what is romanticism?
The Romantic wave washed through France and Britain between the 1800 and 1900’s. Romanticism was essentially “art with a heart” where artists, be it poets, writers, play writes or painters believed that there was a basic goodness in man that was buried under layers of socialisation. Romantics had a genuine interest in the individual and the subjective – at odds with eighteenth century rationalism. This generalisation is best represented in key Romantic, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, he writes “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.” As the poet and critic Charles Baudelaire wrote in 1846, "Romanticism is precisely situated neither in choice of subject nor in exact truth, but in a way of feeling." Romantic advocates placed emphasis on imagination and emotion as it rose to be a response to the disillusionment with the Enlightenment values of reason and order in the aftermath of the French Revolution of 1789. Romanticism ultimately offered an alternative to the ordered world of Enlightenment thought, remembered for its ‘uncontrollable power, unpredictability and potential for cataclysmic extremes.’ The Romantic Movement celebrated free will and free love, encouraging the next generation to carry on the philosophies that were to change the way humans interacted and respected themselves for the rest of time. Romanticism the movement, when looking at it through the HSC lens focuses of four main conventions – nature, imagination, idealism and individualism in relation to the four key paradigms – religious, economic, scientific and philosophic. It’s important to remember that a paradigm is a way of thinking. So, when writing EE1 responses, always try to think ‘how was this piece influenced by the paradigms and how does it reflect the conventions?’
ROMANTIC PARADIGMS
Religious:
God and religion had held great significance prior to and during the Romantic Movement, however Romantics, through their expressions of self-worth and their valuing of individuality argued the prominent stance both held in society. As the Romantic Movement progressed, religion no longer remained central to human existence. Romantics were adamant in their belief of an afterlife which understandably went against Christian religious beliefs.
Philosophical:
Philosophers of the era started to think different in regards to the human mind and soul. There was a growing interest in the human condition and doctors started to study the mind in far more depth than ever before. This interest can be seen in a lot of Romantic work, especially when the relationship between dreams and reality is examined. Philosophers of the time lived by expressions such as ‘to feel is too exist,’ ‘man in his natural is good’ and ‘the greatest evils come from ourselves.’ More importantly, philosophers became empowered by the potential power of the people, believing that the people were the foundation of the state and that in the hands of the people resided national power.
Scientific:
The scientific and religious paradigms almost go hand-in-hand and are often discussed as evolving together. As scientists began to unravel the mysteries of the bodies, and more importantly the world on a much larger scale than ever before, a large debate sparked between the scientists, romantics and civilians. The Romantics question the liability of God and the tales told in the Bible, emphasising that the Bible and the science did not match. This argument grew to be a driving force of the entire Romantic Movement. In saying this though, the Romantics were sometimes frustrated with scientists of the time as they attempted to straighten out the chaotic mess the world had become.
Economic:
Romantics had a distinct disconnection with the tradition economic ways of thinking of the 18th and 19th century. The Romantics sought to avoid the apparent corrupted social conduct that involved economics and politics. Whilst they were at discontent with the economic ways of thinking, this does not mean they were not influenced by the significant changes that were before them. Industrialisation and urbanisation were both in full swing, and it’s pretty obvious that the Romantics, in their bid to emphasise the beauty of the natural and the sublime were against such atrocity. These movements formed a strong basis for Romantic writing and the Romantic opposition can be highlighted and noted in a lot of Romantic work.
God and religion had held great significance prior to and during the Romantic Movement, however Romantics, through their expressions of self-worth and their valuing of individuality argued the prominent stance both held in society. As the Romantic Movement progressed, religion no longer remained central to human existence. Romantics were adamant in their belief of an afterlife which understandably went against Christian religious beliefs.
Philosophical:
Philosophers of the era started to think different in regards to the human mind and soul. There was a growing interest in the human condition and doctors started to study the mind in far more depth than ever before. This interest can be seen in a lot of Romantic work, especially when the relationship between dreams and reality is examined. Philosophers of the time lived by expressions such as ‘to feel is too exist,’ ‘man in his natural is good’ and ‘the greatest evils come from ourselves.’ More importantly, philosophers became empowered by the potential power of the people, believing that the people were the foundation of the state and that in the hands of the people resided national power.
Scientific:
The scientific and religious paradigms almost go hand-in-hand and are often discussed as evolving together. As scientists began to unravel the mysteries of the bodies, and more importantly the world on a much larger scale than ever before, a large debate sparked between the scientists, romantics and civilians. The Romantics question the liability of God and the tales told in the Bible, emphasising that the Bible and the science did not match. This argument grew to be a driving force of the entire Romantic Movement. In saying this though, the Romantics were sometimes frustrated with scientists of the time as they attempted to straighten out the chaotic mess the world had become.
