Essay On Neo Romanticism

The Rise and Development of Neo-Romanticism in Literature

The term neo-romanticism is believed to have been used for the first time by Friedrich Schlegel. Schlegel was a German poet who was quite critical in his literary work. Precisely, neo-romanticism refers to the movement in the fields of literature, philosophy, music, painting and architecture which was born between 1880 and 1910. In his own words, Schlegel defined it as a "literature depicting emotional matter in an imaginative form." This simply implies that it was a reaction to the then popular realist and idealist ideologies which had been imposed on the people at the time (Mellor 173). However, with the increasing urge for liberalism and freedom, scholars and other thinkers needed to get an opportunity to be able to exercise their thought without unnecessarily complying with any rules.

After the origin of this movement, it spread to different corners of the world in which it was embraced by the people. For instance, in USA, it was introduced by Allen Ginsberg while in Japan, it was Yasuda Yojūrō; USSR by Eugene Berman; Greece by Odysseus Elytis; while in Poland, it was attributed to the works of Antoni Lange and who was actively involved in the activities of the Young Poland Movement (Clarke and Clarke 27).

The main reason for the rise of neo-romanticism was to oppose realism which had dominated the minds of many writers. By rejecting realism, it means that the literary scholars would no longer have to do the following. In the first place, they would not be compelled to incorporate the element of emotionalism in their works. This is one of the techniques which had been upheld by the realists (Hopkins 97). Since they had abandoned the use of romantic conventions, the rea...

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...was the creation of knowledge from nothingness rather than the historical past.

Nevertheless, it is important to acknowledge that neo-romanticism is a past movement. It still exists because many contemporary writers are still subscribing to it. It is practiced by several artists from different parts of the world, though mostly as underground movements. Some of these artists are Ted Hughes; Angela Carter; Peter Ackroyd; Russell Hoban; and Pauline Stainer. As a result of their dedications, neo-romanticism is still being practiced since it is felt in their rich writings and those of other writers who have been operating under the umbrella of Fantasy Art; Regionalisms; Neofolk; New Romantic; and Neo-paganism movements. Through them, the ideas of ne-romanticism still exist. This demonstrates that it was a real ideology which greatly transformed the literary community.