Answer: Enlightenment
The Romantic movement in literature began as a reaction to the Enlightenment movement. The Enlightenment was an intellectual and social movement in Europe that highlighted the importance of reason in social life. It placed the idea of progress as a paramount goal in society, and wanted to eliminate all ideas that were not based on evidence, science and careful argumentation, such as superstition. On the other hand, the Romantic movement rejected these notions by highlighting the problems of social progress, and instead idealizing rural life and nature. Moreover, its preferred topics were the abstract, the absurd and the imaginary. Finally, the Romantic movement focused on the individual, as opposed to the social.