Economic:
Romantics had a distinct disconnection with the tradition economic ways of thinking of the 18th and 19th century. The Romantics sought to avoid the apparent corrupted social conduct that involved economics and politics. Whilst they were at discontent with the economic ways of thinking, this does not mean they were not influenced by the significant changes that were before them. Industrialisation and urbanisation were both in full swing, and it’s pretty obvious that the Romantics, in their bid to emphasise the beauty of the natural and the sublime were against such atrocity. These movements formed a strong basis for Romantic writing and the Romantic opposition can be highlighted and noted in a lot of Romantic work.
Conventions of Romanticism
Individualism
“Man is born free and everywhere he is in chains”
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Romanticism is the cult of the individual – the cultural and psychological nativity of the self, the inner sparks of divinity that links one human being to another and all humans to the Larger Truth. Artists became preoccupied with articulating their personal experiences, which in turn became representative of the era. The artist takes on a quasi-religious status not only as a prophet and moral leader, but also as a divinely inspired vehicle through which nature and the common man find their voices.
The idea of man’s natural goodness and the stress on emotion also contributed to the development of Romantic individualism; they believed that what is special in a person is to be valued over what is representative (the latter is often connected with the conventions imposed on man by civilised society). If a person may properly express his unique emotional self because its essence is good, he is also likely to assume that its conflicts and corruptions are a matter of great importance and a source of fascination to himself and others. The Romantics delighted in self-analysis. The ‘savage’ is noble, childhood is good and the emotions inspired by both beliefs causes the heart to soar. Urban life and the commitment to ‘getting and sending’ generate a fear and distrust of the world.
Concern for the common man evolved not only from the democratic ideologies of the Age of Revolution but also from a renewed interest in folk culture. The Folk Movement became the way for an international language of human commonality, at whose centre stood the images of home and the heart. This individuality translated into the revolution of feeling against form – the rejections of classical balance in favour of Romantic asymmetry. Embracing the unknown and being unafraid of the contraries of human existence, the Romantics overthrew the philosophical and artistic limitations of the enlightenment.
The Romantics focused on the individual perspective and not on the objective reality. Meditations on landscapes and nature were a stage for the individual appreciation of the picturesque and the sublime. The Romantics preferred the natural world, seeing industrialisation as alienating the individual.
The Romantics’ rejection of the artificial was gathering opposition to established institutions such as the monarchy and the Church. Some regarded church as stifling naturalness. Following from these attitudes was an embracing of political and social revolution, and above all, a sense that the individual must create his or her own relationship with the world.
Wordsworth posited a very different view of poetry than was standard at the time, shifting the centre of attention from the work as a reflection or imitation of reality to the artist, and the artist’s relationship to the work. Poetry was considered an expressive art. Early romantics suggested that the mirror was turned inward to reflect the poet’s state of mind, as exemplified by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
Wordsworth argued that there should be no difference between the language of prose and that of poetry. Wimsatt and Brooks: “Wordsworth’s primitivism was a part of a general reaction, setting in well before his own day, against the aristocratic side of Neoclassicism.’
Coleridge saw the issue differently. “To Coleridge it seemed more like an issue between propriety and impropriety, congruity and incongruity. In effect he applied the classic norm of decorum.” According to Wimsatt and Brooks.
The Romantics asserted the importance of the individual, the unique, even the eccentric. Consequently they opposed the character typology of neoclassical drama. Romanticism created its own literary types. The quintessential romantic figure was the wanderer, literally and figuratively journeying in search of new lands, new places in the imagination and new vistas for the soul. In style, the Romantics preferred boldness over the preceding age’s desire for restraint, maximum suggestiveness over the neoclassical ideal of clarity, free experimentation over the rules of composition, genre and decorum and they promoted the conception of the artist as ‘inspired’ creator over that of the artists as ‘maker’ or technical master. Although interest in religion and in the powers of faith was prominent during the Romantic period, the romantics generally rejected absolute systems in favour of the idea that each person must create the system by which they live.
The Romantics wrote about how man has no boundaries and endless possibilities. ‘Who,’ Emerson asked, ‘can set boundaries to the possibilities of man.” “The romantics stressed the human potential for social progress and spiritual growth.
