It is clear that modern man is setting the stage for his own demise due to the careless wasting of the Earth and its natural resources, this fact has been evident for several hundreds of years. Many Romantic Era poets used “nature vs industrialism” as a theme of their poetry in attempt to shed light onto respect for nature. Robert Burns, William Wordsworth, and Lord Bryon (George Gordon) are all good examples of Romantic Era poets who saw the connection between nature and humanity was distancing itself from. They used their works in attempt to influence readers to make a change in the path we humans, as a whole, were going down. Romantic artists' works are based on developing images that portray everything as being beautiful, as well as expressing …show more content…
(Burns,) This is an apology, suggesting that man's perception of human beings allows the false belief of man being dominant, while in reality, both the mouse and the man are "earth-born companions and fellow mortals" (Burns,), sharing unity in nature. The mouse lives fully in the moment, with no concern what will become of it in the future nor does it dwell on the past. In contrast Burns, expresses disappointment for his self “thou art bless'd compared wi'me” (Burns,) his suffering caused by the delusion of being a separate self that is fearful of the future and has regrets about the past. Man's delusion of supremacy is proven false by his inability to employ his will, understanding that free will doesn't exist except as a concept within the minds of humans. Burns was trying to get his readers to realize that humans need to become one with nature, …show more content…
“Darkness” illustrates an unsettling image of the remnants of a destroyed Earth; this is a decay far deeper than a literal degradation of Earth, but is also symbolically representative as a metaphor for the degradation of humanity’s values. It can be interpreted as a condemnation of humanity, driven into darkness by their own actions. It serves as a metaphor for a degraded society, dead set on war and separation, lost in the mist of the pressures of capitalism and industrialization. A metaphor for a society quickly moving off the correct path and, therefore, eternally doomed by the destructive forces of
Humanity is ultimately dark, it’s just we don’t dare to admit it. Humanity is like a ying-yang, it comes with the dark and the light, but we focus on the light in dark times; we always try to hide away the dark truth. Hiding away the darkness, making society seem perfect; humanity is really terrifying, knowing about the darkness that we all try to hide, is even more alarming. We commit genocide, spend more money on war than peace, child abuse, domestic violence, suicide, and more. We created this place in which all this happens, but we don’t accept it, we shun it. Keeping it locked up, we pretend it doesn’t happen. We don’t acknowledge any of this. We choose to wear rose-colored glasses, rather than seeing the truth of it
The realism movement of the late nineteenth century produced works in literature that were marked by reduced sentimentality and increased objectivity. The goal was to let details tell the story, and remove noticeable bias of the author through scientific and detailed descriptions. While this form of storytelling undoubtedly is most accurate, it creates difficulties for authors to incorporate their themes into the story. This resulted in an increase in symbolism in realist works. The objects and descriptions within the story are the author’s vehicle for displaying the values and themes of the work. Light and darkness are symbols commonly used in literature, and have held specific symbolic meanings for hundreds of years. Simply stated, light commonly symbolizes good, while darkness symbolizes its antithesis - evil. (Cooper) For centuries light vs. dark has been quite possibly the most common symbol in all literature. In Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad uses detail to create a feeling that transcends the literal text - most notably through his use of light and dark and the inversion of their traditional meanings. The end goal of this inversion is the establishment of the theme that not everything is as it seems. More specifically, Conrad uses detailed imagery of light and dark to show often times white men can be more savage than the natives.
The battle between darkness and light has been fought since the very first days of humanity, before fire was even created, Bogard simply takes a different side to the battle than most. He argues in his essay “Let There Be Dark” that darkness affects the entire planet -the natural world, today’s population, and future generations- in surprisingly positive ways, and that it’s up to us to defend it. Overall, his arguments are powerful and likely to make any reader question leaving his or her lamp on, but this is largely in part to his great capabilities as a writer. Every part of his essay, even the title, is built to convince his readers of why they should preserve the darkness and the natural order of life.
Lord Byron’s “Darkness” illustrates a dark and pessimistic outlook for the world as we know it. The world loses all sense of hope and is left with only despair and darkness after the loss of the provider of thought and hope-sunlight. With the extinction of sunlight comes the destruction of social classes due to inevitable fear of death, and, as a result, all that is left is chaos. The psychological mind drastically changes its mannerisms and mode of thinking when faced with life and death situations.
Throughout its entirety, Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness utilizes many contrasts and paradoxes in an attempt to teach readers about the complexities of both human nature and the world. Some are more easily distinguishable, such as the comparison between civilized and uncivilized people, and some are more difficult to identify, like the usage of vagueness and clarity to contrast each other. One of the most prominent inversions contradicts the typical views of light and dark. While typically light is imagined to expose the truth and darkness to conceal it, Conrad creates a paradox in which darkness displays the truth and light blinds us from it.
