Definition of: romanticism

(rō·man′tə·siz′əm) noun
1. The quality or characteristic of being romantic.
2. In art, music, and literature, a romantic style as opposed to the classical.
3. In the late 18th century and the 19th, a social and esthetic movement, beginning as a reaction to neo–classicism, that sought to free the individual from unpleasant realities by appealing to his aspirations for wonder and mystery. It emphasized a love for strange beauty, for the past and the far–away, and for the wild, irregular, or grotesque in nature, and found creative expression in spontaneity, lyricism, reverie, sentimentalism, mysticism, and individualism.
—ro·man′ti·cist noun