The idea of man’s natural goodness and the stress on emotion also contributed to the development of Romantic individualism; they believed that what is special in a person is to be valued over what is representative (the latter is often connected with the conventions imposed on man by civilised society). If a person may properly express his unique emotional self because its essence is good, he is also likely to assume that its conflicts and corruptions are a matter of great importance and a source of fascination to himself and others. The Romantics delighted in self-analysis. The ‘savage’ is noble, childhood is good and the emotions inspired by both beliefs causes the heart to soar. Urban life and the commitment to ‘getting and sending’ generate a fear and distrust of the world.
Concern for the common man evolved not only from the democratic ideologies of the Age of Revolution but also from a renewed interest in folk culture. The Folk Movement became the way for an international language of human commonality, at whose centre stood the images of home and the heart. This individuality translated into the revolution of feeling against form – the rejections of classical balance in favour of Romantic asymmetry. Embracing the unknown and being unafraid of the contraries of human existence, the Romantics overthrew the philosophical and artistic limitations of the enlightenment.
The Romantics focused on the individual perspective and not on the objective reality. Meditations on landscapes and nature were a stage for the individual appreciation of the picturesque and the sublime. The Romantics preferred the natural world, seeing industrialisation as alienating the individual.
The Romantics’ rejection of the artificial was gathering opposition to established institutions such as the monarchy and the Church. Some regarded church as stifling naturalness. Following from these attitudes was an embracing of political and social revolution, and above all, a sense that the individual must create his or her own relationship with the world.
Wordsworth posited a very different view of poetry than was standard at the time, shifting the centre of attention from the work as a reflection or imitation of reality to the artist, and the artist’s relationship to the work. Poetry was considered an expressive art. Early romantics suggested that the mirror was turned inward to reflect the poet’s state of mind, as exemplified by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
Wordsworth argued that there should be no difference between the language of prose and that of poetry. Wimsatt and Brooks: “Wordsworth’s primitivism was a part of a general reaction, setting in well before his own day, against the aristocratic side of Neoclassicism.’
Coleridge saw the issue differently. “To Coleridge it seemed more like an issue between propriety and impropriety, congruity and incongruity. In effect he applied the classic norm of decorum.” According to Wimsatt and Brooks.
The Romantics asserted the importance of the individual, the unique, even the eccentric. Consequently they opposed the character typology of neoclassical drama. Romanticism created its own literary types. The quintessential romantic figure was the wanderer, literally and figuratively journeying in search of new lands, new places in the imagination and new vistas for the soul. In style, the Romantics preferred boldness over the preceding age’s desire for restraint, maximum suggestiveness over the neoclassical ideal of clarity, free experimentation over the rules of composition, genre and decorum and they promoted the conception of the artist as ‘inspired’ creator over that of the artists as ‘maker’ or technical master. Although interest in religion and in the powers of faith was prominent during the Romantic period, the romantics generally rejected absolute systems in favour of the idea that each person must create the system by which they live.
The Romantics wrote about how man has no boundaries and endless possibilities. ‘Who,’ Emerson asked, ‘can set boundaries to the possibilities of man.” “The romantics stressed the human potential for social progress and spiritual growth.
Idealism
“The world becomes a dream and the dream becomes reality”
- Novalis
- Novalis
The move from the objective to the subjective was a result of Immanuel Kant’s idea that human beings do not see the world directly, but through a number of categories. We only understand our world through our human viewpoint. This leads to idealism, the belief that what we call the ‘external world’ is somehow shaped by our minds. The Enlightenment’s emphasis on the empirical deterministic universe left no room for the freedom and creativity of the human spirit. The Romantic emphasis on art and imagination is a direct critical reaction to the mechanical view of some Enlightenment figures. The Romantic emphasis on the individual was reflected in ideas of self-realisation through imaginative expression. They thought that the individual could directly understand nature and that salvation is achieved by the solitary individual’s relationship with fancy rather than through political movements. Political idealism, especially in its hopes for the French Revolution as a new dawn, inspired nearly all the Romantics.
With the traditional patterns of country life under threat and the cities regimenting individuals into a mass work force, the poets responded by placing the greatest value on individual consciousness and its potential for creative imagination.
Idealism is more or less Romanticism as a whole. It applies to everything, as they were completely almost reliant on their plight, idealising all the ways in which they attempted to fight the Enlightenment. To some Romantics, idealism was the view that when we consider the nature our world around is the ultimate reality appears to exist in our minds rather than the material world. This view suggests that a mental process, namely the imagination, is needed to interpret the world.
With the traditional patterns of country life under threat and the cities regimenting individuals into a mass work force, the poets responded by placing the greatest value on individual consciousness and its potential for creative imagination.
