What Was Romanticism?
Romanticism was an artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that emerged in the late 18th century as a reaction against the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution. ==While the Enlightenment had emphasized rationalism, empiricism, and order, Romanticism stressed emotion, imagination, nature, spirituality, and the individual.==
Romantic thinkers argued that human beings were not solely creatures of logic and reason, but also of passion, intuition, and moral feeling. This shift in perspective helped people process the emotional chaos of revolution and war—especially the violence of the French Revolution and the disruption caused by industrialization (people felt robotic, mundane, and “cold” with industrialization).
⭐ Romanticism was not just an art movement, it was a cultural revolt against the Enlightenment’s cold rationalism, the growing alienation of urban life, and the mechanization of nature and society.
Romanticism’s Intellectual Roots
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
A major forerunner of Romanticism was Jean-Jacques Rousseau, whose writings emphasized the importance of natural emotion, moral instinct, and the individual’s relationship with society.
In Emile (1762), Rousseau advocated for natural education—learning guided by emotion and personal development rather than rigid Enlightenment instruction. In The Social Contract, he introduced the idea of the general will, placing community values above individual selfishness.
🧠 Rousseau’s belief in the goodness of human nature and the corrupting influence of civilization helped inspire Romanticism’s focus on innocence, nature, and individual feeling.
Romanticism vs. Earlier Art Movements
| Art Movement | Time Period | Key Traits |
|---|---|---|
| Renaissance | 1300s–1500s | Order, balance, harmony, realism, humanism |
| Mannerism | 1520s–1600 | Artificiality, elongated figures, emotional tension |
| Baroque | 1600s | Drama, grandeur, religious intensity, light/dark contrast |
| Rococo | 1700s | Ornate, playful, pastel, aristocratic leisure |
| Neoclassicism | Late 1700s | Simplicity, symmetry, civic virtue, modeled on Greco-Roman ideals |
| Romanticism | Late 1700s–mid 1800s | Emotion, nature, individuality, nationalism, mystery, the sublime |
Romanticism broke from Neoclassicism, which had focused on reason and idealized antiquity. Instead of depicting noble restraint and civic virtue, Romantic artists embraced the raw intensity of emotion and celebrated national identity, nature’s power, and human imagination.
Romantic Art 🎨
Romantic painters used vibrant colors, dramatic lighting, and wild landscapes to evoke powerful emotional responses. Artists often depicted heroism, rebellion, and suffering, reflecting the revolutionary spirit of the age.
Key Themes:
- Nature as sublime and overwhelming
- The individual in struggle or contemplation
- National myths, folklore, and historical memory
- Exotic settings, violence, and political passion
Famous Works:
- Eugène Delacroix, Liberty Leading the People (1830): A symbol of revolution and nationalism, featuring a female figure (Liberty) leading French citizens in revolt.
- Francisco Goya, The Third of May, 1808: A haunting portrayal of war atrocities during Napoleon’s occupation of Spain.
Romantic Literature 📚
Romantic writers emphasized emotion, inner turmoil, dreams, and rebellion against societal norms. ==They often idealized rural life, children, the past, and the natural world, while opposing the soulless conformity of urban and industrial society.==
Key Characteristics:
- Individual over society
- Emotion over reason
- Nature over civilization
- Common people as noble and heroic
- Fascination with the supernatural, the exotic, and the tragic
Major Authors:
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The Sorrows of Young Werther: A tragic love story that sparked a “Werther Fever” across Europe. Werther became the prototype of the emotional, misunderstood Romantic hero.
- Mary Shelley, Frankenstein: A warning about unchecked scientific ambition, blending Gothic horror with Romantic themes of nature, emotion, and isolation.
- Jane Austen: Though more realistic and subtle, her works explore personal feeling and social identity, earning her a place within the Romantic literary tradition.
Romantic Religion and Spirituality ✝️
The rise of Romanticism coincided with religious revival movements, including ==Methodism, which emphasized personal faith, heartfelt piety, and emotional worship over dry dogma.==
John Wesley and Methodism
- Reacted to the Enlightenment’s rigid rationalism and secularism.
- Focused on emotional conversion experiences, preaching to the masses, and helping the poor.
- Promoted a sense of moral community and spiritual nationalism, especially in Britain.
⭐ Romantic spirituality often valued mysticism, nature’s sacredness, and intuitive religious experience, as opposed to formal institutions or theology.**
Romanticism and Nationalism 🌍
Romanticism played a crucial role in spreading nationalism across 19th-century Europe.
