Romanticism thought of itself as great: "Only it can become, like the epoch, a mirror of the entire world of its surroundings, an image of the era." (F. Schlegel) At the same time, Romanticism did not allow itself to be defined by this term, since it "could only become, it cannot be exhausted by any theory" (Athenäumsfragment 116). This seminar will nevertheless attempt to get a better idea: what is and what was Romanticism in Germany?