Romanticism

            Literature has changed many times over history, thus giving a vast variety of writing styles. One such style that took hold in the 18th and 19th centuries was romanticism. The use of imagination, freedom of thought, and expression often characterized this style of writing. Romanticism immerged first in France and Germany as people began to leave the classical style of writing. The ideas put into romanticism came from two well-known people, a French philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau and a Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. There were four points that authors during romanticism focused on libertarianism, nature, and the supernatural. Libertarianism involved an emphasis on the dignity and rights of an individual. These new revolutions went into many political documents written during this time period. The aspect of nature was also new to this time period. Authors began to bring nature and natural surroundings into their writing. This provided the reader with more description and detail. The introduction of nature into writing produced several sceneries that are today considered to be romantic. Third, supernatural and irrational thoughts became prominent in the writings of this time period. This brought out a trend of rewriting previous folktales and ballads from hundreds of years prior into newer and a more modern style of writing. As with all other literary movements, romanticism began to slowly decline during the middle of the 19th century. Several other literary movements such as the symbolist movement, realism, and naturalism soon followed Romanticism.
             The evolution of American thought through the Enlightenment and the Era of Romanticism was an ongoing process that began even before the American Revolution. It spanned well over one hundred years during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and the contributors to the progression were many. The basic pattern of this time period was one of a constant quest for freedom, first from the bounds of England and Puritanism and eventually from even the limits of science and reason.