Romantic poetry is the poetry created during the Romantic era, a cultural and intellectual movement that began in Europe near the end of the 18th century. This movement was a response to the popular Neoclassical ideas of the 18th century and lasted from about 1800 to 1850. Romantic poets opposed the styles of poetry from the 18th century, which included forms such as epics, odes, satires, elegies, epistles, and songs.

English

In early-19th-century England, the poet William Wordsworth described his and Samuel Taylor Coleridge's new style of poetry in the Preface to the second edition (1800) of Lyrical Ballads. He explained that the poems in Lyrical Ballads used a different kind of language than traditional poetry. Wordsworth and his contemporaries, including Coleridge, John Keats, Percy Shelley, Lord Byron, and William Blake, wrote poems that came from deep thinking about how humans interact with their environment. While many people believe Romantic poetry was spontaneous, the movement also focused on the difficulty of writing and expressing emotions in poetic form. Coleridge, in his essay On Poesy or Art, described art as a way to connect humans and nature. This idea shows a key theme in Romantic poetry: how natural emotions are shaped by the human mind to create meaning.

The concept of the Sublime is important in Romantic poetry. In literature, the Sublime refers to descriptions and language that create feelings and thoughts beyond normal experiences. Though often linked to grandeur, the Sublime can also describe strange or unsettling experiences that make people feel small or amazed.

The idea of the Sublime became important in the 18th century. It was discussed in Edmund Burke’s 1757 treatise, though earlier thinkers also explored it. Immanuel Kant and Romantic poets, especially Wordsworth, later expanded on this idea.

Romantic poetry is different from Neoclassical poetry. Neoclassical poetry was based on logic and rules, while Romantic poetry focused on emotions and imagination. Romantic poetry began in the early 19th century as a reaction against the strict rules of 18th-century poetry. William J. Long wrote that the Romantic movement opposed the strict rules and customs that limited creative freedom in science, religion, and literature.

Romantic poets, such as John Keats, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and Percy Shelley, believed strongly in the power of imagination. Keats said, "Imagination shows what is beautiful, and that is true." For Wordsworth, William Blake, Victor Hugo, and Alessandro Manzoni, imagination was a spiritual force connected to morality. They believed poetry could help improve the world. Blake said that the secret of great art is the ability to imagine. In his poem Auguries of Innocence, Blake wrote:

Love for nature is a key theme in Romantic poetry. Romantic poets saw nature as a source of inspiration and believed in a connection between humans and the natural world. Some Romantic poets, like Wordsworth, saw nature as a living teacher and god. These ideas are clearly shown in his poem The Prelude. In his poem The Tables Turned, Wordsworth wrote:

Shelley, another nature poet, believed in a union between humans and nature. Wordsworth thought about nature in a philosophical way, while Shelley focused on the mind. John Keats loved nature, but Coleridge had a different view. He believed people’s feelings about nature depend on their mood, not that nature itself brings joy.

Melancholy, or sadness, is an important theme in Romantic poetry. Keats wrote about this in his poem Ode to a Nightingale:

Romantic poetry often looked back to the past, especially the Middle Ages. Poets like Keats and Coleridge were drawn to old, mysterious places and times. Medieval poet Richard Rolle is seen as an early Romantic writer because of poems like The Fire of Love.

The ancient world of classical Greece was important to Romantic poets. Keats’ poems, such as Ode on a Grecian Urn, include references to Greek art, literature, and culture.

Many Romantic poets used supernatural or magical elements in their work. Coleridge was especially known for this, as seen in his poem Kubla Khan.

Romantic poetry focuses on feelings, emotions, and imagination. It opposed the objective, rule-based style of Neoclassical poetry. Neoclassical poets avoided sharing personal emotions in their work, while Romantic poets expressed their inner feelings openly.

France

French literature in the first half of the century was mainly influenced by Romanticism. This movement included authors such as Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, père, François-René de Chateaubriand, Alphonse de Lamartine, Gérard de Nerval, Charles Nodier, Alfred de Musset, Théophile Gautier, and Alfred de Vigny. Their work had an impact on theatre, poetry, and prose fiction. In a 1983 book about the 16th century Catholic poet Jean de La Ceppède, English poet Keith Bosley wrote that Agrippa d'Aubigné, "the epic poet of the Protestant cause," during the French Wars of Religion, "was forgotten until the Romantics rediscovered him."

The influence of Romanticism continued in the second half of the 19th century, leading to different types of literary styles, such as "realism," "symbolism," and the so-called fin de siècle "decadent" movement.

