Unit 10(1 New England Transcendentalism and romantic Age ■工, Romanticism Definitions The essence of romanticism is the ability to wonder and to reflect. In searching the meaning of the known, the human spirit reaches for the unknown in trying to understand the present, it looks to the past and to the future Robert e. spillerUnit 10 （1）New England Transcendentalism and Romantic Age ◼ I. Romanticism ◼ Definitions: "The essence of romanticism is the ability to wonder and to reflect. In searching the meaning of the known, the human spirit reaches for the unknown; in trying to understand the present, it looks to the past and to the future." ---------- Robert E. Spiller