Neoclassical criticism had stressed that writers should
seek inspiration in the literary and artistic works of the past, particularly the Greek
and Latin ones. Therefore, neoclassical criticism conceived art as imitation. On the
contrary, different romantic critics stressed the importance of the expression of the
authors' own feelings and their observations of contemporary realities. The "Preface" to
the Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge,
for example, conceives poetry as "the spontaneous overflow of powerful
feelings". When they looked at the past for inspiration, Romantic critics did not turn
to the Latin and Greek classics, but to the darker and more spiritual era of the
Middle-Ages. In its celebration of creativity, Romantic criticism also depicted the
author as a genius, as someone standing above the rest of the people and of
society.
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