What's Romanticism

 

ROMANTICISM -themes

 

Romanticism, an artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, emphasized emotion, individualism, and the sublime beauty of nature. It emerged as a reaction against the rationalism of the Enlightenment and the industrialization of the time. The following are the key themes of Romanticism:

1. The Sublime Power of Nature

• Nature as a Source of Inspiration: Romantic writers and artists celebrated nature as a source of beauty, power, and spiritual renewal. Nature was seen not just as a backdrop but as a living, dynamic force that could evoke deep emotions, awe, and transcendence. The sublime refers to nature’s ability to overwhelm human senses, inspiring both awe and terror.
• Contrasts with Industrialization: Romanticism often depicted nature as pure and untainted in contrast to the corrupting influence of industrial society. Industrialization and urbanization were seen as forces that alienated humans from the natural world.

2. Emphasis on Emotion and Imagination

• Feelings Over Reason: In contrast to the Enlightenment’s focus on reason and logic, Romanticism emphasized the importance of emotion, passion, and intuition. Feelings like awe, fear, love, and melancholy were central to human experience and artistic expression.
• Imagination as a Creative Force: The Romantics viewed the imagination as a powerful tool that transcended the physical world. They believed that imagination allowed individuals to access deeper truths and escape the confines of ordinary experience.

3. Individualism and Personal Freedom

• The Heroic Individual: Romantics celebrated the individual, particularly those who resisted societal norms or pursued personal truth. The "Romantic hero" often stood in opposition to the constraints of society, embodying ideals of independence, rebellion, and nonconformity.
• Focus on Subjectivity: The individual’s subjective experience became central in Romantic literature. Personal feelings, thoughts, and emotions were considered authentic and valuable, often explored through first-person narratives or introspective poetry.

4. The Supernatural and the Gothic

• Interest in the Uncanny: Romanticism often explored themes of the supernatural, the mysterious, and the uncanny. Ghosts, demons, and unexplained phenomena were frequent motifs, representing the unknown and the power of the imagination.
• Gothic Elements: A subgenre of Romanticism, Gothic literature focused on dark, eerie settings, like decaying castles and gloomy landscapes, and explored themes of fear, madness, and the grotesque. Works like Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and the novels of Edgar Allan Poe are prime examples of this Gothic sensibility.

5. The Romanticization of the Past

• Medievalism: Romantics often idealized the Middle Ages, viewing it as a time of chivalry, mystery, and spiritual depth in contrast to the perceived soullessness of modern industrial society. This fascination with the medieval period was reflected in architecture, art, and literature.
• Nationalism and Folklore: The past, particularly the ancient or medieval history of a nation, was often glorified. Romantics turned to folk traditions, myths, and legends to define cultural identity and reconnect with a perceived lost authenticity.

6. Melancholy and the Beauty of Suffering

• Exploration of Melancholy: Romantic writers often explored feelings of sadness, longing, and existential despair. This focus on melancholy reflected a fascination with the fleeting nature of life and beauty, as well as a deeper contemplation of human suffering and mortality.
• Tragic Love and Isolation: Romanticism frequently depicted love as a profound, yet often tragic, force. Characters might experience unrequited love, loneliness, or personal torment. Themes of loss, isolation, and alienation were common, as exemplified by works like Wuthering Heights.

7. The Quest for Transcendence and the Infinite

• Longing for the Infinite: Romantics often expressed a deep yearning for something beyond the material world, a desire for spiritual transcendence or union with the divine. This quest for the infinite manifested in themes of longing, reaching for the unattainable, and exploring the vast unknown.
• Mysticism and Spirituality: Romanticism embraced a mystical, spiritual view of the world, where nature and human experience were connected to something greater. Writers like William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge often expressed a sense of divine presence within nature.

8. Rebellion Against Authority and Tradition

• Anti-Conformity and Revolution: Romanticism emerged during a time of political upheaval (e.g., the French and American Revolutions), and many Romantic artists and writers championed the causes of personal freedom, revolution, and resistance to political and social authority.
• Critique of Rationalism: Romantics rejected the Enlightenment’s emphasis on reason, logic, and order, instead favoring emotion, creativity, and spontaneity. They believed that logic alone could not capture the fullness of human experience.

9. The Power of Art and the Artist

• The Artist as a Genius: Romanticism celebrated the artist as a creative genius, someone who could see deeper truths and express profound emotions through their work. The Romantic artist was often seen as a solitary figure, misunderstood by society but connected to higher, more universal truths.
• Art as a Reflection of the Inner Self: In Romantic thought, art was a direct reflection of the artist’s soul and personal emotions. The creation of art was an act of personal expression, giving voice to one’s innermost feelings.

10. Exoticism and Escapism

• Fascination with the Exotic: Romantics were often drawn to the exotic and the unfamiliar, seeking inspiration in distant lands, cultures, and times. Eastern, African, and South American settings and cultures were romanticized, viewed as freer or more mysterious than the West.
• Escapism: Romanticism often provided a way to escape the harsh realities of industrialized, modern life. Through literature and art, Romantics sought to escape into imaginative worlds, whether through idealized past eras, distant lands, or fantasies of the supernatural.

