What Ever Happened to the Romantics?
Originally published March 18, 2023
If I could time travel to any point in time for just one day, I would time travel to the 1790s, the age of Romanticism. Art was so different back then. People loved nature, and valued emotion, and looked on the brighter side of life.
As an English major, I read a lot of books from lots of different time periods. A majority of what we read is dark and depressing and about all the evils that exist in this world. Don’t get me wrong, I actually really love a lot of those books (A Thousand Splendid Suns is a 10/10). It’s true, there is a lot of evil in the world, however, the romantics did not experience an absence of evil, and yet the majority of what was written then has less to do with the bad and more to do with the beauty found in nature, the adventure of finding love, and unearthing all there is to learn and see in life. Upon the brink of the French revolution, there was a multitude of political turmoil...and yet their writing reveals a shift in perspective, one that I wish hadn’t been lost as time went on. It’s not about living in a delusion that the world is fully good and no evil exists, but rather a choice to admire and appreciate all that is good.
We live in a world of political turmoil, injustice, heartache, violence, and hate. The art we make reflects such things, but lately I’ve been wondering, what ever happened to the romantics? What happened to appreciating sunshine after a rainy day, why don’t we talk about the love we find through friends, why don’t we write about nature and adventure, and baking and crafting and gardening anymore? While romanticizing life has become an online trend, with social media influencers sharing videos and images of their lives in an effort to romanticize the everyday and the mundane, I think if romanticism were to return, not just as a trend but as a literary and social movement, the world would appreciate the rainbows and butterflies that still exist despite the cruel and the evil as well.
To me, romanticism is not about ignoring or denying the reality that evil exists in this world. Rather, it is a conscious decision to acknowledge the difficult climate we live in, but choosing to cultivate the goodness and beauty that still surrounds us. By doing so, we end up shifting our culture from one that is rooted in negativity and inequality, to one that is determined to pursue joy and deepen human connection. Romanticism is about recognizing the beauty of different cultures, backgrounds, places, people, food, fashion, and more. It is rooted in perceiving everything through a lens of love, seeking to find happiness through understanding diversity, the complexity of nature, and the endless possibilities to create our best selves. Romanticism is standing up for goodness, appreciating the vast beauty at our fingertips, uplifting others, and choosing to be joyful in a world wrought by cynicism.
I don’t expect my writing to change the way everybody sees the world, nor do I expect it to transform the literary direction our generation is heading. I do hope, however, that my writing offers a glimpse of positivity, a window to the goodness that still does exist in the world, and a reminder that we can still be romantic.
