Quote by Johann Gottfried Herder: “All poetry is history of the human heart, expressed in particular circumstances.”

Herder sees poetry as a profound record of human emotion, shaped by specific times and places. It reveals universal feelings through unique individual or cultural experiences, making art a mirror to our inner lives and shared humanity.

Herder championed folk poetry and the unique expressive qualities of different cultures, believing that genuine art sprang from the specific 'spirit' of a people rather than universal rules. This was a core Romantic idea.

German philosopher, theologian, and critic born in 1744, one of the founders of German Romanticism and the philosophy of nationalism. He argued that each culture has its own unique genius expressed through its language, literature, and folk traditions, challenging Enlightenment universalism. His Ideas on the Philosophy of the History of Humanity was enormously influential on 19th-century European nationalism.