Romantic thinkers and artists celebrated the unique spirit of each nation—its language, folklore, customs, and history. They believed that a nation’s identity should be rooted in the shared emotional and cultural heritage of its people.
Key Examples:
- Germany: Johann Gottlieb Fichte and the Brothers Grimm promoted a German national identity rooted in language and folklore.
- Italy: Romantic operas and literature fed the growing desire for national unification.
- Eastern Europe: Nationalist movements embraced Romantic poetry and legends to revive suppressed identities under empires.
⭐ Romanticism inspired not only revolutions of the heart, but also revolutions of national identity, setting the stage for the unifications of Germany and Italy later in the 19th century.**
Why Romanticism Matters
Romanticism was more than an aesthetic movement, it was a deep cultural shift that transformed how Europeans understood the self, society, and the world. It reflected disillusionment with Enlightenment ideals and the chaos of revolution and war, while laying the emotional and ideological foundation for the modern age of nationalism, individualism, and social activism.
🎥 Watch: AP Europe - French Revolution & Neoclassical Art
Vocabulary
The following words are mentioned explicitly in the College Board Course and Exam Description for this topic.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| emotions | Feelings and sentiments that Romantic thinkers emphasized as essential to moral improvement and human experience, in contrast to exclusive reliance on reason. |
| Enlightenment thought | Intellectual movement focused on empiricism, skepticism, human reason, and rationalism that challenged prevailing patterns of thought regarding social order, institutions of government, and the role of faith. |
| mass politics | Political movements and activities involving large numbers of ordinary people rather than just elites, often driven by emotional appeals and nationalist sentiment. |
| Methodism | A Protestant religious movement founded by John Wesley that emphasized personal conversion, emotional faith, and moral improvement. |
| nationalism | A political ideology emphasizing loyalty to one's nation and national interests, which emerged as a reaction to Napoleonic expansion. |
| reason | Rational thought and logical analysis, which Enlightenment thinkers prioritized but Romantic thinkers questioned. |
| religious revival | A movement emphasizing renewed faith, emotional religious experience, and spiritual renewal, occurring in Europe during the Romantic period. |
| Romantic Movement | An intellectual and artistic movement that emerged in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, emphasizing emotion, imagination, and individualism as alternatives to Enlightenment rationality. |
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Romanticism and why did it start?
Romanticism was a cultural movement (late 18th–early 19th c.) that pushed back against Enlightenment faith in reason. Influenced by Rousseau’s emphasis on emotion and individualism, Romantics celebrated feeling, the natural world (the Sublime and pantheism), creativity, and national folklore. You see it in Sturm und Drang and the Gothic novel, in poets like Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, painters like Caspar David Friedrich and Delacroix, and in religious revival (e.g., Methodism/John Wesley). Why it started: social and intellectual reaction to Enlightenment rationalism, dislocation from the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars, and early industrial change—people turned to emotion, nature, and faith to make sense of upheaval. On AP, expect questions tying Romanticism to challenges to Enlightenment ideas (Unit 5 LO I) or to cultural/intellectual developments on SAQs and LEQs. For a quick review, check the Topic 5.8 study guide (https://library.fiveable.me/ap-european-history/unit-5/romanticism/study-guide/f9m8GQjQ1Ei0CY0s7Y9C), the Unit 5 overview (https://library.fiveable.me/ap-european-history/unit-5), and practice problems (https://library.fiveable.me/practice/ap-european-history).
What's the difference between Enlightenment thinking and Romanticism?
Enlightenment thinking valued reason, universal laws, and progress—thinkers like Locke, Voltaire, and Enlightened absolutists trusted rational debate, science, and reform to improve society. Romanticism pushed back: it emphasized emotion, individual experience, nature, and the sublime (think Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Caspar David Friedrich, Delacroix). Rousseau is a bridge in the CED—he criticized relying only on reason and elevated feeling and authenticity. Religous revivals (e.g., Methodism/John Wesley) and movements like Sturm und Drang and the Gothic novel show Romantics’ interest in faith, passion, and national/folk identity rather than abstract universal rules. For the AP exam, be ready to compare Enlightenment rationality vs. Romantic individualism and show how Romanticism challenged political and cultural assumptions after 1648–1815 (use examples from art, literature, and religion). For a targeted review see the Topic 5.8 study guide (https://library.fiveable.me/ap-european-history/unit-5/romanticism/study-guide/f9m8GQjQ1Ei0CY0s7Y9C) and practice questions (https://library.fiveable.me/practice/ap-european-history).
