ROMANTICISM The Romantic Age 17981832 THE ROMANTIC AGE

ROMANTICISM The Romantic Age: 17981832

THE ROMANTIC AGE An artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe. A reaction against: § The Industrial Revolution (transition to new manufacturing processes (machines, factories, etc. ) § The Enlightenment (dramatic revolutions in science, philosophy, politics, etc. swept away the medieval worldview. ) § Neoclassicism

NEOCLASSICISM VS. ROMANTICISM Neoclassicism: Reason Order Balance Objectivity Industrial Formal Society Structure Symmetry Romanticism: Emotion Spontaneity Individual Subjectivity Nature Informal Untamed Imagination Supernatural

THE ROMANTIC AGE Belief that reason cannot explain everything. Example: The Enlightenment thinkers condemned the Middles Ages as “Dark Ages”, a period of ignorance and irrationality. The Romantics, on the other hand, idealized the Middle Ages as a time of spiritual depth and adventure. The Romantic Age influenced all art forms in Europe (music, painting, etc. ) but poetry especially flourished during this time.

LITERATURE OF THE PERIOD Featured an intense interest in “common people”. Writers had a deep attachment to nature and to a pure, simple past. § Response to what they perceived as the misery and ugliness born of industrialization. § Distrust of civilization and “city life”. Rejected industrialization and the faith in science and reason that had previously characterized 18 th century literature.

LITERATURE OF THE PERIOD Emphasis on deep, powerful emotions (intuition and imagination over reason) Concern for individual freedom/Celebration of the individual § Desire for self-fulfillment and freedom from the conformity of civilization. § Women’s rights and abolitionism were taking root as major movements. Interest in the supernatural § Cannot be explained through logic or reason. § Requires readers to willingly “suspend their beliefs”.

ROMANTIC THEMES: THE FIVE I’S Intuition & Imagination § Intense emotions and instincts are necessary to creating all art. Idealism § The concept that we can make the world a better place. Inspiration § Being spontaneous is more important than being precise. Individuality § Celebrate being an individual.

ROMANTIC THEMES Example: § When you were walking down a path, you came to a fork in the road. Standing there, you couldn’t decide which path to choose: the path to the left or the path to the right. As you were pondering, a rabbit jumped out of a bush and hopped down the left path. If you were a Romantic, you would interpret this as God telling you to take the left path. Love of nature Interest in the supernatural Intuition over reason

ROMANTIC POETS William Blake George Gordon, Lord Byron Percy Bysshe Shelley William Wordsworth Samuel Taylor Coleridge John Keats

ROMANTIC WRITERS John Keats “Ode on a Grecian Urn” Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Frankenstein Percy Shelley “Ozymandias” Nathaniel Hawthorne The Scarlet Letter Walt Whitman Leaves of Grass Edgar Allan Poe “The Tell-Tale Heart” Samuel Coleridge Kubla Khan Herman Melville Moby Dick Emily Dickinson “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” Washington Irving The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

NEOCLASSICAL OR ROMANTIC?

NEOCLASSICAL OR ROMANTIC?

NEOCLASSICAL OR ROMANTIC?