...Individualism is the idea that the sense of self is greater than the community. It urges its supporters to explore the depths of their psyche, even if it challenges accepted doctrine. To moral criticism, individualism is its greatest enemy. At its core, moral criticism finds its strength through the community over all ideology. This desire for communal uplift allows the people to serve a common purpose when advancing the community. But because of this, the voices of the individual are lost to the wind. During the Age of Romanticism, the people had had enough of being silenced; they sought to wholeheartedly explore their inner self. Through their writings, Washington Irving and Herman Melville were two men fighting for the people’s individuality; much to the dismay of moral critics. Washington Irving, famous writer and individualist, sought to bring individualism to the forefront of society’s progression. He believed the exploration of one’s self was more important than seeking communal prosperity. Irving wanted the people to see the world through lenses untainted by God, religion and the established doctrines. For him, the world’s morality was meant to be created by the individual. This way of thinking was quite scary to the moral critics of this era. The sense of community was being lost in novels centered on individuals. These novels allowed the people to play God, and by doing so, they were able to concoct their own morality. Irving’s writings continued to propagate the...
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...A collection of essays entitled Revolutionary Romanticism is planned for publication. Submit an essay that argues that particular texts illuminate aspects of this title in a though-provoking way. In your argument refer closely to TWO of your prescribed texts and other texts of your own choosing Romanticism developed during the late 17th century in Europe, at a time in history when people were beginning to question society and their place within the world. The French and American revolutions represented a universal atmosphere of social tumult in which previously accepted social and political structures were becoming increasingly challenged. The French Revolution was influenced by Romantic ways of thinking such as what it means to achieve liberty for the individual. The romantic exploration of liberty for the individual through a connection to nature, imagination and spirituality through the sublime are represented in both Coleridge's poem Kubla Kahn and Keat’s “Ode to a Nightingale”. These romantic views were a direct reaction from the art of the enlightenment era as explored in the 1768 painting of Agrippina Landing at Brundisium, emotional stoicism is represented as being a model for morality in society. Revolutionary questioning of the fundamental nature of humanity and change for women was explored in Mary Wollstonecraft's text "A vindication in the rights of women". The 1768 painting by Benjamin West of Agrippina landing at Brundisium depicts the qualities of the...
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...American Romanticism Defining American Romanticism: * Literature written between 1830s and 1865 (Civil War). * Considered the first illustration of American literary genius. * Birth of the American novel * Gothic Lit Frankenstein, Supernatural, Grotesque * Romanticism: Nature over the city , Individual over society ,Emotion over Reality * Jacksonian democracy * Andrew Jackson * ‘democracy’ as defined today comes from Jackson. * Triumph of the ‘common man’ was seen as a challenge to the aristocracy and beginning of an egalitarian society. * Romantic Writers See the World as an organic and interrelated. * Whitman invents free verse (practiced by other Romantic poets * He believed that everything is alive and interrelated. * Disregarded meter, rhyme schemes, and traditional forms. Romantic Hero: * Youthful * Innocent and pure of purpose * Idealistic with a sense of honor based on some higher principle – onot on society’s rules. * Possesses unique/remarkable skills * Quests for some higher truth in the natural world * Has knowledge of people and life based on deep, intuitive understanding – not on formal learning. * Rejects conformity * Loves nature and avoids the masses Elements of Romanticism: * Nature inspiring wisdom * Exotic setting * Emotion and feeling over reason * Distrust of civilization and progress * Supernatural * Intuition...
