romantic

Romantic, as an adjective, primarily describes feelings of love and affection that are intense, idealized, or passionate. It also refers to a historical and cultural movement known as Romanticism, which emerged in late 18th-century Europe and persisted into the mid-19th century, influencing literature, art, music, philosophy, and politics.

Romanticism arose as a reaction against Enlightenment emphasis on reason and universal science. It prioritized emotion, imagination, nature, individual experience, and the sense of the sublime. The movement often drew on medieval or folk traditions, celebrated creative individuality, and explored themes of memory, longing, mystery, and the transcendent. It tended to valorize spontaneity over strict rationalism, often incorporating nationalism, folklore, and a sense of historic or cultural revival.

In literature and the arts, Romanticism produced a diverse range of works that shared a focus on intense emotion and imagination. Notable writers associated with the movement include William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and John Keats. In painting, artists such as Caspar David Friedrich and J. M. W. Turner sought to convey awe through nature. In music, composers like Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert expressed Romantic sensibilities through expressive harmony, thematic freedom, and evocative storytelling.

Today, the term romantic commonly describes relationships characterized by affection, passion, and idealization. It can also refer to works, styles, or attitudes intended to evoke mystery, longing, or a sense of wonder. In some contexts, it may carry connotations of sentimentality or nostalgic reverence for the past.