The Cult of Nature in Romantic Europe Study

The Cult of Nature in Romantic Europe Study Questions p. 259

1. § 2. § 3. § Why did the Romantics choose nature as their subject? What did they see in it? Writers and painters saw a natural scenery as much more than simply physical. The description of a landscape usually led to thoughts about mankind and its role in the universe. In what ways did the Industrial Revolution affect man’s idea of nature? The Romantics’ cult of nature was also a reaction against the consequences of the Industrial Revolution. The town was seen as a source of evil, the country as a source of goodness and spiritual health. What English Romantic poems were particularly significant for the new cult of nature? The description of the countryside found mature expression in the ‘Lyrical Ballads’ by the Romantic poets Wordsworth and Coleridge. The description of the country in its rustic simplicity and beauty is best seen in Wordsworth’s ‘I wondered lonely as a cloud’ and in ‘She dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways’; in ‘Tintern Abbey’ the presence of nature is linked to man’s past through memory and to man’s future through poetic inspiration. The theme of the contrast between the country and the town is also present. Coleridge rendered nature’s mysterious and supernatural charm in ‘the Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ and in ‘Kubla Khan’

4. § 5. § 6. § 7. § How does the Romantic hero in French poetry find himself at home in nature? Give examples from the works of major poets. Exiled from society, the Romantic hero in French poetry finds his selfrealisation in nature: the sea, the mountains, the countryside. Examples can be found in Alfred de Musset’s lyrics ‘Le nuits’ and in Alphonse de Lamartine’s famous poem ‘Le lac’. What is characteristic of German writers on nature? What English poet has strong affinity with them? German Romantic poets, like Novalis, Hoffman, and Heine, often stress the supernatural and magic aspect of nature. This attitude has a strong affinity with Coleridge’s poetry. How did Italian Romantics usually sing of nature? Italian Romantics usually made nature the background to personal and political or patriotic themes. In Foscolo’s ‘ A Zacinto’ Nature is described in classical rather than personal terms. Briefly describe the role of nature in Leopardi’s poems, and say whether he has anything in common with European colleagues. Leopardi’s poems, such as ‘L’Infinito’, ‘La sera del dì di festa’, ‘Il sabato del villaggio’ begin with the description of a landscape and then move to pessimistic reflections on man’s destiny. His preference for natural features like the night, the moon and the wind make him close to other European poets’ sensibility.