Romanticism: An Introduction

1. Romanticism: An Introduction Romanticism 1760-1850. These years are very approximate. Eras don’t really end. They continue and intertwine and reappear…we can identify Enlightenment, Neoclassical, Romantic, Modern and Post Modern values in our world today.

2. Before we look at the Romantic Era, let’s look at the period of time leading up to it Let’s first look at the 18th century 17001800

4. Enlightenment 1650 [an approximate date] 1700-1800: This century is given different titles including; • Neo classical age [as writers and artists looked to the writing of the ancient classical world of Greece & Rome as models for their work • 2.The Augustan age 3. Age of reason 4. Age of Satire • Mechanical view of the world. The clock becomes a metaphor for the universe. God created the ‘mechanism’, wound it up and let it be • Newton and other scientists saw it as their Quest to discover the mystery of this ‘machine’, the universe

5. The importance of authority…be it government, classical authority…religious authority…the sciences…mathematics. While Neo-classicists tended to reject the ‘superstition’ of religion and its lack of reason and logic, many saw the institution important for order • The notion of progress through science and mathematics • “order, logic, restraint, accuracy, correctness, restraint, decorum, and so on, which would enable the practitioners of various arts to imitate or reproduce the structures and themes of Greek or Roman originals.”

6. Characteristics of Neoclassical literature • Reason, controlled emotion, sophistication…detachment • Witty and clever • Philosophical • Satirical [attacks on other writers, politicians, society, injustice etc. A Modest Proposal • Mock Heroic • Rigid structure of rhyming couplets

7. Neoclassical Garden Neoclassical Art

8. Neo Classical Painting

9. Art Romantic Era This and the next two images are from the Romantic Era T

12. Dark Romanticism ‘The Nightmare’ by Fueseli

13. Romanticism, defined Difficult to define as the term attempts to capture a variety of types of art throughout a period of 80+ years. (German vs. England vs. American Romanticism; Austen vs. Gothic lit) Romantic refers to narratives in medieval times that featured improbable plots, exotic settings and situations. “Romance” = improbable situations, etc.

14. Romanticism • Rousseau [1712 – 2 July 1778) • Age of Revolution • French Revolution 1789…storming of The Bastille • Challenge to authority…political…The divine right of kings and absolute authority….challenge to religious authorities • Old feudal systems breaking down…rise of an underclass • Republicanism • American War of Independence 1775

15. England • Industrial revolution. • Child Labour • Deepening distrust of some aspects of science • An agrarian country becomesan Industrial one • Rapid Urbanisation…dreadful social conditions • William Blake • Revolution in Verse

16. Nature • Reaction…urbanisation…industrialisation…imprisonment • Cities unnatural, unhealthy ‘hellish’ places • Spiritual & emotional engagement • The point of interaction between the human and divine • Evidence of the divine at work • Therapeutic…healing … • Solitude Individualism • Elevation of the status of the individual • Freedom of the individual…free from shackles… • The potential of the individual • Sense of idealism

17. Imagination • IIMA • The Romantic did not reject reason but elevated the status of the imagination • Great creative faculty. We process our experience, ponder on these experiences and come to certain conclusions…liberating force • The imagination allows us to travel into the past and future • It allows us to explore other worlds both real and imagined • It allows us to consider alternative ways of thinking, other forms of society • It can take us into the world of fantasy and horror - The Gothic e.g. Frankenstein…and Dark Romanticism of writers like Poe

18. The Imagination and the Gothic A genre characterized by a general mood of decay, action that is dramatic and generally violent or otherwise disturbing, loves that are destructively passionate, and settings that are grandiose, if gloomy or bleak. For the neo-classicists, who valued unity and reason, the Gothic was synonymous with “barbaric”. For the Romantics, the Gothic was freedom of spirit, mystery, and authentic (as opposed to artificiality of “reasoned” discourse).

19. Characteristics of Romantic Poetry…revolutionary because: • The individual is at the centre of the poem recounting their first hand personal experience • The status of the common person is elevated and recognised. Blake wrote about orphans, child labourers, prostitutes… • Their verse was political in its condemnation of inequality, industrialisation and urbanisation • The poem was a product of the imagination and was in itself an imaginative journey • The best Romantic poetry combined reason and emotion

20. Recognised the importance of intuition • Celebrated the importance of nature as a source of spiritual solace and fulfilment…drew on nature for it dominant imagery…lauded the wonder and mystique of the natural world • Originality…unlike the Neo classicist who modelled their work on past masters. Our notion of originality today comes from the Romantics • Tended to celebrate the potential in humankind…and urge us to ‘seize the day’ in making the most of our life in this world…to rebel against whatever shackles are holding us back

21. Could also despair of the reality of the human condition. Late Romantic poetry became trite and sentimental and quite shallow in its description of the role of nature. The best Romantic poetry could, like Keats below, capture the extraordinary beauty of nature while exploring the confronting reality of our existence… • Simplicity of the language in contrast to the complex allusive [many allusions] language of the neo-classicists. ..sometimes conversational in style

22. Some Favoured formats included the lyric and the ballad; a form traditionally belonging to the ordinary peasant class …a more rustic form of song • While the Romantics treasured the natural world around them, they were also enchanted by the exotic …other worlds…other times.

23. The Romantics sometime harked back to the Middle Ages i.e. pre-Enlightenment. They longed for the sense of mystery, magic and superstition of that time…elements that science and reason had sought to extinguish. They weren’t anti science or reason but argued that there is much more to human existence.