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Influence of the romantic literary period
Romanticism importance in literature
Romanticism importance in literature
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For many, saying or hearing the word romanticism evokes numerous stereotypical and prejudged definitions and emotions. The biggest reason this probably happens is because of how closely romanticism sounds like romance. The similarity of the sounds and spelling of the two words can lead to some thinking that the two words mean the same thing or are closely related. Although romanticism and romance do share some similarities in their spelling and pronunciation they couldn’t be more different. In the Merriam Webster Dictionary romance is defined as, “a love story”. The Romantic Period was not necessarily a time of true romance and love stories, although love was written about, but was instead a time of extreme emotion expressed in many different ways. One of the many ways emotion was expressed was through the use of supernatural and gothic literature and a lot of it contained horrific subject matter for the time it was written, making it anything but romantic. Expressions of thought and emotion were shown through horror and the supernatural just as much as emotion was expressed through love and romance. Many of the authors during the Romantic period submitted works, “dealing with the supernatural, the weird, and the horrible” (Britannica Online Encyclopedia). In many ways, gothic tales of horror and suspense defined the Romantic period just as much as any other type of literature at the time. Many of the great Romantic authors wrote gothic literature at some point in their literary careers and some even created their literary legacies, perhaps unintentionally, with their tales of horror and suspense. One of the most notable authors during the Romantic period that is well known today for creating one of the greatest literary ... ... middle of paper ... ... New York: Fall River, 2008. Ix-Xii. Print. Hellraiser. Dir. Clive Barker. Perf. Ashley Laurence and Doug Bradley. New World Pictures, 1987. DVD. "Herman Melville Quotes." Quotes and Quotations at BrainyQuote. Web. 3 Dec. 2010. . Huston, Kristin N. "Percy Shelley and Lord Byron." UMKC Campus, Kansas City. 20 Sept. 2010. Lecture. Huston, Kristin N. "Romanticism." UMKC Campus, Kansas City. 25 Aug. 2010. Lecture. "Romance." Def. 3. The Merriam Webster Dictionary. 11th ed. Springfield: Merriam-Webster, Incorporated, 2004. 630. Print. "Romanticism -- Britannica Online Encyclopedia." Encyclopedia - Britannica Online Encyclopedia. Web. 3 Dec. 2010. . Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft. Frankenstein. New York: Barnes & Noble Classics, 2003. Print.
Gothic Literature was a natural progression from romanticism, which had existed in the 18th Century. Initially, such a ‘unique’ style of literature was met with a somewhat mixed response; although it was greeted with enthusiasm from members of the public, literary critics were much more dubious and sceptical.
“Lord Byron.” Gale Contextual Encyclopedia of World Literature. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 2009: 269-272. Student Resources in Context. Web. 25 Mar. 2014.
Throughout history, several intellectual and cultural movements have shaped the way that humanity thinks and, subsequently, the formation of our modern society as a whole. Perhaps one of the most remarkable of these movements is simply known as Gothicism. An offshoot of the movement known as Romanticism, the emergence of Gothicism introduced unconventional literary tropes for its time and it introduced many legendary novelists, poets, and storytellers whose works continue to inspire modern authors today.
Spiegelman, Willard. "Revolutionary Romanticism." The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company, Aug. 2009. Web. Mar. 2014. http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052970204119704574236393080650258
Edgar Allen Poe notes, “Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before.” Poe is renowned for composing many successful works under the gothic literature category. Gothic works are characterized by the certain elements combined from both horror and romanticism. Various elements of gothic literature are presented in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus, as well as The Phantom of the Opera.
Mary Shelley’s work, Frankenstein, and Edgar Allen Poe’s, “The Masque of the Red Death,” combine precise environment, society, and character description to formulate works of literature that contrast the finesse and light themes of romantic works. Specifically, auroras of mystery and suspense, grandeur and eerie setting, imperfect society, and character flaws develop into classic pieces of gothic romantic literature.
There have been many movements in Romantic Literature, Romanticism being one. Despite the idea that romanticism is an outdated literary form, romantic literature is very important to English Literature; no other period in English Literature shows the type of style, theme, or contain information like how the Romantic movement was. Romanticism was virtually around in every country of the US, Europe, Latin America and it lasted from 1750-1870. Romanticism gave a rise to a new type of literature it was an exercise of free choice in peoples lives. Romantic Orientalism brought together two concepts and among the two concepts, theorists and literary historians were dispute. Romanticism saw a movement from faith in reason to faith in senses, feelings, and imagination.
