What is Romanticism? OR How did cultural movement develop the feeling of Nationalism among the people?

Romanticism, was a cultural movement to develop a particular form of nationalist sentiment.

Romantic artists and poets criticised the glorification of reason and science and focused instead on emotions, intuition, and mystical feelings. To create a sense of a shared collective heritage, a common cultural past was suggested as the basis of a nation.

The German philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder (1744-1803) claimed that true German culture was to be discovered among the common people – das volk. It was through folk songs, folk poetry, and folk dances that the true spirit of the nation (Volkgeist) was popularised.

The emphasis on the vernacular language and the collection of local folklore was done not just to recover an ancient national spirit, but also to carry the modern nationalist message to large audiences who were mostly illiterate.

After the Russian occupation, the Polish language was forced out of schools, and Russian was imposed. Many members of the clergy in Poland began to use the Polish language as a weapon of national resistance.