Who was Rousseau and why did he think emotions were important?
Jean-Jacques Rousseau was an 18th-century philosopher whose ideas bridged the Enlightenment and Romanticism. He challenged the Enlightenment’s exclusive trust in reason, arguing that feelings, sympathy, and natural human impulses matter for moral development and authentic social life. In works like The Social Contract and Émile he claimed people are basically good but corrupted by society, so emotional experience and individual conscience help guide moral improvement of self and society (CED KC-2.3.VI.A). His focus on individual feeling and the sublime fed Romanticism’s critique of cold rationalism and helped spark later religious revivals, mass political emotion, and nationalism (Topic 5.8). For AP review, link Rousseau to Romanticism as a reaction against Enlightenment rationality and see the Topic 5.8 study guide (https://library.fiveable.me/ap-european-history/unit-5/romanticism/study-guide/f9m8GQjQ1Ei0CY0s7Y9C). For extra practice, use Fiveable’s AP Euro practice problems (https://library.fiveable.me/practice/ap-european-history).
Why did Romantics reject reason and logic from the Enlightenment?
Romantics rejected Enlightenment reason because they thought pure logic and science left out what makes humans fully human: emotion, imagination, and spiritual connection to nature. Think Rousseau—he argued feeling and individual authenticity matter for moral life—and artists like Wordsworth or Delacroix pushed the “sublime,” nature, and individualism as limits of cold rationalism. The French Revolution, Napoleonic Wars, industrial change, and the failures of purely “rational” politics showed writers and painters that reason alone couldn’t explain suffering, creativity, or national feeling. Movements like Sturm und Drang and Gothic fiction deliberately emphasized emotion, the mysterious, and religious revival (e.g., Methodism) as alternatives to Enlightenment faith in progress. For AP exam purposes, you should explain how Romanticism and religious revival challenged Enlightenment ideas (CED LO I) with specific examples—Rousseau, Wordsworth, Byron, Delacroix—and connect cultural reaction to political events. For a quick review, check the Topic 5.8 study guide (https://library.fiveable.me/ap-european-history/unit-5/romanticism/study-guide/f9m8GQjQ1Ei0CY0s7Y9C) and practice questions (https://library.fiveable.me/practice/ap-european-history).
How did Romanticism challenge Enlightenment ideas about society?
Romanticism pushed back against core Enlightenment claims by stressing feeling, imagination, and individual experience over cold reason and universal progress. Think Rousseau’s critique of pure reason and the Romantics’ focus on the sublime (nature’s emotional power), pantheism, and individualism—poets (Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron) and artists (Friedrich, Delacroix) celebrated emotion, mystery, and national folk traditions instead of rational order. Religious revivals (Methodism/John Wesley) also rejected Enlightenment secularism by emphasizing personal faith and feeling. Politically, Romanticism fed mass nationalism and the emotional energy seen in revolutionary and Napoleonic-era crowds, showing that politics wasn’t driven only by rational calculation. On the AP exam, you can use these contrasts for contextualization or short-answer/essay evidence (Unit 5.8). For a focused review, check the Topic 5.8 study guide (https://library.fiveable.me/ap-european-history/unit-5/romanticism/study-guide/f9m8GQjQ1Ei0CY0s7Y9C) and practice questions (https://library.fiveable.me/practice/ap-european-history).
What is Methodism and how does John Wesley connect to Romanticism?
Methodism is an evangelical Protestant movement founded by John Wesley in the 18th century that emphasized personal conversion, heartfelt religion, and moral improvement through disciplined practice (methodical prayer, study, and charity). Wesley promoted open-air preaching, emotional worship, and outreach to the working poor—making religion an intense personal experience rather than a dry, institutional form. Wesley connects to Romanticism because both rejected the Enlightenment’s exclusive trust in reason. Like Rousseau and Romantic artists, Methodism valued emotion, individual experience, nature, and spirituality over abstract rationalism. Its focus on inward feeling, the power of sentiment, and communal passion mirrored Romantic themes (individualism, the sublime, and religious revival). On the AP exam, this fits Topic 5.8: religious revival challenged Enlightenment thought (Unit 5, LO I). For more review, see the Topic 5.8 study guide (https://library.fiveable.me/ap-european-history/unit-5/romanticism/study-guide/f9m8GQjQ1Ei0CY0s7Y9C) and practice questions (https://library.fiveable.me/practice/ap-european-history).
I'm confused about how religious revival relates to the Romantic movement - can someone explain?
