Romantic writing was a period of time(roughly between 1840-1860) which focused upon many delicate topics such as death, illness, nature, love, romance...etc etc. Romantic authors had very similar beliefs on the surface, but they also differed in numerous ways. They were often broken into two groups, light romantics, who focused upon the ‘light’ or goodness in the world, and the dark romantics, who focused on the ‘dark’ or evil things. For example, these authors both had a respect for nature, but light romantics differed in their belief that humans are naturally good. There is a definite association between some beliefs, and there is definite opposition in some areas as well. Both light and dark romantics share beliefs and disagree on beliefs. …show more content…
First, their views on human nature. Light romantics believe that every human is naturally good, and can be a good person. As shown by Ralph Waldo Emerson in his essay Self-Reliance,”Trust thyself; every heart vibrates to that iron string.” (Emerson 184). This shows that he believed you should trust yourself, at heart you know the right thing to do. Many dark romantics dispute this thought. In his story The Devil and Tom Walker, Washington Irving writes “Tom consoled himself for the loss of his property with the loss of his wife,”. In the story, Tom Walker cares more about the loss of his property than the loss of his wife, in fact, he is happy she is dead! He also shows many other characters to be bad people, who have even stricken a deal with the devil! Obviously, he believes humans are greedy and evil
To start with, Romanticism was the first writing movement of the nineteenth century. It originated at the close of the eighteenth century in Europe, but was popular from the 1800s to 1850s. This movement was a revolt against the political and social standards of the Age of Enlightenment and a reaction to the reasoning of nature through science. Romanticism’s characteristics came from philosophical sources and, because it is a reaction against reasoning, it focuses on intuition, nature, and human emotions. The philosophical background of this movement came from an author named Jean-Jacques Rousseau who emphasized the individual and the power of inspiration. Romanticism later then broke off into another two movements called Parnassian and Realism.
Romanticism is a revolt against rationalism. The poets and authors of this time wrote about God, religion, and Beauty in nature. The romantics held a conviction that imagination and emotion are superior to reason. One such author is William Cullen Bryant, he wrote the poem Inscription for the Entrance to a Wood. This poem uses many literary devices, and has a strong message to portray to the reader.
A story of this genre is never sugarcoated and instead will be extravagantly presented with unconventional situations. Romanticism allows both the author and reader to imagine life unrealistically with no repercussions and there are no limits when it comes to writing. Romantics take a moral or lesson and weave complex images to skirt around the main topic, but ultimately get the job done in the
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.
The Romantics were a time of revolution, revolt, and change. In this time period, extraordinary pieces of literature came to be. Numerous works of arts erupting from this time period, were based around philosophy. To romantics, philosophy was the love of wisdom, or a whole new way to look at and experience the world. Robert Burns is considered a first generation writer of the romantic era.
Romanticism was a reaction to the Enlightenment as a cultural movement, an aesthetic style, and an attitude of mind (210). Culturally, Romanticism freed people from the limitations and rules of the Enlightenment. The music of the Enlightenment was orderly and restrained, while the music of the Romantic period was emotional. As an aesthetic style, Romanticism was very imaginative while the art of the Enlightenment was realistic and ornate. The Romanticism as an attitude of mind was characterized by transcendental idealism, where experience was obtained through the gathering and processing of information. The idealism of the Enlightenment defined experience as something that was just gathered.
Previously, in Literature class, My peers and I read an excerpt from a chapter titled "The Myth of Romantic Love" from the book titled The Road Less Traveled by Dr. Scott Peck. The author acknowledges that the myth of romantic love that we've all seen in movies as young children, is a lie. This doesn't mean that we will never find love, but it won't come as easily as we see it in movies. Unfortunately, this idea of romantic love can be found in movies as well as in music. Sometimes, you may not realize that you're holding on to this idea of romantic love. Some people only realize after a hard breakup or divorce that they were holding on to the common romantic love scenarios.
In the late eighteenth century, a movement spread throughout the world that was known as the Romantic Era. The works of authors, artists, and musicians were influenced by emotions and imagination. Characters in literature during that time period heavily relied on impulses to guide them in their decisions. Whether it is the logical choice or not, they followed their hearts instead. The image that Romanticism created was one of a perfect, unrealistic lifestyle because of the worship to the beauty of nature and human emotions. Although some romantic plays ended in a tragedy, it was due to the emotions that we are capable of feeling. Romanticism promoted the idea that people should follow their hearts. This, however, gradually came to an end in the mid-19th-century.
