ROMANTICISM
Dec 31, 2015
ROMANTICISM
What is Romanticism?
• A world-wide movement involving writers, composers, painters, sculptors, philosophers, politicians, theologians, and many others.
What is Romanticism?
• It’s difficult to clearly define either its time period or the goals and beliefs of those who were involved
• However, it is safe to say that the movement lasted from the late seventeenth century to the mid to late nineteenth century
What is Romanticism?
• In many respects, Romanticism was a reaction to the strict rationality of the Classical period (what we’ve been referring to as the Enlightenment or the Age of Reason).
• People began to espouse the value of imagination and emotion over reason and logic
Why is it called Romanticism?
• Actually, it has nothing to do with romantic love and all that stuff
• The term Romantic is derived from Middle Age “romance” tales of adventure and chivalric values; “romance” is a reference to Latin, in which the tales were originally told
Beliefs of Romanticism
• The natural/innate goodness of man• The perfectibility of man• What is special in man is more important than
what is typical• Nature as a source of truth, inspiration, and
moral guidance• The importance of spontaneity
Beliefs of Romanticism
• The value of the sublime
Beliefs of Romanticism
• The value of the grotesque, the picturesque, and the beautiful
• Interest in the antique—mythology, the Medieval, the gothic
• A connection between all living things
Romantic literature
• Highly imaginative and subjective• Emotionally intense• Escapist• The common man as heroic• Nature as refuge, source of knowledge, and
spiritual guidance• The “noble savage”
Romantic literature
• Nationalistic• Attempt to define American literature– Language– Motifs– Settings– Characters– Themes
Romantic Literature
• Folk tales– Pastoral– Allegorical– Exaggeration/Hyperbole– Supernatural– 1 Dimensional/Caricature – Humor– Moral
Romantic Literature
• Female literature• The Gothic– Dark tales of suspense or horror– Inner world of Human Nature– Interest in irrational side of human nature– Seeks psychological insights into actions
• Nostalgic stories
Differences between Classical and Romantic
Classical Thinkers Valued:• Reason above all• Urban life• Public responsibility• The universal• Objective science• External reality• God and nature as a
“clockwork” mechanism
Romantic Thinkers Valued:• Emotion and feelings• Nature and solitude• Private reflection• The personal• Subjective perception• Introspection• The natural world as a
source of mystery and personal enlightenment
Romantic Writers
• James Fenimore Cooper– The Leatherstocking Tales
• Washington Irving– “The Devil and Tom Walker”– “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”
• Walt Whitman– “Song of Myself”
Transcendentalists
• Transcendental Club• 1830s• Founded by Ralph Waldo Emerson• New England• Emphasized perfectibility of man, role of
natural world
Your favorite Transcendentalists
• Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Henry David Thoreau
Dark Romantics
• Some writers believed that Romantics were too optimistic about human nature
• They felt that people were flawed and self-serving
• They insisted that societies needed traditions and institutions to control the dark side of human nature
Dark Romantics
• Nathaniel Hawthorne– Interested in Puritan past; possibly related to
Judge Hathorne of Salem infamy– The Scarlet Letter, “Young Goodman Brown,” “The
Minister’s Black Veil,” and others• Herman Melville– Moby Dick
• Edgar Allan Poe– We’ll talk about him later in detail
Emily Dickinson
• That isn’t a question• Dickinson wrote poetry in her home• She lived in Amherst, Mass, right near where
the Transcendentalists were living and writing• However, she wasn’t really a member of any
particular group of poets• Only seven of nearly 1300 poems were
published in her lifetime
Emily Dickinson
• Puritan vestiges into 19th century• Power of language• Moral and social inwardness
Effects on today
• Revolt against genre• Rejection of society• Importance of the individual• Civil disobedience• Development of American culture