Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913 + 1828)
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1913 edition:
Romanticism
(Page:
1249)
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 medival 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.