Germany

German Romanticism was the main movement in thinking, art, and culture in German-speaking countries during the late 1700s and early 1800s. Compared to English Romanticism, German Romanticism started later and, in its early years, happened at the same time as Weimar Classicism (1772–1805). Unlike the serious tone of English Romanticism, German Romanticism placed a lot of importance on humor, fun, and beauty.

Sturm und Drang, which means "Storm and Stress" in English, was an early form of Romanticism in German literature and music from the late 1760s to the early 1780s. This movement focused on expressing personal feelings and strong emotions as a response to the strict rules of rational thinking from the Enlightenment and other artistic movements. The name comes from a play titled Sturm und Drang by Friedrich Maximilian Klinger, which was first performed in 1777.

Johann Georg Hamann is considered the main thinker of Sturm und Drang. Other important figures include Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz, H. L. Wagner, and Friedrich Maximilian Klinger. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was also a supporter of the movement, but he and Friedrich Schiller later moved away from it to start Weimar Classicism.

Jena Romanticism, also called Jena Romantics or Early Romanticism, was the first stage of Romanticism in German literature. It took place from about 1798 to 1804 and included writers in Jena such as Friedrich Schlegel, August Wilhelm Schlegel, Novalis, Ludwig Tieck, and Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling. These thinkers focused on problems raised by Immanuel Kant in his Critique of Judgment, especially the difficulty of connecting pure and practical reason. At the same time, Friedrich Hölderlin and Heinrich von Kleist explored similar ideas in different ways.

Heidelberg was the center of Romanticism in Germany during the Romantik period. The time after Jena Romanticism is often called Heidelberg Romanticism, and it is also known as Berlin Romanticism. A famous group of poets, the Heidelberg Romantics, included Joseph von Eichendorff, Johann Joseph von Görres, Ludwig Achim von Arnim, and Clemens Brentano. A lasting symbol of Romanticism is the Philosophers' Walk, a scenic path on the Heiligenberg hill overlooking Heidelberg.

The Romantik period in German philosophy and literature was a movement that opposed classical and realistic ideas about art. It rejected the strict rational thinking of the Enlightenment and instead focused on medieval themes, folk art, and nature. It also believed that knowledge should be based on nature, including human actions shaped by nature through language, traditions, and customs.

Poland

Romanticism in Poland was a time when writers, artists, and thinkers were active in the development of Polish culture. It began around 1820, happening around the same time as the publication of Adam Mickiewicz's first poems, Ballads and Romances, in 1822. This period ended in 1864 when the Russian Empire crushed the Polish-Lithuanian January Uprising of 1863. This event began a new time in Polish culture called Positivism. Other important Polish Romantic poets include Juliusz Słowacki, Cyprian Kamil Norwid, Zygmunt Krasiński, Tymon Zaborowski, Antoni Malczewski, and Józef Bohdan Zaleski.

Russia

The 19th century is often called the "Golden Era" of Russian literature. During this time, Romanticism allowed many talented poets to gain recognition. Vasily Zhukovsky and later his student, Alexander Pushkin, became especially well-known. Pushkin helped shape the Russian language used in literature and brought new artistic quality to Russian writing. His most famous work is Eugene Onegin, a novel written in a series of poems. Many new poets, such as Mikhail Lermontov, Yevgeny Baratynsky, Konstantin Batyushkov, Nikolay Nekrasov, Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy, Fyodor Tyutchev, and Afanasy Fet, followed Pushkin’s example.

Pushkin is often seen as the most important figure of Romanticism in Russian literature. However, he cannot be clearly labeled as a Romantic. Russian critics have long debated that Pushkin’s writing evolved over his 36 years of life, moving from neo-Classicism through Romanticism to Realism. Another view suggests that Pushkin’s work combined elements that seemed Romantic but ultimately challenged fixed ideas, making him both Romantic and not Romantic.

Scottish poet Robert Burns became a "people's poet" in Russia. During the Imperial era, Russian aristocrats were far removed from the lives of ordinary people, so Burns, translated into Russian, became a symbol of the common Russian people. In Soviet Russia, Burns was celebrated as the typical example of a poet for the people, partly because the Soviet government suppressed its own poets. A new Russian translation of Burns, started in 1924 by Samuil Marshak, became very popular, selling over 600,000 copies. In 1956, the Soviet Union was the first country to honor Burns with a commemorative stamp. Today, Burns’ poetry is taught in Russian schools alongside works by Russian poets. Burns admired the idea of equality from the French Revolution. Whether he would have agreed with the Soviet government’s actions is unclear. However, the Communists used Burns’ work in their propaganda. Even during Russia’s later years of capitalism, Burns’ reputation remained strong.