Idealism is more or less Romanticism as a whole. It applies to everything, as they were completely almost reliant on their plight, idealising all the ways in which they attempted to fight the Enlightenment. To some Romantics, idealism was the view that when we consider the nature our world around is the ultimate reality appears to exist in our minds rather than the material world. This view suggests that a mental process, namely the imagination, is needed to interpret the world.
imagination
“Imagination is the living power and prime agent of all human perception”
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge
The imagination was elevated to the position of supreme faculty of the mind. This contrasted distinctly with the traditional arguments for the supremacy of reason. They defined imagination as the ultimate shaping, or creative power, the approximate human equivalent of the creative powers of nature or even God. It is dynamic, an active, rather than passive power, with many functions. Imagination is the primary faculty for creating all art. It is also the faculty that helps humans to constitute reality. By uniting both reason and feeling, imagination is celebrated as the ultimate synthesizing faculty, enabling humans to reconcile difference and opposites in the world of appearance. The reconciliation of opposites was a central idea for the Romantics. Imagination is presumed to be the faculty that enables us to ‘read’ nature as a system of symbols.
Romantic writers began to experiment with non-classical genres, themes and settings. Instead of neoclassical interest in intellectual satire, Romanticism valued and emphasised individual passion and the genres that allowed this to breathe. Romanticism valued the subjective imagination over the objective observation as the source and inspiration. It therefore picks up the interest of many Romantics in things medieval - settings, themes and narratives that are fanciful and mysterious. The Romantics insisted of the importance of feeling and passion. They felt that imagination was an amazing and visionary faculty allowing an insight into the truth of things, both natural and supernatural. Dry reason or intellect couldn’t provide this extraordinary insight. Spontaneous feeling and the life of senses were of greater importance.
Emphasis on the imagination was accompanied by greater emphasis on the importance of intuition, instincts and feelings and Romantics generally called for greater attention to the emotions as a necessary supplement to purely logical reason. When this emphasis was applied to the creative of literature a very important shift of focus occurred. Wordsworth’s definition of all good poetry being ‘ the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings’ marks a turning point in literary history, in Romantic theory. Art was valuable not so much as a mirror of the external world, but as a source of illuminating the world within. This led to a prominence of first-person lyric poetry. The ‘poetic speaker’ became less a persona and more the direct person of the poet. The interior journey and the development of the self recurred everywhere as subject material for the Romantic artist. The artist-as-hero is a specifically Romantic type.
Romantic writers began to experiment with non-classical genres, themes and settings. Instead of neoclassical interest in intellectual satire, Romanticism valued and emphasised individual passion and the genres that allowed this to breathe. Romanticism valued the subjective imagination over the objective observation as the source and inspiration. It therefore picks up the interest of many Romantics in things medieval - settings, themes and narratives that are fanciful and mysterious. The Romantics insisted of the importance of feeling and passion. They felt that imagination was an amazing and visionary faculty allowing an insight into the truth of things, both natural and supernatural. Dry reason or intellect couldn’t provide this extraordinary insight. Spontaneous feeling and the life of senses were of greater importance.
Emphasis on the imagination was accompanied by greater emphasis on the importance of intuition, instincts and feelings and Romantics generally called for greater attention to the emotions as a necessary supplement to purely logical reason. When this emphasis was applied to the creative of literature a very important shift of focus occurred. Wordsworth’s definition of all good poetry being ‘ the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings’ marks a turning point in literary history, in Romantic theory. Art was valuable not so much as a mirror of the external world, but as a source of illuminating the world within. This led to a prominence of first-person lyric poetry. The ‘poetic speaker’ became less a persona and more the direct person of the poet. The interior journey and the development of the self recurred everywhere as subject material for the Romantic artist. The artist-as-hero is a specifically Romantic type.
nature
“Nature never deceives us; it is we who deceive ourselves”
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Nature represented many things to the Romantics. It was a work of art, constructed by a divine imagination, in emblematic language nature is a healing power, a source of subject and image, a refuge from the artificial constructs of civilisation, including artificial language – the prevailing views accord nature the status of an organically unified whole. It was viewed as organic, rather than as a system of mechanical laws. Romanticism displaced the rationalist view of the universe as a machine with the analogue of an organic image. Romantics gave a greater attention to describing natural phenomena accurately. Romantic nature poetry was essentially poetry of meditation.
Nature is apprehended by the Romantics not only as an exemplar and source of vivid physical beauty but as a manifestation of the spirit of the universe as well. Romantics viewed nature as mysterious and ever changing, a living organism, and yet an eternal force, whose laws we will never be fully understand.
