Romanticism?

Question

what does the sentence, "Romanticism emphasized the individual, the subjective, the irrational, the imaginative, the personal, the spontaneous, the emotional, the visionary, and the transcendental" mean?


my teacher told the entire class to lookout and see what this means and search the internet for a good meaning

can someone help out?

Answer 1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanticism here is a good place to start learning about romanticism.

Answer 2

Hi David-

The sentence seems to be contrasting romanticism with realism, which emphasizes the objective (quantifiable), rational, factual, and logical. Some examples: Star Wars would be a romantic story because it is based on the heroic ideal and the Force represents a vision of life that focuses on emotion and the suppression thereof. Good Will Hunting, on the other hand, could be considered more realistic because the main character suffers from some psychological difficulties and is treated for them, and his love relationship, at least at first, does not transcend the personal difficulties that sometimes separate us.

For your answer, you should probably mention works from literature instead of popular culture as I have done, but definitely talk about the differences between the two movements, romanticism and realism.

Best,
Gabe

Answer 3

Basically, there are three categories: romanticism, realism and naturalism.
You can look at it like this: Romantics (or romantic authors/characters) tend to view the world with and air of perpetual optimism: with rose-colored glasses.
Realists (or realist writers/characters) tend to view the world how it is: with clear glasses.
Naturalists (or naturalist writers/characters) tend to veiw the world with cynacism and disdain: with dark-colored glasses.

Having said that, your statement above basically defines romanticism. I like to imagine the hippie love children of years past dancing barefoot in the dew with large, rose-colored glasses....they were exactly what you said: imaginative, spontaneous, emotional, visionaries.

I'm not sure excatly what your teacher wants, but I hope that helps you a bit. Good luck!

Answer 4

bad girl