Romanticism in Les Miserables Jasmine Melwing College

The Romantic era began with the desire to create something new and pleasureful, and to leave classicism in the past. Parker explains that “Romanticism is the art of presenting to people the literary works which ...are capable of giving them the greatest possible pleasure; classicism, on the contrary, of presenting them with that which gave the greatest possible pleasure to their grandfathers” (Parker 307). Parker thus summarizes the mood by which Romantics were fueled, one characterized by a need to create from their own imaginations, not from those of their ancestors. Romanticism is characterized in a plethora of ways, and ranges from foundations of artwork, to literature, to music, to philosophy- anything requiring creation. The ideals of Romanticism, in addition to creating something new, encompass individualism, imagination, beauty, love, nature, the supernatural, the sublime, organicism, the Byronic hero, and many more depending on the creator.

However, Parker precisely pinpoints the dominating and most recurring traits in Romanticism: “The essential elements of the romantic spirit are curiosity and the love of beauty” (Parker 308). Imagination and beauty, most often in nature, find themselves as key points for Romantic...