The Romantic Movement was a time of huge changes in the values of many humans. It was a movement during the late 1700's-early mid 1800's that had totally opposite values to the values of the enlightenment and industrial revolution. The Romanticism Movement started as a reaction to the age of enlightenment and industrial revolution. The age of enlightenment was all about science, logic, and progressing technology which led to the industrial revolution. The industrial revolution took on the values of the age of enlightenment, making huge progresses in technology, however that being done in the exchange of destroying nature. On the other hand, romantics went totally against these values. Romantics believed in individual freedom, nature, art, and feelings and emotions. The contrasting values of the Romantic Movement and the age of enlightenment are shown through the characteristics that are in Romantic Literature. For example, in romantic literature, there is value of nature while the industrial revolution only destroyed nature. There is also value of human feelings, emotions and behaviour in romantic novels-the enlightenment valued logic and science, being totally opposite from each other. Imagination and individual freedom are other concept shown in romantic novels while the enlightenment valued science and a place in society. Using these characteristics, Mary Shelly makes Frankenstein a piece of Romantic literature.Specifically, she uses the ideals of nature, emotions and feelings and knowledge being harmful to express the values of the romanticism in this novel, Frankenstein.
The period of the gothic novel, in which the key gothic texts were produced, is commonly considered to be roughly between 1760 and 1820. A period that extended from what is accepted as the first gothic novel, Horace Walpoles The Castle of Otranto ( 1764 ), to Charles Maturins Melmoth the Wanderer ( 1820 ) and included the first edition of Mary Shelleys Frankenstein in 1818. In general, the gothic novel has been associated with a rebellion against constraining neoclassical aesthetic ideals of order and unity, in order to recover a suppressed primitive and barbaric imaginative freedom ( Kilgour, 1995, p3 ). It is also often considered to be a premature ( and thus somewhat crude ) manifestation of the emerging values of Romanticism. Although the gothic genre is somewhat shadowy and difficult to define it can be seen as having a number of characteristics or conventions which can be observed in Frankenstein including stereotypical settings, characters and plots, an interest in the sublime, the production of excessive emotion in the reader ( particularly that of terror and horror), an emphasis on suspense, the notion of the double and the presence of the supernatural. (Kilgour, 1995; Botting, 1996 ; Byron, 1998 : p71 )
The Dark Romantics or Gothic Fiction was part of the Romanticism Movement that emphasized the use of primitive, medieval, wild and mysterious elements including supernatural events and horrifying situations. The Dark Romantics took place in the eighteen hundreds and started as a reaction to the Transcendentalists, but did not entirely embrace the ideas of Transcendentalism. The Dark Romantic works were less optimistic than the transcendental works that believed that knowledge could be arrived at not just through the senses, but also through intuition and contemplation of the internal spirit. The Romantics took on a shadowy approach to the fantastical with the use of creepy symbols, horrific themes, and psychological effects of guilt and sin.
When many hear “Romanticism” they think of love, but Romanticism isn’t mainly about love. Yes, it may have some love, but it’s also about reasoning, nature, imaginations, and individualism. Like American Romanticism, that occurred from 1830 – 1865. It was actually caused by Washington Irving and James Fenimore Cooper. For Americans, “it was a time of excitement over human possibilities, and of individual ego. American writers didn’t know what “America” could possibly mean in terms of literature, which was American and not British. It questioned their identity and place in society, creatively” (Woodlief). It was characterized by an interest in nature, and the significance of the individual’s expression on emotion and imagination; good literature should have heart, not rules. Some of the most famous authors who wrote during American Romanticism were Nathaniel Hawthorne, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Henry David Thoreau, and Ralph Waldo Emerson. American Romanticism is important because it was the “historical period of literature in which modern readers most began to see their selves and their own conflicts and desires”. Romanticism was a literary revolution.
Romanticism which is an artistic, music, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe in the late 18th century. Romanticism was between realistic and imaginary. Often Romanticism is tied to the emphasis on women and children, the respect to nature, and the criticism to the history. Individual expressions are very important in Romanticism as well.
Romanticism played a large role in the creation of gothic literature, and it was considered to be “a lunatic fringe version of romanticism” (Tiffin). Gothic novels often had a powerful unleashing of emotions to very extreme levels “beyond social constraining” (Tiffin). The genre’s character often had an excess of a specific type (Tiffin), and in an analysis of Frankenstein and Northanger Abbey, this excess can be seen in Frankenstein’s ambition and Catherine’s curiosity.
The definition of Dark Romanticism varies. It is used by different people in diverse situations. Some may describe it as a Gothic novel from the eighteenth -century while others remember the word being used to describe pop music from the 60’s and 70’s. Consulting a dictionary to find the actual meaning of the word, it was a surprise to not find the term “Dark Romanticism”. However the terms “dark” and “romantic” were there. The definitions gave an understanding that the term Dark Romanticism is in fact, a contradiction. The dictionary stated that dark romantic may be sentiment...
I bet since you read the topic of my paper that you think that this will be a “kissy kissy, lovey gooey” story about two British and American lovebirds. Well, the truth is that it’s not, in fact, it is totally different! The word “romance” has changed very much since our ancestral fathers had defined it. Unfortunately, I cannot write about Valentines Day, and things pertaining to that, but I will tell you how romance used to be and what exactly romance was like before modern day life changed the definition. So now, I’ll explain the differences, as well as the similarities between the British and American Romance.