Realism was a reaction against which movement?

Realism was a reaction against which movement?

• A. Romanticism
• B. Modernism
• C. Naturalism
• D. Postmodernism

Answer: (A)

Realism in literature emphasizes accurate, unembellished portrayals of everyday life. It grew as a reaction to Romanticism, which celebrated strong emotion, imagination, individual heroism, exotic settings, and the sublime in nature. Realists shifted focus to ordinary people, ordinary settings, and social realities, using clear narration and precise detail to reflect how people actually live, including the constraints of class, work, and everyday speech. This move away from heightened feeling and idealized scenery toward plausible, everyday experience is what marks Realism as a response to Romanticism. Later movements—like Naturalism with its emphasis on determinism, Modernism with its experimentation, and Postmodernism with its skepticism of grand narratives—diverged from Realism in different directions, but Realism itself centers on faithful, practical depiction of real life.

Realism in literature emphasizes accurate, unembellished portrayals of everyday life. It grew as a reaction to Romanticism, which celebrated strong emotion, imagination, individual heroism, exotic settings, and the sublime in nature. Realists shifted focus to ordinary people, ordinary settings, and social realities, using clear narration and precise detail to reflect how people actually live, including the constraints of class, work, and everyday speech. This move away from heightened feeling and idealized scenery toward plausible, everyday experience is what marks Realism as a response to Romanticism. Later movements—like Naturalism with its emphasis on determinism, Modernism with its experimentation, and Postmodernism with its skepticism of grand narratives—diverged from Realism in different directions, but Realism itself centers on faithful, practical depiction of real life.