These themes reflect the Romantic movement’s focus on the emotional, the imaginative, and the individual, as well as its deep engagement with the mysteries of nature, spirituality, and human experience. Romanticism continues to influence literature, art, and culture, with its ideals of beauty, freedom, and emotional depth remaining relevant.

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 Edmund Burke On the Sublime

PRE-ROMANTICISM-since the middle of the 18th century

• melancholy
• love for nature
• revival of mystery and folklore
• interest in the wild, the irrational (Gothic vogue)

ROMANTICISM (1798)

• a reaction against reason
• imagination
• emotions
• individual experience
• a new vision of nature
• childhood
• exotic settings
• interest in the world of horror

SOCIAL CONTEXT-THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

• INCREASE IN POPULATION                                                     

         TOWARDS 1750

         The demand for food and goods increased

• NEW TECHNOLOGY AND INVENTIONS       

       The spinning jenny ,The steam engineThe water frame

• NEW SOURCES OF POWER                                                 

        Coal and steam  

• NEW FACTORIES WERE BUILT                   

        From handwork to work done by machines 

        From work at home to work in factories   

• TRANSPORT IMPROVEMENTS

                 New waterways

                 Road conditions improved

                New roads were built

• CHANGES IN AGRICULTURE

Improvements in agriculture-New farming methods, New farming machinery

• ENCLOSURE OF OPEN FIELDS AND COMMON LAND (Enclosure Acts)

(Poor farmers couldn't buy the land)

• THE RURAL POPULATION moved to the cities to find work

Romanticism, Lesson 1: Historical Contexts and Core Principles

HISTORY OF IDEAS - Romanticism

1. What does Romanticism refer to?
2. What does the word mindset mean?
3. When and where did Romanticism begin?
4. Did the way to consider children and nature change thanks to Romanticism?
5. What did Romanticism react against?
6. What did Rousseau like about being a child?
7. Who was Thomas Chatterton?
8. What did he become a symbol of?
9. Why is the Romantic hero a Christ like figure?
10. What does The sorrows of young Werther deal about?
11. Who was the most important  Spanish Romantic painter?
12. Who was the most important English Romantic poet ?
13. What’s the name of the place where he lived for some years?
14. What was the main subject of his poetry?
15. What did the American painter Thomas Cole paint?
16. What does the loafer, described by Budelaire, stand for ?

Wordsworth’s Life Lessons: Splendour in the Grass

William Wordsworth’s Ode to Intimations of Immortality is the classic example of the beauty of the mind, and the complexity of the values of innocence and experience.

The key passage from this Ode, is the following. It is so profound that it inspired the movie Splendor in the Grass with Warren Beatty and Natalie Wood(1961)

“What though the radiance which was once so bright
Be now for ever taken from my sight,
Though nothing can bring back the hour
Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower;
We will grieve not, rather find 
Strength in what remains behind;
In the primal sympathy
Which having been must ever be;
In the soothing thoughts that spring
Out of human suffering;
In the faith that looks through death,
In years that bring the philosophic mind.”

 William Wordsworth

Benché la radiosità
un tempo così luminosa
sia adesso tolta per sempre dai miei occhi,
benché nulla possa portare indietro l'ora
di splendore nell'erba,
di gloria nel fiore,
noi non ce ne dorremo, piuttosto troveremo
forza in quel che resta dietro;
nell'affinità primaria
che essendo stata per sempre deve essere;
nei pensieri docili che sgorgano
dall'umano soffrire;
nella fede che vede attraverso la morte,
negli anni che portano la mente filosofica

LEOPARDI and WORDSWORTH
SIMILARITIES

• Importance given to emotions and feelings
• Focus on nature in his poems
• they believe in the existence of different phases in human life
• Youth is the age of hopes and illusions
• poetry as a creative activity is the product of recollections ' in a state of tranquility'
• they have a tendency to personify the elements of nature (the moon, the rainbow, the daffodils)
• they are aware of what is painful to live 

DIFFERENCES
LEOPARDI

• in Leopardi's view, nature is evil, blasting and indifferent to the man  
• he doesn't believe in any possibility of comfort or solace
• he rejects the idea of life after the earthly one
• life is a sequence of painful moments 

WORDSWORTH

• nature is a moral guide
• it gives joy and relief
• it has a comforting function
• it's a haven from the horrors of the Industrial Revolution
• he believes in 'Intimations of immortality'
• before the birth the soul pre-existed in heaven and the child is in a state of innocence and purity because he is still close to God.
• he is able to recall the heavenly state of his soul
• through his imagination and the close contact with nature, the poet may recall that condition, as well

La ginestra

it's an example of solidarity and solace in the desert of life 

Daffodils

they're an example of joy and comfort for the man. It's a vital force, a direct expression of the presence of God