As with many other literary and artistic movements, the ideology and the style of the American romantic period was a reaction to the previous age. Romantic writers reacted to the formality of the writing that was favored during the age of reason. Romanticism embraced an organic spirituality and a subjective outlook.

If a new movement is in sharp opposition to the preceding movement, does it make the style and ideology of the earlier movement less relevant or less valuable? Can there be any real standard for judging literary value if the standards of judgment keep changing?
Support your answer with arguments and examples.