Romantic Criticism (late 18th & 19th century)

 Romanticism was a wide-ranging European movement having its origin in

Germany. It was a poetic reaction against Neo-classicism and the age of
reason.

 It started with experimentation in music and poetry and to a lesser extent in

drama and fiction. This movement co-existed with the French Revolution of
1778-1779.

 In Germany, the idealist philosophy of Goethe, Kant, Schlegel,

Schopenhauer, and Hegel had a great impact on Romanticism.

 Romanticism can be seen as a rejection of the precepts of reason, order,

balance and rationality that characterized late 18th century Neo-classicism. It
was also a reaction against the Enlightenment and 18th c rationalism,
objectivism and materialism.

 Against the Neo-classical principle that the poet is a craftsman observing

and reproducing nature with the help of classical rules, romantic critics
regard the poet as a man possessing a special sensibility and a stronger
imaginative power than the ordinary man.

 Against the view of rom the objective view of literature romanticism moved
to the expressive theory.

 Here are the main principles of Romantic criticism:

1- Freedom of artistic expression, no rules or tradition (as in Neo-

classicism)
2- Emphasis on individualism and subjectivity, feeling, emotion, passion.
3- Interest in folk literature and rural (rustic) life.
4- Poetry as organic form (not mechanical form as in Neo-classicism)
poetry unfolds from within and like a plant develops according to its
own nature (not by following rules and conventions) this is mainly in
Schlegel and Coleridge.
5- The purpose and function of literature is the expression of the author’s
genius, self and subjectivity, the individual inner experience in the
pursuit of ultimate truths.
6- Imagination is the main mental faculty, it is intuitive and creative rather
than cognitive and rational, it breaks the rules imposed by reason.