Who called Romanticism “the renaissance of wonder”?

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AGoethe

BKeats

CWatts Dunton

DColeridge

Answer:

Theodore Watts-Dunton (1832–1914) was an English critic, poet, and novelist, widely recognized for his critical writings on literature.
He is famously known for coining the phrase “the renaissance of wonder” to describe Romanticism, especially in his influential essay 'Poetry and the Renascence of Wonder', which served as the introduction to the 1898 edition of the Chambers’s Cyclopaedia of English Literature.
This phrase highlights a key aspect of Romanticism: its re-emphasis on imagination, emotion, and the mystical, moving away from the rationalism and empiricism dominant in the Enlightenment period.
Watts-Dunton also contributed the definition of ‘Romanticism’ to the Encyclopædia Britannica.

Period: Generally considered to have flourished from the late 18th century to the mid-19th century (roughly 1789-1832 in England).
Emphasis on Emotion and Individualism: Romantics valued strong emotions, individual experience, and the subjective imagination over objective reason.
Appreciation of Nature: Nature was often seen as a source of spiritual truth, solace, and inspiration.
Glorification of the Past: There was a fascination with the medieval period, folklore, and the exotic.
Supernatural and Mystical Elements: A leaning towards the mysterious, the sublime, and the inexplicable, aligning with Watts-Dunton's 'wonder.'
Common Man as Hero: Interest in the lives and struggles of ordinary people, often challenging aristocratic norms.

First Generation: William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge (often referred to as the 'Lake Poets').
Second Generation: Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Keats.
Other notable figures include William Blake and Jane Austen (though her style is more nuanced, she reflects some Romantic sensibilities).

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