romanttisten

Romanttisten (Finnish for "the romantics") designates adherents of Romanticism, a broad European cultural movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries that emphasized emotion, imagination, individual experience, and a heightened sensibility toward nature, folklore, and history. In Finnish-language scholarship, romanttisten describes poets, painters, and thinkers who embraced these ideals and, in Finland, contributed to national romanticism.

Origins and spread: Romantic ideas arose as a reaction against Enlightenment rationalism and classical norms. They spread from Germany and Britain to the Nordic countries. In Finland, romanticism often merged with national awakening and language revival, giving rise to a national romantic movement that flourished roughly from the 1830s to the 1860s. Key figures include Elias Lönnrot, who compiled the Kalevala, and Johan Ludvig Runeberg, whose poetry linked personal feeling with national identity; in music, later composers such as Jean Sibelius also reflected national romantic aesthetics.

Characteristics: Romantisten stressed the primacy of feeling, imagination, and inner truth; nature as a source of inspiration and sublime experience; interest in folklore, myth, medievalism, and the past; the artist as a visionary genius and a guardian of national spirit. The movement often sought to fuse personal sensibility with communal or national objectives.

Legacy: The romantics shaped Finnish literature, art, and music and helped articulate national consciousness during the 19th century. They influenced later trends, including realism and nationalism-linked movements, while attracting criticism for sentimentality or idealization. The term remains primarily used in Finnish studies to discuss the local adaptation of Romantic ideas.