavo Adolfo Becquer stand out. In the field of journalism, Mariano Jose de Larra stands out.
Romantic Drama
Romantic authors rejected the unities of action, time, and place. Romantic works often have a mysterious hero, marked by an inevitable and tragic fate. The most important playwrights were the Duke of Rivas and Jose Zorrilla.
Gustavo Adolfo Becquer
Born in Seville in 1836, at eighteen, he decided to be a poet. His life was marked by disease, economic hardship, and the failures of love. He died in Madrid in 1870. Both Becquer and Rosalia de Castro are considered post-Romantic authors, for their literary work began after 1850, when Romanticism was in decline across Europe.
Legends
Within Becquer’s prose work, Legends stands out. It is a collection of eighteen stories, most of which are set in the Middle Ages and recount fantastic or supernatural events. These carry Romantic themes and symbols like impossible love and the unattainable beloved.
Concept of Romanticism
Today, “romantic” means something that has no relation to the original concept. In the 19th century, Romanticism meant having a very crude perception of existence, and therefore meant a life full of desolation and anguish. Thus, many Romantics committed suicide. Romanticism involves a distinct admiration for that which deviates from the norm. A Romantic is a young person who feels marginalized and misunderstood and does not accept the society around them. They look for role models in social rebels who are moved by their passions: pirates, beggars, and bandits.