Romantics believed in freedom and spontaneous creativity rather than order and imitation, they believed people should think for themselves instead of being bound to the fixed set of beliefs of the Enlightenment. Romanticism and Love Of all the emotions celebrated by the Romantics, the most popular was love. However, Romanticism should not be confused with romantic love in the sense of candle lit dinners and receiving love notes, flowers and boxes of candy. Instead, it was about a love for nature and beauty, and a sense of all human beings having a connection, empathy was heightened for others in which they brought on feeling the pains of other people in the world. To the Romantics love, which invokes compassion, was a natural God-given right.
The Romantic period has many beginnings and takes different forms; so that in a celebrated essay, On the Discrimination of Romanticism (1924), A.O. Lovejoy argued that the word “Romantic” should no longer be used, since it has come to mean so many things that by itself, it means nothing. On the derivation of the word “Romanticism” we have definite and commonly accepted information which helps us to understand its meaning. Critics and literary historians differ widely and sometimes as violently, about the answer then have differed about love truth and other concepts. Romanticism is concerned with all these concepts and with others with equal importance. It is an attitude toward life and experience older than religion, as permanent as love, and as many-sided as truth. (Watson, J.R. English Poetry of the Romantic Period, Longman Inc. New York)
To the Romantics, the imagination was important. It was the core and foundation of everything they thought about, believed in, and even they way they perceived God itself. The leaders of the Romantic Movement were undoubtedly Samuel Taylor Coleridge and his close friend, William Wordsworth. Both were poets, and both wrote about the imagination. Wordsworth usually wrote about those close to nature, and therefore, in the minds of the Romantics, deeper into the imagination than the ordinary man. Coleridge, however, was to write about the supernatural, how nature extended past the depth of the rational mind.
The Romantic Period was a very imaginative and creative period of thinking. The literature produced during this period reflected this wild and free-spirited imagination. The works dismissed the Enlightenment thinkers in their claims of "Reason, progress, and universal truths" (Damrosch, 1317). Instead, these writers explored superstitions and had a renewed sense of passion for the wild, the unfamiliar, the irregular, and the irrational (Damrosch, 1317). Other common elements of the writing during this period were the returned interest of gothic romance elements, a fascination of exploring the inner world of the mind and the unconscious into its dark side, an interest in emotional adventures in exotic and remote times and places, an interest in the outcast people in society (outlaws, rebels, nonconformists, exiles, etc.), and an interest in characters performing dangerous self-explorations that take them to hell, and not always back (Agatucci, 1&3).
First, let’s give a little bit of overview about the British and American romance definitions. The British defined Romanticism as “a fascination with youth and innocence as well as a questioning of authority.” Also, “changing tradition for idealistic purposes and an adaptation to change.” p. The American poets defined Romanticism as “a school of thought that valued feelings and intuition over reason.” p. 143. “A Journey away from the corruption of civilization and the limits of rational thought and toward the integrity of nature and the freedom of imagination.” p. 142. American romance also showed a great respect to youth and innocence, just like that of the British. One of the very active British poets of this time, William Blake, wrote a very good poem called “The Chimney Sweeper from Songs of Innocence”, and the following is a quote from the poem, “Though the morning was cold, Tom was happy and warm,
Romanticism spawned in the late 18th century and flourished in the early and mid-19th century. Romanticism emphasized the irrational, the imaginative, the personal, the spontaneous, the emotional, the visionary, the transcendental, and the individual. Romanticism is often viewed as a rejection of the ideologies of Classicism and Neoclassicisms, namely calm, order, harmony, idealization, rationality and balance. Some characteristics of Romanticism include: emotion over reason, senses over intellect, love for nature, use of the hero and the exceptional figure in general, emphasis of imagination being the gateway to spiritual truth, and an interest in folk culture. Romanticism was preceded by related developments in the med-18th century referred to as “Pre-Romanticism”. One Pre-Romantic style was medieval romance, which is where Romanticism gets its name from. The medieval romance was a tale that emphasized the exotic, the mysterious, and individual heroism. This style contrasted the then prevalent classical forms of literature such as the French Neoclassical Tragedy. But this new emotional literary expression would be a key part of literature during the Romantic Era (Britannica). Literature during the Romantic Era was influenced by politics and major historical events and social reforms, religion, science, economics, and art and music.
The word "romance" in romanticism is not in the sense of hearts and flowers or infatuation but rather, we use "romance" in the sense of glorification. (Esaak, 1) Romanticism emphasizes on inspiration, subjectivity, and the importance of the human individual. It praises imagination over reason, emotions over logic, and intuition over science. (“The Romantic Era” 1) Romanticism started to develop in the late 18th century early 19th century in Europe. It emerged as a response to the disillusionment with the Enlightenment values of reason and order and partly a reaction due to the Industrial Revolution. This movement also appealed to those in opposition of Calvinism, which involved the belief that the universe and all the events within it are subject to the power of God. Romanticism was so prominent in the 19th century they even called it the “the romantic era”