Romanticism is not a monolithic movement with a unified set of characteristics. Most importantly, romanticism was not a coherent philosophy or theory of art or literature that could be applied to all artistic endeavors. The term “romantic” was not used until the nineteenth century, and it was initially used to describe a specific period in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The term “romantic” was also applied to writers who were considered too emotionally intense, imaginative, or even insane—but these writers did not necessarily identify themselves as romantics. In fact, many of them rejected the label altogether.
Romanticism is not primarily concerned with emotion or feeling. Romanticism has often been described as an expression of emotion, but this description is inaccurate because romantic authors often present their own emotions in an ironic or critical way. For example, some romantic poets present themselves as being bored by love for another person; others express joy at being separated from loved ones. The point here is that romantic authors did not always celebrate their own emotions but instead employed them in complex ways that were sometimes contradictory or ironic.
Reason and order are not rejected by romanticism.
