Romanticism is a philosophical, artistic and literary movement that originated in the late 18th and early 19th centuries in Europe. The term was then used to name various movements in the arts and literature associated with sensibility, sentimentality, emotional responsiveness, individualism and self-awareness. In contrast to the ideas of reason and enlightenment which were dominant during the Age of Enlightenment (roughly speaking 1716–1789), romanticism emphasized imagination, emotion and irrationality in a way that challenged "disenchanted" rationality.
