Contrasting Neo-Classic and Pre-Romantic Literature
Neo-classicist writers placed great emphasis on taking a practical approach to life and their writing, focusing often on logic, science, and technology, and preferring not to employ frivolous embellishments or reflect on the abstract. They wanted unadorned fact whereas the romantics favored a more creatively inclined form of expression (Anderson et al. 1). Before the romantics began, however, pre-romanticism edged in slowly, acting as the bridge between an era of unpolluted logic and another defined by emotion.
Pre-romanticism’s presence was actually felt during the same age as neo-classicism, as its contemporary, not its successor, yet still there is an assortment of differences despite their shared environment (Grebanier 325).
Neo-classicism was marked by the matter-of-fact views of the Puritans and often included a certain amount of sententiousness within both poetry and prose. Just as the English Protestants of the seventeenth century regarded luxury as errant and relied on a firm hierarchy, neo-classicists chose to look at the world in a sensible and conservative manner and held a social hierarchy in high esteem (Anderson et al. 690, Literature 571). Moderation and temperance were both fashionable, for they facilitated conformity, which was prized over individual deviation. For example, Alexander Pope’s “The Rape of the Lock” criticizes the absurd overindulgences and frivolity of high society, blatantly suggesting a more practical alternative, all the while framing the satire in the classical allusions that define neo-classicism (Anderson et al. 846).
The age was one of realism and could be described as a mature period of literature, for its contributors were ...
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...sical world of yore for years, it comes as no surprise that many were hungry for a literary style that could feel an uncontrolled delight in living, demanding the sensuous and the sensitive over the cold and the unaffected. The repression neo-classicism offered brought about its own demise in the form of literary revolutionaries.
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Ward & Trent, et al. The Cambridge History of English and American Literature. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1907–21; New York: Bartleby.com, 2000
Ward & Trent, et al. The Cambridge History of English and American Literature. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1907–21; New York: Bartleby.com, 2000
In the late eighteenth century arose in literature a period of social, political and religious confusion, the Romantic Movement, a movement that emphasized the emotional and the personal in reaction to classical values of order and objectivity. English poets like William Blake or Percy Bysshe Shelley seen themselves with the capacity of not only write about usual life, but also of man’s ultimate fate in an uncertain world. Furthermore, they all declared their belief in the natural goodness of man and his future. Mary Shelley is a good example, since she questioned the redemption through the union of the human consciousness with the supernatural. Even though this movement was well known, none of the British writers in fact acknowledged belonging to it; “.”1 But the main theme of assignment is the narrative voice in this Romantic works. The narrator is the person chosen by the author to tell the story to the readers. Traditionally, the person who narrated the tale was the author. But this was changing; the concept of unreliable narrator was starting to get used to provide the story with an atmosphere of suspense.
Ward & Trent, et al. The Cambridge History of English and American Literature. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1907–21; New York: Bartleby.com, 2000
Ward & Trent, et al. The Cambridge History of English and American Literature. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1907–21; New York: Bartleby.com, 2000
Martin Luther King and Malcolm X were both African American civil rights leaders wanting to bring freedom to black people during the 1960s. Even though both leaders wanted to liberate black people; their philosophies were drastically different. Malcolm X was wanted racial separation, while Martin Luther King wanted to both races to coexist. Religion is also a major part of this situation because most African Americans including MLK in America were Christian while Malcolm X’s goal was to turn all people who follow his path to convert into Muslims. Martin Luther King’s philosophy would’ve made more sense to 1960s America because most people who wanted freedom in society would rather consider coexisting than more racial
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.
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Damrosch, David, et al., ed. The Longman Anthology of British Literature: Vol. B. Compact ed. New York: Longman - Addison Wesley Longman, 2000. p. 2256
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Literature: The British Tradition. Ed. Roger Babusci etal. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1994. 69-79.
Toward the end of the eiteenth-century, Romanticism emerged as a response to Classicism. Even though this change was gradual, it transformed everything from art and philosophy to education and science. While the Classicsts thought of the world as having a rigid and stern structure, the romanticists thought of the world as a place to express their ideas and believes. The Romaniticists and Classicsts differed in their views of the relationship between an individual and society, their views of nature and the relationship between reason and imagination.
The Web. The Web. 9 Dec. 2010. http://go.galegroup.com/ps/aboutEbook.do?pubDate=119880000&actionString=DO_DISPLAY_ABOUT_PAGE&inPS=true&prodId=LitRG&userGroupName=west89013tgps&searchType=AdvancedSearchForm&docId=GALE%7C0KTB>. - - -. “Literature Criticism from 1400 to 1800.”