Religious revival and Romanticism are connected because both pushed back against Enlightenment faith in reason and institutions. Romantics (inspired by Rousseau) valued emotion, individual experience, the sublime, and nature—ideas that opened space for more personal, emotional religion. Movements like Methodism (John Wesley) show this: they emphasized heartfelt faith, revival meetings, and individual salvation rather than formal, rational theology. Artists and writers (Wordsworth, Coleridge, Sturm und Drang, Gothic novelists) reflected the same turn toward feeling, mystery, and the transcendent—sometimes leading to pantheistic or mystical leanings that blurred art and faith. For the AP exam, link this to CED KC-2.3.VI.B and VI.C: explain how Romantics challenged Enlightenment rationality and how religious revival provided a concrete example (Methodism) you can use as evidence. For more review, see the Topic 5.8 study guide (https://library.fiveable.me/ap-european-history/unit-5/romanticism/study-guide/f9m8GQjQ1Ei0CY0s7Y9C) and practice questions (https://library.fiveable.me/practice/ap-european-history).
How did revolution and war show the power of emotions in politics?
Revolution and war made emotions political by turning feeling into motive and mass force. Romantic thinkers like Rousseau and artists (Wordsworth, Delacroix, Friedrich) valorized individual feeling, the sublime, and national spirit—ideas that fueled popular enthusiasm in the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars. Crowds weren’t just rational actors; outrage, pride, grief, and hope drove crowds to mobilize, legitimize leaders, and create nationalist identity (CED KC-2.3.VI.D). Leaders (e.g., Napoleon) used spectacle and symbolism to harness those emotions for political ends, while religious revivals and movements like Methodism amplified emotional bonds that shaped loyalties (CED KC-2.3.VI.C). For the AP exam, connect these cultural sources to political outcomes in a DBQ/LEQ by using specific examples (artists, Rousseau, Napoleonic mobilization) and explaining causation and continuity/change. For a quick topic review, see the Fiveable Romanticism study guide (https://library.fiveable.me/ap-european-history/unit-5/romanticism/study-guide/f9m8GQjQ1Ei0CY0s7Y9C) and practice DBQs at Fiveable (https://library.fiveable.me/practice/ap-european-history).
What's the connection between nationalism and Romanticism?
Romanticism and nationalism connected because both stressed emotion, identity, and the importance of the folk—a direct pushback to Enlightenment universal reason. Romantics (influenced by Rousseau’s emphasis on feeling and individualism) celebrated the sublime, folk songs, vernacular languages, and historical myths (Wordsworth, Delacroix, Grimm)—all of which fed ideas of a shared national culture. After the Napoleonic Wars, mass politics and emotional loyalties helped turn cultural feelings into political claims for self-determination and national unity. So Romantic art and literature supplied the symbols and emotional language that nationalist movements used to mobilize people. For AP work, use this link for topic review (https://library.fiveable.me/ap-european-history/unit-5/romanticism/study-guide/f9m8GQjQ1Ei0CY0s7Y9C) and practice connecting cultural/intellectual developments to political outcomes in DBQs and LEQs. For extra practice, check Fiveable’s AP Euro problems (https://library.fiveable.me/practice/ap-european-history).
How do I write an essay about Romanticism challenging Enlightenment thought?
Start with a clear thesis that answers the prompt: e.g., “Romanticism challenged Enlightenment thought by privileging emotion, individualism, and the sublime over reason, reshaping art, religion, and politics.” In your intro add quick contextualization: the Enlightenment’s faith in reason (mid-1600s–late 18th c.) and upheavals like the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars that fueled Romantic reactions. Use 2+ specific pieces of evidence (CED keywords): cite Rousseau’s critique of pure reason, Wordsworth/Coleridge’s poetry celebrating feeling and nature, Methodism/John Wesley’s religious revival, and Romantic art (Delacroix, Friedrich) showing the sublime. For AP long essays/DBQs: state your thesis, provide context, use evidence to support claims, and apply reasoning (causation—how war/nationalism pushed emotional responses; continuity/change—Enlightenment ideas persisted but were reframed). If you get a DBQ, source 2+ documents and analyze POV. Review Topic 5.8 on Fiveable (study guide) for examples and then drill 1000+ practice questions (practice page) to practice thesis + evidence under timed conditions (https://library.fiveable.me/ap-european-history/unit-5/romanticism/study-guide/f9m8GQjQ1Ei0CY0s7Y9C; https://library.fiveable.me/practice/ap-european-history).
Did the Romantic movement actually change how people thought about religion?