Lord Byron greatly influenced many Russian poets of the Golden Era, including Pushkin, Vyazemsky, Zhukovsky, Batyushkov, Baratynsky, Delvig, and especially Lermontov.

Spain

Germany and England had a strong influence on Romantic Spanish poetry. From the late 18th century to the late 19th century, Romanticism spread through philosophy and art across Western societies. This movement happened at the same time as the Age of Revolutions. Romantic poets focused more on the power of imagination than on reason. Small parts of nature, like insects and pebbles, were seen as holy. Spanish Romantics viewed nature in many different ways. Unlike earlier poets who used allegory, these poets often used myth and symbols. The strength of human emotions was also a key theme during this time. Important Romantic poets included Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer (considered the most significant), Manuel José Quintana, José Zorrilla, Rosalía de Castro (who wrote in Galician and Spanish), and José de Espronceda. In Catalonia, the Romantic movement helped start the Catalan Renaissance, called "Renaixença," which restored the importance of the Catalan language and literature, which had been in decline since its Golden Age in the 15th century. Jacint Verdaguer was a key poet during this time. Miquel Costa i Llobera wrote a famous Romantic poem called "The Pine of Formentor," which is one of the most well-known works in Catalan poetry.

Sweden

In Swedish literature, the Romantic period lasted from 1809 to 1830. In Europe, this period is generally considered to have occurred between 1800 and 1850. The Swedish Romantic period was strongly influenced by German literature. During this short time, many great Swedish poets emerged, leading to the era being called the Golden Age. The period began when several magazines started publishing, criticizing the literature of the 18th century. One important magazine, Iduna, published by the Gothic Society in 1811, shared a romantic version of Gothicismus, a 17th-century cultural movement in Sweden that focused on the pride in the Swedish Geats or Goths. In the early 19th century, a nationalist version of Romanticism highlighted the Vikings as heroic figures.

United States

Transcendentalism was an idea movement that began in the late 1820s and 1830s in the eastern part of the United States. It was influenced by ideas from English and German Romanticism, the study of the Bible by Herder and Schleiermacher, the doubts of Hume, and the ideas of Immanuel Kant and German Idealism. It was also affected by Indian religions, especially the Upanishads.

This movement was a response to the way people thought about knowledge and spiritual beliefs at the time. The teachings of the Unitarian church, as taught at Harvard Divinity School, were especially important to the movement.

Poet Walt Whitman (1819–1892) was influenced by transcendentalism. His most famous work, Leaves of Grass, was first published in 1855. Whitman was inspired by Ralph Waldo Emerson and the transcendentalist movement, which came from Romanticism. His poetry celebrates nature and the importance of the individual in it. Like Emerson, Whitman did not ignore the mind or spirit; instead, he praised the human body and mind as valuable subjects for poetry.

Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) is best known for his poetry and short stories. He is considered a key figure in American Romanticism and American literature overall. However, Poe strongly disliked transcendentalism.

Another American Romantic poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882), was the most popular poet of his time. He was one of the first American celebrities and was well-known in Europe. It was reported that 10,000 copies of The Courtship of Miles Standish sold in London in one day. However, Longfellow’s popularity dropped after his death and continued into the 20th century as scholars began to favor poets like Walt Whitman, Edwin Arlington Robinson, and Robert Frost. In the 20th century, scholar Kermit Vanderbilt said, “Few scholars today are willing to defend the style of Longfellow’s rhyming poetry.” Poet Lewis Putnam Turco wrote, “Longfellow was not very original or creative throughout his career. He simply copied the work of English Romantics.” More recently, an essay by Dana Gioia has helped increase interest in Longfellow’s life and poetry.

Romanticism appears in many later American poems. Whitman’s influence can be seen in the work of Langston Hughes and E. E. Cummings. Transcendentalist ideas about nature appear in the poetry of Robert Frost, Carl Sandburg, and Gary Snyder. Romantic ideas about individuality are found in the writing of Frank O’Hara, Sylvia Plath, Adrienne Rich, and the Beat Generation. However, these poets are usually linked to more recent movements, such as feminism, the Harlem Renaissance, and modernism. Their connection to Romanticism is only noted by critics.

Legacy

Some writers believe that romantic poetry can help people live better lives. As Heidi Thomson wrote in her article, Why Romantic Poetry Still Matters, "When people are more literate and can express themselves clearly, they have a better chance of surviving as citizens and people living on Earth."