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Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen character development
Romanticism of Mary Shelley
Romanticism thinking
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Nature, imagery, and the freedom of thought and expression are key elements of Romanticism as characterized in Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, William Wordsworth “We are Seven,” and Percy Shelley’s “Mutability.” These literary works of Jane Austen, Percy Shelley, and William Wordsworth focus on emphasizing their feelings and emotions by using their imagination and their love of nature as key tools for helping readers to comprehend their personal experiences. Each of their works reflects situations that occur in daily life and serves as an approach to help readers gain an understanding of the human mind.
Jane Austen’s use of nature, imagery, and emotion in Sense and Sensibility reflect the morals and principles of her time. She centers attention on Elinor’s sensible nature, such as common sense and reason when she describes Elinor as “This eldest daughter whose advice was so effectual, possessed a strength of understanding, and coolness of judgment, which qualified her, though only nineteen to be the counselor of her mother, and enables her frequently to counteract, to the advantage of them all” (Austen 6). Austen focuses on Marianne’s romantic nature, such as sentiment, impulsiveness, emotion, and the love of the picturesque when she describes Marianne as “sensible and clever; but eager in everything; her sorrows, her joys, could have no moderation” (Austen 6). Austen focuses on the different ways that Elinor and Marianne express their emotions. Elinor and Marianne are exact opposites because Elinor listens to her head while Marianne relies on her heart. This is noted with Elinor’s relationship with Edward when she finds out about Lucy. Instead of her showing her emotions, she is able to keep her composure while having conv...
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...f nature, imagery, and emotion is simply to describe the dark and negative sides of life.
Jane Austen, William Wordsworth, and Percy Shelly focus on putting emphasis on the activity of the imagination with an even greater emphasis on the importance of imagery, nature, and feelings. Jane Austen’s use of Romanticism in her literary work, Sense and Sensibility focuses on balancing the needs of society with the needs of the individual. William Wordsworth “We are Seven” is a representation of Romanticism that focuses on nature and imagery as a means of comparison for human emotions. Percy Shelley expresses Romanticism in “Mutability” in a way that portrays the changes that occur in life for which we have no control. These three authors express Romanticism in their literary works, but each of them has a different approach and a different meaning to their story.
Style in the Works of Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary Shelley, and Jane Austen. Chicago: U of
Jane Austen’s Emma and the Romantic Imagination "To see a world in a grain of sand And a heaven in a wild flower Hold infinity in the palm of your hand And eternity in an hour." —William Blake, ‘Auguries of Innocence’ Imagination, to the people of the eighteenth century of whom William Blake and Jane Austen are but two, involves the twisting of the relationship between fantasy and reality to arrive at a fantastical point at which a world can be extrapolated from a single grain of sand, and all the time that has been and ever will be can be compressed into the space of an hour. What is proposed by Blake is clearly ludicrous—it runs against the very tide of reason and sense—and yet the picture that the imagination paints of his verse inspires awe. The human imagination supplies the emotional undercurrents that allows us to see the next wild flower we pass on the side of the road in an entirely different and amazing light. In Austen’s Emma, the imagination is less strenuously taxed because her story of sensibility is more easily enhanced by the imagination, more easily given life than Blake’s abstract vision of the great in the small because Emma is more aesthetically realistic. However, both rely on the fact that "[t]he correspondence of world and subject is at the center of any sensibility story, yet that correspondence is often twisted in unusual and terrifying shapes," (Edward Young, 1741). The heroine of Austen’s novel, Emma Woodhouse, a girl of immense imagination, maintains it by keeping up with her reading and art because, as Young contends, these are the mediums through which imagination is chiefly expressed by manipulating the relationships between the world and the subject at hand. However, even in this, Emma’s imagination falls short. "The soul might have the capacity to take in the ‘world’ or the ‘atom’ if it weren’t for the body’s limitations getting in the way," (Joseph Addison, 1712). As Addison supposes, the limitations of Emma’s body keeps her from seeing the truths that her soul, if let free, would show her. One of these is that Frank Churchill, a handsome and well-bred man, is insincere and fake, while Mr. Knightley truly loves her like no other. In Emma’s love theme, Austen shows us how emotions and imagination can augment each other. "[I]t was…sensibility which originally aroused imagination;…on the other hand…imagination increases and prolongs…sensibility," (Dugald Stewart, 1792).
The connection between Romanticism and nature was said by Marjorie McAtee, to have strengthened with the idealism of folk cultures and customs. Many romantic artists, writers, and philosophers believed in the natural world as a source of strong emotions and philosophies. The artists and philosophers of the romantic period also accentuated the magnificence and loveliness of nature and the power of the natural world (McAtee, Marjorie, and W. Everett. WiseGeek. Conjecture, 03 Mar. 2014. Web. 05 Apr. 2014.) . Mary Shelly and many other writers like William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge were romantic writers who were apprehensive toward nature, human feelings, compassion for mankind, and rebellious against society. Romanticism, which originated in the 18th century, is something that emphasized motivation as well as imagination (Adjective Clause). In Frankenstein, Shelley cautions that the initiation of science and natural rational searching is not only ineffectual, but unsafe. In endeavoring to discover the mysteries of life, Frankenstein assumes that he ...
