"As an historical sketch of the philosophy of European romanticism, the book is exemplary." Financial Times

"Brilliantly lucid as well as useful. Students could not do better than to go to it for an introduction." Scotland on Sunday

"In clear and uncomplicated prose, the book offers a brief survey of different national traditions." European Romantic Review

This book describes the philosophy, history and cultural and artistic manifestations of the Romantic Movement in Europe. Professor Cranston outlines the national characteristics of romanticism: the revolt against classicism in Great Britain and Italy, the revival of the Moorish courts in Spain, and the revolt against rationalism and revival of all things Gothic and Germanic in Germany. He isolates its common features - liberty, introspection, the importance of love, the exotic - and argues, despite the differences of aim and emphasis across Europe, that romanticism was a European phenomenon, as universal as the Renaissance.