What is Romanticism? Romanticism was arguably the largest
artistic movement of the late 1700s. Its influence was felt across
continents and through every artistic discipline into the
mid-nineteenth century, and many of its values and beliefs can
still be seen in contemporary poetry. British Romanticism
officially began in 1798 with the publication of Lyrical Ballads by
Coleridge and Wordsworth. Preface of Lyrical Ballads: I have said
that poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it
takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility.
