Romanticism: a Multi-Arts Movement

1. Romanticism A Movement Across the Arts

2. Definition • Romanticism refers to a movement in art, literature, and music during the 19th century. • Romantic literature is characterized by 4 features • Beauty of the supernatural • Championing of the individual • Importance of Nature • Dangers of technology

3. Beauty of the Supernatural • British Romantics believed something existed beyond the physical world. The Spirit world, according to Romantics, had unleashed its power and inspiration to overthrow tyranny in government and in literature.

4. Championing of the Individual • Revolution in Europe brought to light the importance of the individual. Ordinary people now became the subject of lofty language. Romanticism attempted to free itself from traditional forms and subjects.

5. Importance of Nature • The poet, according to the Romantics, is only at peace when in nature; moreover, while in nature, the poet intervened with the great Universal Mind. Romantic poets made frequent use of personification with nature, ascribing human traits to daffodils, fields, streams, and lakes. Nature, in essence, became emotionally expressive.

6. Dangers of Technology • A natural consequence of celebrating nature was a disdain for technology and industrialism. • Romanticism was both a product of, and a reaction against the Enlightenment which valued reason over the emotion characteristic of the Romantic movement. • In short – Enlightenment = Scientific thought Romanticism = Emotional inspiration

7. Origins • Romanticism began to take root as a movement following the French Revolution. • The publication of Lyrical Ballads by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1792 is considered the beginning of literary Romanticism.

8. The Arts • Romanticism was a movement across all the arts: visual art, music, and literature. • All of the arts embraced themes prevalent in the Middle Ages: chivalry, courtly love. Literature and art from this time depicted these themes. Music (ballets and operas) illustrated these themes. • Shakespeare came back into vogue.

9. Literature • In America, Romanticism most strongly impacted literature. • Writers explored supernatural and gothic themes. • Writers wrote about nature – Transcendentalists believed God was in nature, unlike “Age of Reason” writers like Franklin and Jefferson, who saw God as a “divine watchmaker,” who created the universe and left it to run itself.

10. Samuel Taylor Coleridge Rime of the Ancient Mariner

11. Homework • Who or what is responsible for the curse against the Mariner? • Why does the Mariner get to survive to voyage when all the sailors die? After all, he was the one who shot the albatross? • What does "Life-in-Death" represent, and what is the result of her winning the dice match with Death? • What does the albatross symbolize, and why does the Mariner decide to kill it? • Does this seem like a religious or specifically Christian poem? Does it change your perspective at all to learn that Coleridge was considered by many to have radical, free-thinking tendencies? • Why do you think this poem has become so famous and influential? Does the poem seem ahead of its time, or does it seem quaint and old-fashioned?