Romanticism In The Romantic Period

Romanticism was a cultural movement that originated in Europe since the 18th century, mainly developed in visual artistic, music and literal fields. The word “Romanticism” was originated from the word “Roman”, later developed into “Romanesque”, and became “Romance” (The Cunctator, 2001). How romanticism against rationalism and scientism developed in the Enlightenment has been a hot argument in the history of literature.

There are arguments in the definition and the detailed characteristics of Romanticism (The Cunctator, 2001), especially in the history of literature. However, researchers could still found out various elements that literatures or artistic works in Romanticism consists of. Unlike rationalism, romanticism emphasizes emotion and individualism, and seldom come up with scientist concepts. It introduced the freedom of expressing feelings of the artists their own. Some scholars may introduce romanticism is similar to realism, and there are still some differences “the exploration of reality was the fundamental intention of romantic art” (Jacques, 1961). Romanticism also suggests a belief in the importance of nature.

Romanticism emphasizes the importance in individualism, and The Sorrows of Young Werther is one of the relevant examples of the development of individualism in the Romantic era. It was written by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and was first published in 1774 (Mkweise, 2003). The Sorrows of Young Werther was believed to be one of the most important German