Yes—Romanticism shifted how many people thought about religion, though it didn’t replace organized faith everywhere. Romantics (influenced by Rousseau) pushed back against Enlightenment rationalism by valuing emotion, the sublime, nature, and individual spiritual experience. That opened space for ideas like pantheism and mystical feeling in art (Wordsworth, Caspar David Friedrich) and for emotional religious revivals (e.g., Methodism under John Wesley) that emphasized personal conversion over doctrinal debate. Politically and culturally, this mattered because exam prompts often ask you to explain how Romanticism and religious revival challenged Enlightenment thought (Unit 5 LO I). For AP practice, use the Topic 5.8 study guide (https://library.fiveable.me/ap-european-history/unit-5/romanticism/study-guide/f9m8GQjQ1Ei0CY0s7Y9C) and try practice questions (https://library.fiveable.me/practice/ap-european-history) to connect examples (poetry, art, Methodism) to claims about emotion, individualism, and critiques of pure reason.
What were the long-term effects of Romanticism on European society?
Romanticism’s long-term effects reshaped European culture, religion, and politics. It challenged Enlightenment faith in pure reason (Rousseau’s influence) by elevating emotion, individualism, the sublime, and nature—showing up in literature (Wordsworth, Byron), art (Delacroix, Friedrich), and the Gothic novel. That cultural shift fed religious revival (Methodism) and made mass politics more emotional—helping fuel nationalism and popular mobilization during and after the Napoleonic Wars. Politically, Romantics supplied language and symbols for 19th-century nationalist movements (Italy, Germany) and for revolutionary and conservative reactions alike. Intellectually, it broadened acceptable ways of knowing (emotion, faith, aesthetics) and influenced debates about progress, science, and society. For AP exam use: Romanticism is useful for contextualization or cultural evidence in DBQs/LEQs about 1815–1900 (e.g., nationalism or reactions to Enlightenment). Review the Topic 5.8 study guide (https://library.fiveable.me/ap-european-history/unit-5/romanticism/study-guide/f9m8GQjQ1Ei0CY0s7Y9C) and practice questions (https://library.fiveable.me/practice/ap-european-history) to build examples.
I missed class - can someone explain how emotions became more important than reason?
Romanticism pushed emotion over reason as a reaction to Enlightenment faith in logic and science. Think Rousseau—he argued that feelings, nature, and individual conscience mattered for moral life, not just abstract reason (CED KC-2.3.VI.A). Romantics (Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron; Sturm und Drang in Germany) celebrated intense feeling, the sublime in nature, pantheism, and individualism in art and literature. Religious revival (Methodism/John Wesley) reinforced emotional, personal faith over institutional doctrine (KC-2.3.VI.C). The Napoleonic Wars and revolutionary upheaval also showed how mass emotions—nationalism, grief, loyalty—could reshape politics (KC-2.3.VI.D), so artists and thinkers prioritized imagination, intuition, and feeling as sources of truth. For the AP exam, be ready to connect Romanticism to critiques of Enlightenment rationality in multiple-choice, short-answer, or essays (Unit 5 LO I). Review the Topic 5.8 study guide (https://library.fiveable.me/ap-european-history/unit-5/romanticism/study-guide/f9m8GQjQ1Ei0CY0s7Y9C) and try practice questions (https://library.fiveable.me/practice/ap-european-history).
Why did people start having religious revivals during this time period?
People turned to religious revivals because Romanticism and social upheaval made Enlightenment reason feel insufficient. Think Rousseau—people began valuing emotion, nature, and individual experience over pure rationalism (CED Learning Objective I). The French Revolution, Napoleonic Wars, and urbanization created anxiety and displacement, so movements like Methodism (John Wesley) offered emotional worship, personal salvation, and community—especially appealing to working-class people. Revivals also fit Romantic themes (the sublime, individualism, pantheism) by emphasizing feeling, intuition, and a personal connection to the divine. Politically, mass politics and nationalism showed how emotion could motivate crowds, so religion reemerged as a social glue. For AP use: this explanation ties directly to Topic 5.8’s prompt to “explain how and why” Romantic and religious revival challenged Enlightenment thought—good evidence for SAQs or LEQs. See the Topic 5.8 study guide (https://library.fiveable.me/ap-european-history/unit-5/romanticism/study-guide/f9m8GQjQ1Ei0CY0s7Y9C) and Unit 5 overview (https://library.fiveable.me/ap-european-history/unit-5). For more practice, try Fiveable’s AP Euro question bank (https://library.fiveable.me/practice/ap-european-history).