Britannica
Sources used in this answer
- nationalism - Cultural nationalism
- Romanticism - Literature
- Novel - Agent of change in language and thought
- history of Europe - The middle 19th century
- romance - The 18th-century romantic revival
- Western literature - Romanticism
- What Is the Difference Between Classicism and Romanticism? - Rise of Romantic literature
How did nationalism shape Romantic literature?
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Romantic literature
English Romantic poet and artist William Blake wrote and illustrated “The Tyger” and other poems in his book Songs of Innocence and of Experience (1794).
Nationalism profoundly shaped Romantic literature, particularly during the movement's second phase (c. 1805–1830s), by shifting the focus toward a nation's unique historical and cultural inheritance. As cultural nationalism gained momentum, writers and scholars sought to define national identities by reforming vernacular languages, elevating them to literary status, and exploring their respective national pasts.12
This nationalist influence manifested in several key ways:
- Folklore and Tradition: Writers began collecting and imitating native folklore, folk ballads, music, and dance, viewing these as expressions of the "people" who formed the living culture of the nation.13
- Historical Fiction: Sir Walter Scott pioneered the historical novel, using fiction to revive national memory and explore themes of identity, tradition, and loyalty, as seen in his depiction of Scotland’s past.14
- Political Integration: In regions like Italy and Germany, literature became deeply intertwined with nationalist agitation for independence, with poets and intellectuals framing the nation as a fatherland or motherland to be protected.235
Ultimately, this movement emphasized the particular and the parochial over universal standards, helping to forge the modern concept of the national state.2