Romantics often emphasized the beauty, strangeness, and mystery of nature. Romantic writers expressed their intuition of nature that came from within. The key to this inner world was the imagination of the writer; this frequently reflected their expressions of their inner essence and their attitude towards various aspects of nature. It was these attitudes that marked each writer of the Romantic period as a unique being. These attitudes are greatly reflected in the poem “When I Heard the Learned Astronomer” by Walt Whitman.
History is the story and knowledge of the past. There are individuals that are interested by history and wish to study it by learning more. It is very informative to know what has happened in the past for self-knowledge. An individual cannot be naïve to the past including but not limited to how literature came to. One can understand literature more when they understand the time period the author wrote during and the way they wrote. There are several time periods different authors have been through with each period having specific beliefs. Romanticism is the time period that interests me the most; it was a time during the eighteenth century and focused on nature along with the individual’s expression of imagination and emotion.
Throughout the Romanticism period, human’s connection with nature was explored as writers strove to find the benefits that humans receive through such interactions. Without such relationships, these authors found that certain aspects of life were missing or completely different. For example, certain authors found death a very frightening idea, but through the incorporation of man’s relationship with the natural world, readers find the immense utility that nature can potentially provide. Whether it’d be as solace, in the case of death, or as a place where one can find oneself in their own truest form, nature will nevertheless be a place where they themselves were derived from. Nature is where all humans originated,
Within the book Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelley, there are many moments of tragedy and loss, as well as certain moments where joy and love are present. A number of these scenes contain a connection to nature. Since the Romantics viewed Nature as a source of emotional experience and spiritual renewal. However Mary Shelley was not solely a Romantic, she also took literary cues from the Gothic tradition as well. This second impetus also stressed the importance of nature, especially the darker aspects of it. Particularly the rageful and turbulent characteristics of nature, this manner of guiding the emotions using nature is very obvious and abundant in Frankenstein.
Romanticism took different forms in both American and English literature. Although it was demonstrated in a different manner, Romanticism is a movement that began in the early nineteenth century that emphasized personal emotions, free reign of the imagination, and freedom from rules of form. This paper will demonstrate the difference in how Romanticism was expressed in literature in England versus America. For the sake of this paper, Gothic literature will not be included.
Romanticism is an influential literary movement in America that changed literature permanently from the drastically modest and structured ideals of Puritanism. Two contrasting types of authors, Romantics and Dark Romantics, introduce new, meaningful literature to America; while Romantics see the light and airy side of the world, Dark Romantics see the darker more horrific side. This drastically modified literary period is influenced by Europe and was revolutionary for America from the moment it arrived. American Romanticism rejects the normal, rational thought and praises the unpredictability and complexity of emotion. Romanticism has changed American literature forever.
...line of thinking makes perfect sense when we consider Jane Austen's tendency, particularly in Sense and Sensibility, to use her writing as a vehicle for not only entertainment but also instruction. We may view the varying representations of mothers then, not only as examples for Elinor to learn from, but for us as readers as well.
With a new, frightening, and morphing world around them, American authors and poets began a shift in literature style that would forever leave its imprint on bookshelves in the United States and the world. With such influences as the push westward, an influx of immigrants, and a search for spiritual resolution, it is no wonder that the romantic period was born. This movement brought with it many themes such as nature as a refuge, high imagination, and emotional intensity. Also changed during this early 17th century movement was the medium of literature which included poems, short stories, and essays. Needless to say, the romantic period of American literature set the stage for advancements in literature in America to come.
The first of Jane Austen’s published novels, Sense and Sensibility, portrays the life and loves of two very different sisters: Elinor and Marianne Dashwood. The contrast between the sister’s characters results in their attraction to vastly different men, sparking family and societal dramas that are played out around their contrasting romances. The younger sister, Marianne Dashwood, emerges as one of the novel’s major characters through her treatment and characterization of people, embodying of emotion, relationship with her mother and sisters, openness, and enthusiasm.
In her first published novel, Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen brought to life the struggles and instability of the English hierarchy in the early 19th century. Through the heartaches and happiness shared by Elinor Dashwood, who represented sense and her sister Marianne, who stood for sensibility, Austen tells a story of sisters who plummet from the upper class to the lower crust of society and the characters that surround them. Austen juxtaposes the upper and lower classes in English society to give the reader a full understanding of the motivation to be a part of the upper class and the sacrifices one will give up to achieve such status. Austen exposes the corruptness of society, the significance of class and the fundamental building blocks both are to the decision-making surrounding her protagonists, Marianne and Elinor.
Hirsch, E. D. Jr. Wordsworth and Schelling a Typical Study of Romanticism. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1960.
... emotion, nature, and imagination which he used as effective tools in an exploration of humanity and memory, in hopes to reveal the true temperament of the human individual, or the search for the definitive nature, man, and so goes the quest of the romantics, and their focus on the individual; and thus “Nature will not stop writing” (Bloom 131).