Romanticism is one of the many great literary movements that pushed America to write at a higher standard of creative writing than ever before. Romanticism is the literary movement that was sparked by the Industrial Revolution. Many people at the time believed it was destroying nature and everything beautiful. Romanticism started in the 18th century and lasted about fifty years. The Romantic Age started most of the fictional writing. There were some works of fiction before this time, but, after this movement there were countless, breathtaking
creative fictional works of literature. Romantic writers believed in creative writing, feeling over reason, and the thought that reflecting on nature could help you “find yourself,” by that they meant to discover your true self. Romanticism is a significant literary movement because it’s when people began to value feeling and intuition over logic, which resulted in numerous great works of literature.

In the Romantic age, people believed that nature could heal. Creative writing was the new and improved way of writing. They also believed in trusting your intuition rather than the facts presented to you. In American Romanticism, Gary Q. Arpin writes "Romantics did not flatly disregard logical thought as invalid for all purposes; but for the purpose of art, they placed a new premium on intuition, 'felt' experience" (141). Arpin is talking about how Romantics did not completely ignore logic. For example, they would not go jump off a bridge because it defied logic, he's saying that they did have common sense. Although they did follow the logic of common sense, they did defy it for the purpose of art; art being not only paintings and drawings, but also all kinds of literary works. Romantics "felt" their experience and did their best to convey that through their art. The deeper significance is nearly identical to what Arpin said. At the time of the Romantic age, when people really began to be themselves, to show themselves through all kinds of art. One by one, people came out of hiding and began to share their astounding talents with the world.

The Romantic Age produced perhaps some of the greatest authors of all time; one of these authors being Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. For example, in "The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls," Henry Wadsworth Longfellow writes "the day returns, but nevermore Returns the traveller to the shore, And the tide rises, the tide falls" (13-15). Throughout the poem Longfellow repeats the tide rises, the tide falls a total of four times. In the beginning of the poem the traveller is traveling through the beach and his mark on the world is being erased by the tide. In the last few lines of the poem, the traveller appears to have died, but the tide remains the same; the tide continues to rise and fall. Longfellow cryptically explains that even though humans die, nature remains constant. Humans have little effect on nature; nature will remain the same even when people die. This poem carries the characteristics of Romantic writing in the way that nature is portrayed as eternal. Also how its not factual, and its based on feeling. It contains imagery which is also a characteristic of romantic writing.

Romantics wrote poems, short stories, and novels in a creative genre, usually focusing on nature and intuition. Their writing style followed that of fantasy, it was creative and descriptive. For example, in “A new Kind of Hero,” Gary Q. Arpin wrote: “The typical hero of American Romantic fiction was youthful, innocent, intuitive, and close to nature” (144-145). The authors of the Romantic Age created a new type of hero. A hero that shared all their beliefs and ideas. A hero that was usually close to nature, and an honest innocent person. The typical hero of the Romantic Age had the impulse to domesticate (as the male writers put it). By creating a whole new kind of hero that represented their beliefs and ideals, Romantics initiated a whole new way of writing.

Romanticism is one of the most important literary movements, because it marked the beginning of creative writing. Where people started to trust their gut sense rather than the logical facts. Some say that the greatest writings of all time came from this era. Romanticism is the system of beliefs that follows feeling over reason. It’s also the constant longing for nature, the Romantic writers during this movement always want to be near nature. They believed nature had the ability to help you realize your higher self. This literary movement is similar to the modern era of writing because even now, we continue to write creative, often fictional works, a method that started with the Romantic Age. If the Romantic movement never existed, it is likely that some of the greatest literary pieces today, may never have come to pass.



Works Cited
-Holt, Rinehart, and Winston. Holt Literature and Language Arts: Essentials of American Literature. 5th Course third edition. Austin: Harcourt Education Company, 2003. Print.