Romantics view C18 Enlightenment Reason, rationalism, scientific empiricism as limited, superficial sources of knowledge; 

Romantics are critical of Industrial revolution, Middle Class materialism & exploitation of poor;

Romantics reject artifice, elitism of Neo-classical “decorum” & “imitation.”

Romantics celebrate imagination and feeling
. . . as ways to connect with world & oneself;
. . . as liberating modes of truth that
--free the mind from bondage of everyday separate existence in external world,
--free the human heart from unnatural restraints & injustices of social convention
--free the citizen from chains of political tyranny
--free the artist from rules and convention

New sources of inspiration:

         common folk’s life & language,
         “natural,” intuitive, original genius,
         innocent child and simple peasant
         noble savage,
         exotic past/places,
         irrational, supernatural
         sublime Nature

Poetry redefined as “spontaneous overflow of powerful emotions” (>Wordsworth) of the intuitive, inspired original genius
 Lyric Revival: personal expression of state of mind, emotion, thought process of poet-speaker “I”
 Ballads, Children’s & folk songs, common language, simplicity, “natural” genius  
 Innovation & experimentation in subject, form, style
 Mix genres, break “rules; “Organicism” (> S.T. Coleridge)

Poet-Seers turn inward – seek universal truth in solitude, especially in sublime Nature, private reverie & self-reflection;
 Individual authority, subjective experience, emotion & intuition, visionary imagination
BUT paradoxically . . .
 Engaged with social and political issues - Inspired by French Revolution Phase 1
Romantic writers hoped their poetry & philosophy could transform society and misguided values by transforming the individual consciousness.
Private reverie resonates with social and historical aspiration to replace self-interest and greed with human sympathy & love.

Settings: exotic, remote times & places; “Romantic” associated with medieval & Gothic;
“Romance” genre = colorful, adventurous, heroic, fantastic, idealized / sensationalized views of life; 
  “Strange” stories of the non-normative, original, imaginative, extra-ordinary
   Worlds of fantasy, myth, dream, magic

"Dark Romanticism" - Solitary Quests & dangerous Self-Explorations
 motivated by longing for the infinite, for elusive ideals, for higher wisdom & "invisible" truths
 Explorations of dark side of self & the unconscious, hidden, subterranean
  "Dark" heroes - Satan, Prometheus, Cain - outlaws, rebels, outcasts, non-conformists, exiles
 Journeys into hell & human nature’s dark side, confront “warring contraries”
   Solitary quests & dangerous self- exploration often doomed to failure, like search for the “Holy Grail”, but self-conscious meditation on failure to obtain goal can yield reward of higher wisdom & “invisible” truths.