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...Neo-Classicism and Romanticism Though the Neo-Classical and Romantic art periods sit side by side on the Art History timeline, their values and inspirations couldn’t be farther apart. Whereas Neo-Classical art valued the precise forms and order of Classical Roman and Greek art, Romantic artists were inspired more by the unrestrained, dramatic works of the Medieval and Baroque eras. Both art periods (Neo-Classical and Romantic) came about in response to (and a desire to differ from) an earlier period. The Neo-Classicists were rebelling against the vulgarity and excesses of the Rococo period and the Romanticists were displaying their rejection of the order, harmony and rational thought of the Neo-Classicists. The Neo-Classical art period (like many art periods) evolved from a previous art period -in rebellion from it. This art period, however, is different from most in that it wasn’t invented by the active artists of the time. It was, perhaps, the first art movement started by writers and theoreticians (Lucie, 1992). German scholar and leading propagandist for the Neo-Classical movement, Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717-1768) deplored the Rococo style, which was all the rage in Dresden, where he worked. In his pamphlet, Thoughts on the Imitation of Greek Works in Painting and Sculpture, he said that the modern artists could only become great again by imitating Greek art (Stokstad, 2005). Cardinal Alessandro Albani (1692-1779), who possessed a large collection of ancient...
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...Romanticism, state of mind or scholarly introduction that portrayed numerous works of writing, painting, music, feedback, and historiography in Western human progress over a period from the late eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth century. With its accentuation on the creative ability and feeling, Romanticism developed as a reaction to the disappointment with the Enlightenment significance of reason and structure in the outcome of the French Revolution of 1789. Romanticism can be viewed as a dismissal of the statutes of structure, peaceful, agreement, stability, and admiration that embodied Classicism as a rule and late eighteenth century Neoclassicism specifically. Romanticism was likewise to some degree a response against the Enlightenment and...
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...Romanticism Papel HUM/266 March 6, 2013 Romanticism was 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. Partly a reaction to the Industrial Revolution, it was also a revolt against aristocratic social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment and a reaction against the scientific rationalization of nature. It was embodied most strongly in the visual arts, music, and literature, but had a major impact on historiography, education and the natural sciences. Its effect on politics was considerable and complex; while for much of the peak Romantic period it was associated with liberalism and radicalism, in the long term its effect on the growth of nationalism was probably more significant. Romanticism era is the revolution of writers, painters, and dancers. The well-know writer in romanticism era is Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. His first novel, The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774), about a young, sensitive artist, was popular throughout Europe. Goethe also used myth and local folklore as subjects for his poetry, inspiring a sense of German nationalism in the decades before a unified Germany. The American and French Revolutions in the late 18th century added to the popularity of such Romantic ideals as freedom, liberty and national pride. Ballet began to lose steam after the death of Louis the XIV, despite a slight boom in participation...
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...Running Head: ROMANTICISM AND REALISM Romanticism and Realism Western Governor’s University RWT Task 1 February 17, 2013 Romanticism and Realism 1. Romanticism was a period starting as early as the 1760s seen not only in the world of art but also in the literary and musical worlds as well. The movement originated during the French Revolution as a contention to the Enlightenment period that centered on science and logic. The movement ranged from widespread Europe to the United States. During this period of time the Industrial Revolution was beginning and people lived in uprising cities with deplorable conditions of terrible sanitation and poor health. Focusing on Romanticism in the realm of art, the initial paintings consisted of landscapes. The need for open space was a reaction to the closeness of people living together in the city. It was very common to find turmoil and storms taking over the canvas. A great summary of the origins Romanticism can be quoted from The Metropolitan Museum of Art as “In Romantic art, nature—with it’s uncontrollable power, unpredictability, and potential for cataclysmic extremes— offered an alternative to the ordered world of Enlightenment thought.” (Galitz, 2000) Artists of this time period would paint pictures that caused the viewers to feel emotion. There were no distinguished characteristics of how a painting was created. Creations during the art period were original from the artists themselves and had no set technical rules...
