romanticism: Germany

In Germany the Sturm und Drang school, with its obsessive interest in medievalism, prepared the way for romanticism. Friedrich Schlegel first used the term romantic to designate a school of literature opposed to classicism, and he also applied the philosophical ideas of Immanuel Kant and J. G. Fichte to the “romantic ideal.” Major German writers associated with romanticism include G. E. Lessing, J. G. Herder, Friedrich Hölderlin, Schiller, and particularly Goethe, who had a mystic feeling for nature and for Germany's medieval past.

Sections in this article:

• Introduction
• Romanticism in Music
• Romanticism in the Visual Arts
• The United States
• France and Other European Countries
• Germany
• England
• Characteristics of Romanticism
• Bibliography

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