Romanticism and the French Revolution - Wikipedia.
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Romanticism was a revolt against the aristocratic social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment and also a reaction against the scientific rationalization of nature. Romanticism legitimized the individual imagination as a critical authority, which permitted freedom from classical notions of form in art.
Individualism became more widespread, and Romanticism was the initial literary and artistic reaction to the Industrial Revolution. Power driven machines began to supplant people in many areas once the domain of human labor and manual power.
Indeed, the misery accompanying the Industrial Revolution demonstrated to many Romantic writers the limitations of science as a means to salvation and happiness” (Turgeon, 2001). “Modern critics agree that Shelley’s depiction of a godless world in which science and technology have gone twisted continues to be a powerful metaphor for the modern age” (Rabkin, 2005).
In the decades following the French Revolution and Napoleon’s final defeat at Waterloo (1815) a new movement called Romanticism began to flourish in France. If you read about Romanticism in general, you will find that it was a pan-European movement that had its roots in England in the mid-eighteenth century.
Progress of the Enlightenment Period and French Revolution The mind is the only device humans have to overcome the many challenges that inevitably confront us, and thus developing a society of people with strong minds enhances our ability to solve problems, overcome challenges, make good decisions and come up with great ideas.
Romantic and Enlightened themes are very common in fiction. For example, Enlightenment-flavored science fiction might portray the future as a world of progress, friendship, brotherhood and Crystal Spires and Togas, with barbaric forces threatening the new utopia (e.g. Star Trek).Romanticist-themed science fiction might portray the future as an unpleasant Crapsack World, with high technology.