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...Antoine Watteau's painting, L'Indifferent, 1716, oil on canvas, 25cm x 18cm and Eugene Delacroix's Paganini, 1831, oil on cardboard on wood panel, approx. 43cm x 28cm have been selected to represent the Rococo and Romanticism periods respectively. Rococo was a style of art that followed on from the Baroque period in the early 18th century. The artists of this style typically depicted themes of "love, artfully and archly pursued through erotic frivolity and playful intrigue". 1 Both the art and interior design of the time displayed a sense of rhythm in which "[e]verything seemed organic, growing, and in motion, an ultimate refinement of illusion". 2 The artists of this period were also starting to express themselves and their feelings about their themes in their work. Some of the works seem to be edging toward the ideals of the Romanticism period, even though they were at opposite ends of the 18th century. Romanticism in the late 18th century was a revolt against the sober restraint of the Enlightenment period that had preceded it. 3 This was a period encompassing the "desire for freedom - not only political freedom but also freedom of thought, of feeling, of action, of worship, of speech and of taste". 4 Artists wanted only to produce pure, truthful art that was "based on the predominance of feeling and imagination." 5 Works in the Romantic period depict not only the Romantic ideal of love but also 'Gothic' horror, as this too could be explored to discover the 'sublime'...
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...Nature in Romanticism The Romantic Period came as a reaction against the Industrial Revolution and the rising emphasis on science and technology that the movement brought along. People traditionally living in the country now gathered into urbanized areas in hopes of employment as farmland gradually developed into factories (“Introduction”, Pages 5-7). As a result, cities became crowded and unsanitary as this sudden influx of population was not accounted for in city works. The lack of a citywide waste disposal system created an environment where litter dusted the streets and smog suffocated the populace (Wood). In the heavily industrialized cities of the time, flora and other greenery became a rare sight. The people of the late eighteenth century became rapidly disillusioned by their surroundings and yearned for the better days of the past where there was more space to breathe and distance themselves to find spiritual meaning in their life (Wood). The people sought for a refuge from the turmoil of society and found that coveted solitude in nature, which became idealized as a meditative sanctuary where people could go to reflect upon life or draw inspiration. Each writer of the Romantic period came upon different interpretations from their experiences with nature and these varying perspectives are reflected in their works. Pantheism was a very pervasive theme found in the works of the Romantic Period. This shared sentiment did not come as a surprise as nature became personal...
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...“To say the word Romanticism is to say modern art. That is intimacy, spiritually, color, aspiration, towards the infinite, expressed by every means available to arts.” (Charles Baudelaire.). The characteristics of Romanticism did not only spread and affect the literary arts, but also the visual arts. The era of Romanticism had opened the doors for artists to express their inner feelings. This was one part of two fundamental characteristics that Romanticism artists shared. The other was that a painting should mirror the artist’s vision of the world and be the instrument of his own imagination. Romanticism in Art led to the liberation of the artist’s inner feelings and visions through reflection, expression, and culture. To begin with, there...
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...American Romanticism * Early Romanticism * Washington Irving * James Cooper * Transcendentalism * Ralph Emerson * Henry Thoreau * Others: eg. Edgar Allen Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne… * Romanticism---a retrospect * Background of Romanticism in Europe? * The Industrial Revolution * The French Revolution * Ideological change * Definition & Features of Romanticism? * Romanticism(The Romantic Movement) * 5 key features * Romanticism was an artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe toward the end of the 18th century, recognized for expressions of exoticism, individualism, emotionalism, and the beauty of nature, rejecting the ordered rationality of the Enlightenment as mechanical, impersonal, and artificial. * Imagination; * Nature; * Individualism; * Glorification of the Commonplace; * The Lure of the Exotic * American Romanticism * Time: Romantic period---early 19th century to the outbreak of the Civil War * Forms: novels, short stories, and poems replaced sermons and manifestos as America’s principal literary forms * Background: * exterior: Romantic movement in Europe (inheritance) * interior: Westward movement and economic boom; * Literary themes: * Highly imaginative and subjective * Emotional intensity * Escapism * Common man as hero ...
