"Where did romanticism begin, and why?"

First of all, let me say that this subject is an incredibly popular on the Internet.  This URL will guide you to lots other web sites. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rlz=1T4SUNA_enUS219US220&defl=en&q=define:Romanticism&sa=X&oi=glossary_definition&;ct=title

 

The previous period of Neoclassicism emphasized adherence to standards. Wikipedia describes it as:

 

"What any "neo"-classicism depends on most fundamentally is a consensus about a body of work that has achieved canonic status (illustration, below). These are the "classics." Ideally— and neoclassicism is essentially an art of an ideal— an artist, well-schooled and comfortably familiar with the canon, does not repeat it in lifeless reproductions, but synthesizes the tradition anew in each work. This sets a high standard, clearly; but though a neoclassical artist who fails to achieve it may create works that are inane, vacuous or even mediocre, gaffes of taste and failures of craftsmanship are not commonly neoclassical failings. Novelty, improvisation, self-expression, and blinding inspiration are not neoclassical virtues; neoclassicism exhibits perfect control of an idiom."

 

 

Because of its adherence to technical standards, Neoclassicism was orderly and aristocratic, reflecting the tastes of those who could buy Art. The classic composer of the period would be Mozart, who while a creative genius, used accepted forms. Beethoven in his early years followed these standards as well. But by the time that he composed his Fifth Symphony, he was a Romantic, since it stirs the soul as well as engages the mind. The difference in their appearance is highly illustrative of the differences between Neoclassicism and Romanticism.

 

 

Romanticism came about in reaction to the period before it. It involved a rebellion against neoclassical standards, the strictures and discipline brought about by strict rationality and the economic changes wrought by increasing industrialization. The movement emphasized the individual’s emotional and aesthetic reaction to the world. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanticism

 

When and where did it start? There isn’t a consensus on the point:

 

In a general sense, Romanticism refers to several groups of people artists, poets, writers, and musicians as well as political, philosophical and social thinkers and trends of the late 18th and early 19th centuries in Europe. But a precise characterization and a specific description of Romanticism have been objects of intellectual history and literary history for all of the twentieth century without any great measure of consensus emerging. Arthur Lovejoy attempted to demonstrate the difficulty of this problem in his seminal article "On The Discrimination of Romanticisms" in his Essays in the History of Ideas (1948); some scholars see romanticism as completely continuous with the present, some see it as the inaugural moment of modernity, some see it as the beginning of a tradition of resistance to the Enlightenment, and still others date it firmly in the direct aftermath of the French Revolution. Another definition comes from Charles Baudelaire: "Romanticism is precisely situated neither in choice of subject nor exact truth, but in a way of feeling.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanticism 

 

Does this help?

When: Some say in 1798 with the publication of "Lyrical Ballads" by Wordsworth and Coleridge, but most argue it was earlier, in 1785, because works published as early as 1786 (Robert Burns's Poems) show all the signs of Romanticism.

Where: Scotland

Why: Because Robert Burns, the national poet of Scotland, is the first of the Romantics.

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Robert Burns (January 25, 1759 – July 21, 1796) (also known as Rabbie Burns, Scotland's favourite son, the Ploughman Poet, the Bard of Ayrshire and in Scotland as simply The Bard) was a poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best-known of the poets who have written in the Scots language, although much of his writing is also in English and a 'light' Scots dialect, accessible to an audience beyond Scotland. He also wrote in standard English, and in these pieces, his political or civil commentary is often at its most blunt.

He is regarded as a pioneer of the Romantic movement and after his death became an important source of inspiration to the founders of both liberalism and socialism. A cultural icon in Scotland and among Scots who have relocated to other parts of the world (the Scottish Diaspora), celebration of his life and work became almost a national charismatic cult during the 19th and 20th centuries, and his influence has long been strong on Scottish literature.

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Many scholars say that the Romantic period began with the publication of "Lyrical Ballads" by William Wordsworth and Samuel Coleridge in 1798. The volume contained some of the best-known works from these two poets including Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and Wordsworth's "Lines Written a Few Miles from Tintern Abbey."

Of course, other Literary scholars place the start for the Romantic period much earlier (around 1785), since Robert Burns's Poems (1786), William Blake's "Songs of Innocence" (1789), Mary Wollstonecraft's "A Vindication of the Rights of Women," and other works already demonstrate that a change has taken place — in political thought and literary expression.

Other "first generation" Romantic writers include: Charles Lamb, Jane Austen, and Sir Walter Scott.

A discussion of the period is also somewhat more complicated, since there was a "second generation" of Romantics (made up of poets Lord Byron, Percy Shelley and John Keats). Of course, the main members of this second generation — though geniuses — died young and were outlived by the first generation of Romantics. Of course, Mary Shelley — still famous for "Frankenstein" (1818) — was also a member of this "second generation" of Romantics.

While there is some disagreement about when the period began, the general consensus is... the Romantic period ended with the coronation of Queen Victoria in 1837, and the beginning of the Victorian Period. So, here we are in the Romantic era. We stumble upon Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley, Keats on the heels of the Neoclassical era. We saw amazing wit and satire (with Pope and Swift) as a part of the last age, but the Romantic Period dawned with a different poetic in the air.

In the backdrop of those new Romantic writers, penning their way into literary history, we are on the cusp the Industrial Revolution and writers were affected by the French Revolution. William Hazlit, who published a book called "The Spirit of the Age," says that the Wordsworth school of poetry "had its origin in the French Revolution... It was a time of promise, a renewal of the world — and of letters."

Instead of embracing politics as writers of some other eras might have (and indeed some writers of the Romantic era did) the Romantics turned to Nature for self-fulfillment. They were turning away from the values and ideas of the previous era, embracing new ways of expressing their imagination and feelings. Instead of a concentration on "head," the intellectual focus of reason, they preferred to rely on the self, in the radical idea of individual freedom. Instead of striving for perfection, the Romantics preferred "the glory of the imperfect."