Understanding Romanticism: Themes, Features, and Impact
Introduction to Romanticism
Romanticism flourished in the first half of the nineteenth century, emerging as a reaction against Enlightenment thought. The rise of capitalism and the liberal state led to the bourgeoisie’s peak. However, this change was gradual due to the persistence of elements from the Old Regime. This period saw the impoverishment of the lower classes.
Romanticism represents the beginning of modernity, championing freedom morally, politically, and artistically. It emphasizes the subjective expression of self, valuing the individual and their unique worldview. Literature becomes the expression of the artist’s inner self. Frequent themes include freedom, power, justice, the meaning of life, the silence of God, human destiny and mysteries, and, above all, love as passion, and death (often through suicide) as a response to an imperfect society.
Romantics sought an ideal of happiness and fulfillment that was unattainable in their surrounding reality, leading to existential failure. This resulted in pessimism and angst, prompting a desire to escape. This escape could be achieved through various means: spatially (to exotic locations), temporally (conservative romantics looked to the Middle Ages, while liberals looked forward), or through suicide. Another prominent trait of Romanticism is intense nationalism, which emphasized traditions, folk art, vernacular languages, and medieval literature.
The era also introduced the end of superstitions, legends, fantasy, and mysteries.
The Romantic Lyric: Key Features
Romantic poetry reflects the literature of the period, with themes such as the call for freedom, subjectivity, and the exaltation of self. The landscape becomes a reflection of the artist’s inner world. This landscape is often portrayed as outrageous, violent, wild, and mysterious, featuring elements like cemeteries at night and abandoned places.
In terms of style, Romantic poetry employs polymetry and musicality, incorporating elements that give rhythm, rhyme, acute accents, alliteration, parallelism, and polysyndeton. The language shows a clear preference for nouns from the semantic fields of emotion, pain, and dissatisfaction, as well as adjectives that enhance the meaning of romantic poetry.
Development of Romantic Poetry
Romantic poetry developed in two directions: narrative and lyric poetry. Narrative poetry emphasizes the poem as a narrative, often resembling the medieval atmosphere of gloom. These poems often draw inspiration from medieval epics, ballads, and oral legends. Lyric poetry was distributed in two phases during the nineteenth century. José de Espronceda’s work is marked by patriotic and social issues. In the second phase, Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer and Rosalía de Castro cultivated a poetic style characterized by melancholy and intimacy, where pessimism and the conception of love as a source of pain and disappointment prevail.