Answer: It is difficult to pinpoint a single factor that led to the emergence of romanticism. The romantic movement in literature began as a reaction to the rationalism and classicism of the Enlightenment period, which emphasized reason and logic over emotion and imagination. Romantic writers were interested in exploring the emotional and imaginative aspects of human experience, and this led to a new emphasis on the individual, the subjective, and the irrational. The rise of nationalism, the Industrial Revolution, and the political and social upheaval of the late 18th and early 19th centuries may also have contributed to the emergence of romanticism.