Wait, this is romantic?
Have you noticed the recent trend of Romantic films lately? Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu (2024) set the tone last year, Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein (2025) just went live on Netflix, and Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights (2026) is slated for release this upcoming Valentine’s Day. But I would think twice before taking your family to what you might assume is a typical romance movie. You won’t find meet-cutes, heart-fluttering moments, or happy endings here—only brooding, tortured, and self-destructive souls.
Why call it Romantic then?
The confusion arises from how the word "romantic" has evolved over the years when describing art.
These days, when we think of romantic novels (lowercase “r”), the kind you might expect is a love story at the heart of the plot, with emotional fulfillment and maybe conflict, ultimately centered on a relationship. We think of sweet sighs and longing, heartfelt confessions, and (usually) a satisfying finish.
Romanticism (with a capital “R”) was a cultural movement that swept through literature, art, music, and more across Europe and beyond around the end of the 18th Century. Like many movements, it was born out of the rejection of another. Romanticism was a movement that pushed back against the strict rules and logic of earlier art and writing. The styles that came before it, known as Classicism and Neoclassicism, valued order, balance, and reason above all else. Romantic writers and artists wanted the opposite: they celebrated emotion, imagination, and the power of nature instead of calm perfection.
It was also a response to the Enlightenment, a period that focused on science and rational thought. Romantics believed there was more to life than what could be measured or explained. They valued the individual and the subjective (personal feelings and experiences), the irrational (what doesn’t always make logical sense), and the transcendental (ideas about beauty, spirit, and meaning beyond the physical world).
In their literature, these ideas came through as stories and poems filled with passion, mystery, and wonder—works that explored both the beauty and the darkness of the human spirit.
What makes something capital "R" Romantic?
Here are a few hallmark traits of Romanticism:
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A deep appreciation of the beauties of nature
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Emotion and the senses are valued more highly than logic
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Focus on the individual, the hero-outsider, and the inner mind
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Interest in the exotic, mysterious, supernatural (and sometimes monstrous)
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Imagination as a gateway to transcendence
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An obsessive interest in folk culture, national and ethnic cultural origins, and the medieval era
The Sublime
There is also this notion of the sublime.
In Romantic art and writing, the sublime describes the feeling of awe, wonder, or even fear that comes from encountering something vast and powerful, like a thunderstorm, a towering mountain, or the endless sea. It’s that mix of beauty and terror that makes you feel small but alive. The idea became central to Romanticism, which valued emotion, imagination, and the raw power of nature over reason and order.
Where earlier writers praised calm and balance, Romantic authors were drawn to nature’s extremes: the wild, the mysterious, and the overwhelming. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, for example, Victor flees into the Alps to find peace after tragedy, only to be confronted by icy peaks and roaring storms that mirror his own turmoil. The landscape itself becomes part of the story, showing nature as both beautiful and indifferent; an outward reflection of the sublime.
Romantic poets and artists found the same power in their work: Wordsworth described mountain vistas as “a sense sublime,” and painters like J. M. W. Turner filled canvases with storms, shipwrecks, and fire. For the Romantics, the sublime was not just scenery—it was a spiritual experience, a glimpse of something greater than reason could explain.
Romanticism in Literature
Ready to try a different kind of romance? Discover the literary masterpieces of the Romantic era: stories filled with emotion, mystery, and the wild beauty of nature.
Not that kind of Romantic...
Click the link to see the full list of titles!
Very Short Introductions
Want to dive deeper into Romanticism?
If this glimpse into the Romantic era has sparked your curiosity, explore Romanticism: A Very Short Introduction by Michael Ferber, available through our A Very Short Introduction database. This short yet insightful read unpacks what “Romantic” really means, tracing how the movement took shape in literature, art, music, and philosophy across Europe and the Americas. It’s the perfect place to start if you’d like a quick, accessible guide to the ideas that shaped an age of passion, imagination, and wonder. It helped write much of this blog post.
Find it in our Online Library under “A Very Short Introduction.”
References
“Enlightenment | Definition, Summary, Ideas, Meaning, History, Philosophers, & Facts | Britannica.” October 10, 2025. https://www.britannica.com/event/Enlightenment-European-history.
Ferber, Michael. Romanticism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press, 2010. https://doi.org/10.1093/actrade/9780199568918.001.0001.
“Romantic Literature | Books, Characteristics, Examples, Time Period, Authors, & Facts | Britannica.” Accessed November 11, 2025. https://www.britannica.com/art/Romantic-literature.
Wikipedia. “Romanticism.” November 5, 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Romanticism&oldid=1320578590#External_links.
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