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...The Advent of Romanticism The Romantic era (1770-1870) was the term used to define the rebellion against the political and social devastation that followed the French Revolution. The Romantic era was the time when artists revolted against the classical values of balance, control, order, and proportionality promoted by neoclassical artists (Sayre 878). This revolt against the formalism of the Classical age produced a flood of emotional lyric, music, art, and poetry that peaked in works such as Ludwig van Beethoven’s (1770-1827) The Ninth Symphony (1824). The romantic characteristic of emotions, individualism, and imagination can be found in The Ninth. Francisco de Goya’s (1746-1828) Saturn Devouring One of his Children (1820-1823) posses the horrifically natural or true to life, as well as the emotional characteristics he so genially portrayed. On the softer side of the romantic scale, Percy Bysshe Shelley’s (1792-1822) Indian Girl’s Song (1819) beautifully portrayed the natural and emotional characteristics of Romanticism. There are also references to the supernatural, as well as the exotic, in this work, which most certainly leaves his readers yearning for more. Artists approached the world with an outpouring of feeling and emotional passion that came to be called Romanticism. The key characteristics of Romanticism are emotion, the exotic, nature, imagination, individualism, and the supernatural. Romanticism was an overt reaction against the Enlightenment, which was...
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...William Wordsworth is the Romantic poet most often described as a "nature" writer; what the word "nature" meant to Wordsworth is, however, a complex issue. On the one hand, Wordsworth was the quintessential poet as naturalist, always paying close attention to details of the physical environment around him (plants, animals, geography, weather). At the same time, Wordsworth was a self-consciously literary artist who described "the mind of man" as the "main haunt and region of [his] song." This tension between objective describer of the natural scene and subjective shaper of sensory experience is partly the result of Wordsworth's view of the mind as "creator and receiver both." Wordsworth consistently describes his own mind as the recipient of external sensations which are then rendered into its own mental creations. Such an alliance of the inner life with the outer world is at the heart of Wordsworth's descriptions of nature. Wordsworth's ideas about memory, the importance of childhood experiences, and the power of the mind to bestow an "auxiliar" light on the objects it beholds all depend on this ability to record experiences carefully at the moment of observation but then to shape those same experiences in the mind over time. We should also recall, however, that he made widespread use of other texts in the production of his Wordsworthian (Keats said "egotistical") sublime: drafts of poems by Coleridge, his sisterDorothy's Journals, the works of Milton, Shakespeare, Thomson...
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...“The philosopher should lay his hand on the secret of creative force and perhaps make new worlds for himself.” (Hawthorne 1) Romantic literature was a new idea of writing, revolting against the classical era. While the classicists were reasonable and conservative, the romantics’ interests were in the supernatural and nature. Nathaniel Hawthorn, an early American romantic, wrote many short stories with this idealism, such as “The Birthmark.” His writing focused on man attempting to sate his desire, supernatural elements, and the uncontrollable power of nature. Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark” is, to this day, a strong example of romanticism. One of the major characteristics of romanticism is the satisfaction of desire. Georgiana, the wife of Aylmer,...
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...ROMANTICISM AND REALISM Deborah Christman Western Governor’s University ROMANTICISM AND REALISM Both Romanticism and Realism were art movements that began in the 19th century, during a time of war and revolution. Romanticism focused on emotions, injustice, and extraordinary, while Realism characterized the world without glorification. Both began as a response to historic ideas, but they vary in terms of artistic style and political views. In the first part of the 19th century, a new art movement began—Romanticism. Romanticism arose in retaliation of Neoclassicism, which placed restraints on artists and “rules-driven orderliness”. Romantic artists focused more on perception and impression, rather than on the specific object. They included “passion, emotion, and exotic settings with dramatic action”. Their attention was on the Romantic hero (archetype) who rejected normal life and focused on himself. The subjects in their paintings showed the preposterous and untamed side of humans. (Mindedge, 3.18) To display emotion and style, the artists used somber paint colors and displayed Gothic elements. The color red was used quite often as a sunset or in the person’s clothing, while black and gray were used for the skies to display impending doom. The main goals of Romanticism were to portray the battle between man vs. nature and man vs. himself, and also show certain political issues. The types of media used were oil paints and watercolor. The painting...
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