Romantics began to believe that it was important to be in touch with your emotions. Romanticism was viewed as an assertion of intuitive individualism and the primacy of feeling. (Fiero) These ideas lead to more detail and expression in art. Portraits are perfect examples for the subject of the individual because in portraits you can see what the person was feeling. Artists typically painted as a reaction of what was going on around them and portraits gave them the opportunity to express what their society was like. Traditionally, records of individual likeness, portraits became vehicles for expressing a range of psychological and emotional states in the hands of Romantic painters. (Galitz)
In his essay 'Let There Be Dark', Paul Bogard tells the story of darkness and its importance to every aspect of the world. He uses a combination of personal anecdotes, vivid language, and strong evidence to convince the readers that darkness, indeed, is an "irreplaceable value and beauty" that is slowly being lost.
By analyzing the structure, the reader encounters the imagination and individuality prized by the Romantics. In addition, an examination of the literary devices presents the reader with the personal connection Romantic writers longed to have with nature. Lastly, the content of these pieces proved to be intertwined and demonstrated the desire to spread creativity and inspiration to others. As said by Michelle Williams “Everything’s connected, and everything has meaning if you look for it”
Within the text of Heart of Darkness, the reader is presented with many metaphors. Those that recur, and are most arresting and notable, are light and dark, nature and Kurtz and Marlow. The repeated use of light and dark imagery represents civilization and primitiveness, and of course the eternal meaning of good and evil. However, the more in depth the reader goes the more complex it becomes. Complex also are the meanings behind the metaphors of nature included within the text. It represents a challenge for the colonists, often also signifying decay and degeneration. Finally Kurtz and Marlow represent imperialism and the colonists. All these metaphors come together and contribute not only to the effect for the reader, but also to the overall meaning.
Walling, William, Kroeber, Karl. Images of Romanticism: Verbal and Visual. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1978.
The "Heart of Darkness," written by Joseph Conrad in 1899 as a short story, is about two men who face their own identities as what they consider to be civilized Europeans and the struggle to not to abandon their themselves and their morality once they venture into the "darkness." The use of "darkness" is in the book's title and in throughout the story and takes on a number of meanings that are not easily understood until the story progresses. As you read the story you realize that the meaning of "darkness" is not something that is constant but changes depending on the context it used.
Romantic art portrays emotional, painted, or shown in a bold and dramatic manner, and there is often a stress on the past. Romantic artists often use sad themes and dramatic tragedies. Paintings by famous Romantic artists such as Gericault and Delacroix are filled with energetic brushstrokes, rich colors, and emotive subject matters. While the German landscape painter Casper David Friedrich created images of lost loneliness, and at the same time in Spain, Francisco Goya conveyed the horrors of war in his works. This shows the variety of different art works of this time period. Some of these artists were fascinated in nature, people can definitely see this if they are shown through any Romanticism museum, also the importance of drama and emotion. At this time artists made their art work portray more then what the eye sees, the artists added more symbolism to the art work then in the Renaissance. The Pre-Raphaelite movement succeeded Romanticism, and Impressionism is firmly rooted in the Romantic tradition. Other famous Romantic artists include George Stubbs, William Blake, John Margin, John Constable, JMW Turner, and Sir Thomas Lawrence. And Although Romanticism was very popular for the paintings, it was also popular for its music, and poetry, and even architecture. This shows that this period advanced not only in variety of artwork but also a variety of all sorts of effects.
Through the poems of Blake and Wordsworth, the meaning of nature expands far beyond the earlier century's definition of nature. "The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom." The passion and imagination portrayal manifest this period unquestionably, as the Romantic Era. Nature is a place of solace where the imagination is free to roam. Wordsworth contrasts the material world to the innocent beauty of nature that is easily forgotten, or overlooked due to our insensitivities by our complete devotion to the trivial world. “But yet I know, where’er I go, that there hath passed away a glory from the earth.
At an essential human level there is recognition of beauty and creation, as Plotinus believed. There is potential for subjectivity in art and personal preference, but the principles of universality and the ability to incite emotion set apart fine art. Beauty, in the traditional concept, is irrelevant to fine art. What is beautiful changes and is subjective, so the artist does not have to capture what is beautiful in the traditional sense, but rather an idea or concept that possesses merit. Art may not be beautiful but can still possess meaning, such as Da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa.” Though the subject itself may not be objectively pretty, capturing the expression and mystery makes the painting itself valuable and meaningful. Beauty in fine art is not a matter of the physical image as much as the expression, message, or emotion it incites. For that reason, beauty can be frightening or sad, as well as happy and peaceful. In fine art, the artist seeks not to capture the beauty of an object or item, but the feeling that viewing this brings. This is the concept of experiencing what the artist feels and thinks, beyond the physical work
Many artists started experimenting with new styles of art throughout the Baroque Ages to the present time. These paintings and sculptures were famous for the detailed work and the beauty of art. To define male beauty, these arts have simplified the creativity in masculinity. For centuries, the art of male beauty has been constantly changing and the portrayal of men has become more feminine in many artworks. These changes in these artworks were caused by the increase of time that has passed and the occurrences that had influenced people to associate these experiences through their masterpieces. It is known that mainly known that artists like to express their emotions and show their imaginations that can easily show the meanings in a visual display. By having a representation of each masterpiece, the work to provide the visual views of male beauty can mostly be found through paintings and sculptures that revolves during each era.