Romanticism: A Movement Across the Arts

1. Romanticism: A Movement Across the Arts (Introduction to The Scarlet Letter)

2. Definition • Romanticism refers to a movement in art, literature, and music during the 19th century. • Romanticism is characterized by the 5 “I”s • Imagination • Intuition • Idealism • Inspiration • Individuality

3. Imagination • Imagination was emphasized over “reason.” • This was a backlash against the rationalism characterized by the Neoclassical period or “Age of Reason.” • Imagination was considered necessary for creating all art. • British writer Samuel Taylor Coleridge called it “intellectual intuition.”

4. Intuition • Romantics placed value on “intuition,” or feeling and instincts, over reason. • Emotions were important in Romantic art. • British Romantic William Wordsworth described poetry as “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.”

5. Idealism • Idealism is the concept that we can make the world a better place. • Idealism refers to any theory that emphasizes the spirit, the mind, or language over matter – thought has a crucial role in making the world the way it is. • Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher, held that the mind forces the world we perceive to take the shape of space-and-time.

6. Inspiration • The Romantic artist, musician, or writer, is an “inspired creator” rather than a “technical master.” • What this means is “going with the moment” or being spontaneous, rather than “getting it precise.”

7. Individuality • Romantics celebrated the individual. • During this time period, Women’s Rights and Abolitionism were taking root as major movements. • Walt Whitman, a later Romantic writer, would write a poem entitled “Song of Myself”: it begins, “I celebrate myself…”

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. Neoclassical art was rigid, severe, and unemotional; it hearkened back to ancient Greece and Rome Romantic art was emotional, deeply-felt, individualistic, and exotic. It has been described as a reaction to Neoclassicism, or “anti-Classicism.” Visual Arts

11. 1730-1820. Classical music emphasized internal order and balance. 1800-1910. Romantic music emphasized expression of feelings. Music: Components

12. 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.

13. Dark Romanticism • Think Edgar Alan Poe • More pessimistic about mankind, nature, and divinity • Believed many Romantics and Transcendentalists were too optimistic • Less confident about the idea that perfection is innate to man • Present individuals as prone to sin and self-destruction • Very interested in the psychology of the human mind—especially evil and darkness

14. Dark Romanticism • Both groups believe nature is a deeply spiritual force • Dark Romantics view nature in a much more sinister light • World is dark, decaying, and mysterious • When nature does reveal its truths to man, they are evil and hellish

15. Nathaniel Hawthorne • Born on the 4th of July in Salem, MA • Descendent of a prominent Puritan family who traveled here from Europe to settle the new colony with John Winthrop • His great-grandfather was Judge Hathorne of the Salem witch trials. • He felt so guilty about his ancestors’ persecution of others that this shaped both his character and his writing. • He changed the family name from “Hathorne” to “Hawthorne” in order to remove himself from the shame he felt about his Puritan ancestors • He believed that evil was the dominant force in the world, and his fiction expresses a gloomy vision of human affairs. • He chooses to examine the DARK side of human nature (Dark Rom)

16. The Scarlet Letter: The Custom House1850 • The Custom House is a preface to the novel that gives us information about the narrator’s life, the time period, the history leading up to that period, and the idea behind the story of the novel. • According to the narrator, the Puritans founded a religious colony, but these religious ideals were devoured by the financial greed and commercialism of the 1700s. • Although he has a deep connection with his ancestors, he disapproves of their stern rigidity. • He explains the importance that light plays in romance novels. • “In certain light, objects seem to lose their actual substance, and become things of intellect.”

17. Nameless narrator works at Custom House • Customs are taxes paid on foreign imported goods; Custom House is where these taxes are paid. • He does not like the other people who work there; they hold lifetime appointments because of their family stature in the community. Many are corrupt. • Narrator spends time lurking around the house because he is bored; few ships come to Salem for trade anymore. • While looking through old boxes, he finds a red letter with gold embroidery.

18. He holds the letter to his chest, but it seems to burn him. • With the letter is a manuscript, which he reads. It is written by Jonathan Pue, a custom surveyor from 100 years before. This man was interested in local history, so he wrote an account of events from 100 years before HIS time—200 years before the NARRATOR’s time. • The narrator (current custom house employee) decides to take Pue’s outline and write what he believes is the most accurate account of Hester Prynne’s life (although he knows he must fictionalize some of it).

19. He is uninspired because of the dry/uncreative atmosphere of the Custom House, so he can’t write much. • A new Custom House president is elected, and he loses his job. He is now able to sit by the fire in his parlor to write the romance we will now read! • There is no historical evidence that the finding of the letter actually occurred. • This is a literary technique common in Hawthorne’s day that gave the story some validity for the readers.