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The characteristics of the romantic period
Strengths and weaknesses of Romanticism
The characteristics of the romantic period
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Romanticism was an era in European history, roughly between 1790 and 1815, and was characterized by a growing interest in the imagination and emotions. This era was unlike the Enlightenment, which focused on changes in political ideology, or Neo-classicism, which was more akin to classicism in that rationality and realism are ideal. Romanticism aimed to invoke a change in cultural ideology and, in turn, gave people a sort of freedom in deciphering ideas and symbols using their own imaginations.
Romantic philosophy was bolstered by the questionings of Neo-classicism during the Enlightenment. Neo-classicism, governed by reason, attempted to establish certain standards in the lives of Europeans. The backlash during the Enlightenment, in which traditions were beginning to be scrutinized negatively, also fed into much of the ideals during this period. Romanticism emerged as a sort of continuation of the Enlightenment; not in questioning political ideology but in praising irrationality through imagination. Regarded as the “Age of Sensibility,” Romanticism is very well known for the emergence of guiding oneself through emotion rather than reason. First expressed in the Enlightenment by writers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, this era saw an increase in the interest of nature and the wish for a return to a “simpler” society.
The work of David Hartley introduced the idea of “association.” In his work, Observations on Man, his Frame, his Duty, and his Expectations (1749), Hartley attempted to connect physiology and psychology in order to explain the workings of the mind. He also expressed that morals are learned from experiences and are key in becoming “capable of sympathy, theopathy and the moral sense.” Hartley concluded that...
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...ics in the Age of Romanticism, edited by Darla Crispin, 37-67.
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Watson, J. R. “Association.” In A Handbook to English Romanticism, edited by Jean Raimond and J.R. Watson, 14-16. USA: St. Martin’s Press, Inc., 1992.
———. “Constable, John (1776-1837).” In A Handbook to English Romanticism, edited by
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———. “Drama.” In A Handbook to English Romanticism, edited by Jean Raimond and J.
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To start with, Romanticism was the first writing movement of the nineteenth century. It originated at the close of the eighteenth century in Europe, but was popular from the 1800s to 1850s. This movement was a revolt against the political and social standards of the Age of Enlightenment and a reaction to the reasoning of nature through science. Romanticism’s characteristics came from philosophical sources and, because it is a reaction against reasoning, it focuses on intuition, nature, and human emotions. The philosophical background of this movement came from an author named Jean-Jacques Rousseau who emphasized the individual and the power of inspiration. Romanticism later then broke off into another two movements called Parnassian and Realism.
“Romanticism, is an artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe toward the end of the 18th century and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate period from 1800 to 1850” (Wikipedia).
Romanticism has been described as a “‘Protestantism in the arts and letters’, an ideological shift on the grand scale from conservative to liberal ideas”. (Keenan, 2005) It was a movement into the era of imagination and feelings instead of objective reasoning.
G. Ed. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Romantic Period. New York: Norton, 2000. Barth, Robert J. Romanticism and transcendence: Wordsworth, Coleridge, and the Religious Imagination. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2003.
Kreis, Steven. "Lecture 16: The Romantic Era." The History Guide. Web. 18 Aug. 2010. .
Wolfson, Susan and Peter Manning (eds.). The Longman Anthology of British Literature: The Romantics and Their Contemporaries. Volume 2A. New York: Longman, 1999.
Woodlief, Ann M. "Intro to American Romanticism." Intro to American Romanticism. Emerita Associate Professor, 18 Aug. 2001. Web. 05 May 2014.
The Romantic period was an expressive and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century and peaked in the 1800s-1850s. This movement was defined and given depth by an expulsion of all ideals set by the society of the particular time, in the sense that the Romantics sought something deeper, something greater than the simplistic and structured world that they lived in. They drew their inspiration from that around them. Their surroundings, especially nature and the very fabric of their minds, their imagination. This expulsion of the complexity of the simple human life their world had organised and maintained resulted in a unique revolution in history. Eradication of materialism, organisation and society and
Romanticism first came about in the 18th century and it was mostly used for art and literature. The actual word “romanticism” was created in Britain in the 1840s. People like Victor Hugo, William Wordsworth, and Percy Bysshe Shelley had big impacts on this style of art. Romanticism is an art in which people express their emotion. Whatever they believed is put into a picture, painting, poem, or book. Romanticism goes deep into a mind. It is very deep thinking and it’s expressing yourself through that deep thinking. Romanticism is the reaction to the Enlightenment and the enlightenment aka the “Age of Reason” took place during the 1700s to 1800s. The enlightenment emphasized being rational and using your mind; on the other hand, romanticism focuses on emotion and imagination. It says don’t just focus on rationality and reason.
Toward the end of the eiteenth-century, Romanticism emerged as a response to Classicism. Even though this change was gradual, it transformed everything from art and philosophy to education and science. While the Classicsts thought of the world as having a rigid and stern structure, the romanticists thought of the world as a place to express their ideas and believes. The Romaniticists and Classicsts differed in their views of the relationship between an individual and society, their views of nature and the relationship between reason and imagination.
Robinson, David M. "Romanticism." American History Through Literature 1820-1870. Ed. Janet Gabler-Hover and Robert Sattelmeyer. Vol. 3. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2006. 1000-1007. Student Resources in Context. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.
The epoch known as the Age of Reason, or the Enlightenment, was a secular intellectual movement that looked to reason as an explanation of the world. The Enlightenment began in 1687 with the publishing of Sir Isaac Newton’s Principia and ended in 1789 with the French Revolution (Fiero 134). The epoch of Romanticism was a reaction to the rationalism of the Enlightenment. The movement of Romanticism began in 1760 and ended in 1871. Romanticism as a movement was a reaction to the Enlightenment as a cultural movement, an aesthetic style, and an attitude of mind (210).
Romanticism spawned in the late 18th century and flourished in the early and mid-19th century. Romanticism emphasized the irrational, the imaginative, the personal, the spontaneous, the emotional, the visionary, the transcendental, and the individual. Romanticism is often viewed as a rejection of the ideologies of Classicism and Neoclassicisms, namely calm, order, harmony, idealization, rationality and balance. Some characteristics of Romanticism include: emotion over reason, senses over intellect, love for nature, use of the hero and the exceptional figure in general, emphasis of imagination being the gateway to spiritual truth, and an interest in folk culture. Romanticism was preceded by related developments in the med-18th century referred to as “Pre-Romanticism”. One Pre-Romantic style was medieval romance, which is where Romanticism gets its name from. The medieval romance was a tale that emphasized the exotic, the mysterious, and individual heroism. This style contrasted the then prevalent classical forms of literature such as the French Neoclassical Tragedy. But this new emotional literary expression would be a key part of literature during the Romantic Era (Britannica). Literature during the Romantic Era was influenced by politics and major historical events and social reforms, religion, science, economics, and art and music.
The time of Romanticism began in the late 18th century and ended around the mid 19th century. Just showing what the Romantic Movement is, it can be shown as a reaction against Neoclassicism.
Hirsch, E. D. Jr. Wordsworth and Schelling a Typical Study of Romanticism. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1960.