Romantic Period Basic Study Questions

Hello, I hope you don't mind me barging into your group like this.... I'm doing a senior paper on the Romantic Period poetry, and i've been having a lot of trouble finding answers to some of my questions...

If you wouldn't mind answering them for me to the best of your abilities.

1> Based on your knowledge, when and where did the RP begin? 2> What were major places(countries), (and the time span) that the RP was prevalent throughout euorope, and into America? 3> What were the cultural effects on Italy, Britian, America, and Germany during the RP? 4> this is more of an opinion based question, but do you feel that the RP still effects American poetry today? explain:

Thank you so much....

Also, if you know of any REALLY GOOD web sites, that can give me the kind of information I'm looking for, that would be wonderful. (I'm basing my studies on poetry.)

Part of Romanticism had to do with Napoleon and the influence his personality had on the youth of several decades after him: the individual possessed by strong emotions. I think the RP may have been started by Napoleon or by the official painter of the French Revolution, Jacques-Louis David. Although David's major previous works are tranquil, heroic, and neoclassical in feeling, he did one painting of Napoleon Crossing the Alps, that seems to be a break not only with his own previous work, but also a beginning of romanticism. One of the next great exponents of the RP was the painter Delacroix.

Another aspect of RP was Beethoven. His example also symbolized the movement: the lone genius standing against the world. It was partly because of Beethoven's music, which was classical in terms of musical movements, that the trend in music moved into RP. After Beethoven, music had nowhere else to go because he had exhausted the possibilities of classicism.

There are two works of literature that might be called quintessential romanticism. One is the Red and the Black by Stendhal. This will demonstrate the influence of Napoleon on the youth, especially the young men, of Europe, as well as being an exemplar of the romantic style in literature. Second, look at Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. The monster himself represents romanticism by his violent obsessive emotions and the extremes he goes to.