Romanticism in Russian literature of the 19th century is a widespread and diverse phenomenon. Previously, two of its types were shared: conservative and revolutionary. However, this division is too subjective. It would be more correct to divide it according to the figures that influenced this trend in Europe as a whole and Russian romanticism in particular literature: Hoffmann and Byron.
However, if one looks at this direction from the point of view of origin, one cannot but mention the existence of the Derzhavin school at the stage of its formation. Although she was a contemporary of the Karamzinists, by innovation she overtook them. It was Derzhavin who updated the set of fine-expressive means in literature. He discovered many potential opportunities for romanticism in Russian literature to be further developed.
Previous trends (classicism, naturalism, realism, and others) sought to accurately reproduce reality. Romanticism, unlike them, purposefully remakes it. To realize this principle, writers were forced to invent unusual heroes, put them in unusual situations, develop a plot in exotic or imagined lands, and use elements of science fiction.
Romanticism in Russian literature professed individual freedom, its internal independence, freedom of expression, and encouraged the slightest expression of individuality. Derzhavin’s poetry corresponded to these principles as well as possible: the speech images used by him, the lyricism combined with emotional overstimulation. Therefore, it is not surprising that they tried to position this writer as pre-romantics. However, judging strictly, Derzhavin's style did not fully comply with the norms of any of the existing then directions. The fact is that he so bizarre and masterfully combined various styles and genres that in his works, along with the features of romanticism, you can easily find the features of Baroque. Using artistic synthesis, Derzhavin was a century ahead of the aspirations of the Silver Age. Not only that, he sought to unite styles not only in literature. He believed that poetry in its ability to imitate should be likened to painting, expressed in words.
Gradually, romanticism in Russian literature lost the signs of sentimentalism and increasingly turned to exotic images, to mysticism, thereby imitating Byron, who had just become very popular in the West.
At the same time, there was a group of writers "Arzamas", in which the Karamzinists united. And the romantics, departing from sentimentalism, nevertheless remained Karamzin’s successors, a tendency characteristic only of them was observed: they passionately fought for the purification of the literary language. Later, information was captured in the minds of people that the main role in creating the modern language was played by A.S. Pushkin, and not his predecessor. Even those innovations that were obviously known as Kakramzinsky were attributed to Pushkin. This happened for the reason that the language of the latter was embodied in more powerful literary texts.
In their concepts of the purity of the literary language, the Karamzinists relied on the old French grammar of Port Royal, which was imported into Russia in the 19th century and for some time became extremely fashionable. On its basis, several textbooks were even published. In the future, philologists from different times addressed her more than once. This is due to the universal nature of the Por Royal grammar.
In contrast to the Karamzinists, there was a "squad of the Slavs", which had completely different ideas about the language and was distinguished by a more difficult, rough syllable. If you do not take into account the details that are clear and well-known to narrow specialists, then the struggle between these societies can be called a struggle between romantics of two types.
After the death of Derzhavin and his followers, romanticism in Russian literature finally acquired the attributes preached by the "Arzamas" line.