Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Romanticism \Ro*man"ti*cism\, n. [CF. It. romanticismo, F.
   romantisme, romanticisme.]
   A fondness for romantic characteristics or peculiarities;
   specifically, in modern literature, an aiming at romantic
   effects; -- applied to the productions of a school of writers
   who sought to revive certain medi?val forms and methods in
   opposition to the so-called classical style.

         He [Lessing] may be said to have begun the revolt from
         pseudo-classicism in poetry, and to have been thus
         unconsciously the founder of romanticism. --Lowell.

Source : WordNet®

romanticism
     n 1: impractical romantic ideals and attitudes
     2: a movement in literature and art during the late 18th and
        early 19th centuries that celebrated nature rather than
        civilization; "romanticism valued imagination and emotion
        over rationality" [ant: {classicism}]
     3: an exciting and mysterious quality (as of a heroic time or
        adventure) [syn: {romance}]