A love of nature and natural things, which amounted in some to worship, was key to many Romantics. Their rejection of urban life was often a positive attitude that in nature lay an ideal state, free from all artificial aspects of civilisation. John Keats exemplifies this concept in his poem ‘Ode to a Nightingale.’ To be alone in the wild, lonely places were for the Romantics to be near heaven.
Nature is apprehended by the Romantics not only as an exemplar and source of vivid physical beauty but as a manifestation of the spirit of the universe as well. Romantics viewed nature as mysterious and ever changing, a living organism, and yet an eternal force, whose laws we will never be fully understand.
A love of nature and natural things, which amounted in some to worship, was key to many Romantics. Their rejection of urban life was often a positive attitude that in nature lay an ideal state, free from all artificial aspects of civilisation. John Keats exemplifies this concept in his poem ‘Ode to a Nightingale.’ To be alone in the wild, lonely places were for the Romantics to be near heaven.
First vs Second generation
first Generation
"I must create a system or be enslaved by another man's; I will not reason and compare: my business is to create."
- William Blake
- William Blake
The precise beginning and end of the Romantic period is a widely-debated issue which seems to have no definitive answer, although most critics agree that the movement can be divided into two distinct phases. The first generation of the Romantic Movement has typically been considered a response to rapid industrialisation and Enlightenment neo-classicism of the late 1700s. Though Romantic thinking originated in Germany with philosophers such as Immanuel Kant, these ideas quickly spread to Britain. Amongst the most-renowned early English Romantics, most of whom came from the Lakes district, were William Blake, William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Artistically, Romanticism had its roots in the belief that the artists’ emotion was paramount, as exemplified by William Wordsworth, who saw poetry as “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings." This came to define Romantic artistry as a defiant rebellion to the conventions of neo-classicism, as is especially evident within both poetic structure and subject matter. The first generation philosophically was characterised by the veneration of nature and the agrarian lifestyle as diametric opposites to the industrial world. The human imagination was similarly venerated as a force rivalling Creation and a means for liberating the individual from the shackles of Enlightenment scientific reasoning. Faith in the Judaeo-Christian God was also prominent during this time albeit outside of the traditional dogmatic frameworks of institutions such as the Church, for example within Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poetry. This first generation is characterised contextually by the French Revolution of 1789, which was initially seen as the zeitgeist of the Romantic Spirit in its profound rebellion against perceived social hierarchies and intellectual oppression. However, as news of the bloody Reign of Terror reached England, this initial optimism faded in the minds of the disheartened Romantics. Never the less, they persisted in their hopes for a worldwide intellectual reformation.
SEcond Generation
"Love is my religion - I could die for it"
- John Keats
- John Keats
Though the second generation retained much of the original Romantic philosophy and conventions, such as the longing to return to nature and their fascination with the idealised imagination, many reforms were apparent. Though the exact origin of the second generation is unknown, it is typified by the works of Lord Byron, Percy-Bysshe Shelley and John Keats. Though passion was still considered the primary purpose of art, this period saw a reversion to some of the neo-classical structure of poetry, as exemplified by Keats’ use of a controlled rhyming scheme in much of his poetry as contrasting with the haphazard structure of Coleridge’s Kubla Khan. As part of this reversion to older ideals, a fascination with the exotic became apparent, often including the Orient and the Greco-Roman legends that had inspired much of the Enlightenment art. Moreover, this period saw a definitive shift away from belief in the Judaeo-Christian God, as exemplified by the work of Percy Bysshe Shelley who was expelled from Oxford University for the publication of his pamphlet The Necessity of Atheism (1811). Byron too spoke often of his religious neutrality. For the second generation, the prominence of atheism led to a profound crisis of faith in the afterlife and they were forced to seek solace in the hope that an artist may defy mortality through the immortality of his work. This especially became an obsession of John Keats, who himself was on the brink of an early death, as his poem Ode to a Grecian Urn is the paragon of this concept. The perceived godlessness of the universe also led to the rise of the concept of idealised love, the passion between mortals that rivals the previously held veneration of God. The utter emotional dependency between Catherine and Heathcliff in Emily Brontё’s Wuthering Heights is a wonderful example of this concept. Wuthering Heights also serves as an example another emerging form of imaginative expression, Gothicism, which came to embody the Romantic fascination with the supernatural and the surreal. Thus, though they were fundamentally of the same movement, these two distinct generations each utilised different concepts and conventions to communicate and explore Romantic philosophy.