Romanticism and realism in the 19th century world

Romanticism and Realism of the 19th Century World

The categories which it has become customary to use in distinguishing and classifying "movements" in literature or philosophy and in describing the nature of the significant transitions which have taken place in taste and in opinion, are far too rough, crude, undiscriminating -- and none of them so hopelessly as the category "Romantic."

-Arthur O. Lovejoy, "On the Discriminations of Romanticisms" (1924)

(as cited from Kreis, 2000)

The Romantic period has little meaning in the way people think is romantic and was more of an artistic, ideological, and philosophic movement in relation to the way the artist viewed them and the world in which they lived in. The period officially ran from 1801-1900 but several earlier works are often associated with the Romantic period.

One of the distinctions of the period is the artist's views on nature and its reflection with a deity or Higher Power such as God. They placed emphasis on the details and the power of nature vs. The old sentiments of live being related as a mechanism. The artist desired to show nature as a system of symbols (a Guide, 2009).

This paper will examine the Romanticism of the 19th Century in regards to the background of the era and the artist's view of nature.

Literature Review

The Romantic Period was a time when the artists, poets, musicians, and others embraced nature as symbolic and full of meaning. They began to associate nature with the presence of a Higher Power or God. It was a time when people in the artistic realm starting looking at the inner world and first person expression. Though politically and socially involved, the Romantics were withdrawn from the public (a Guide, 2009). They were opposed to the injustice of the leading class and showed a spirit of revolution.

The paintings of the Romantic Period were done in watercolor and began to incorporate great detail in the landscape that has been classified as being as beautiful as the scene that was being painted (History of, 2010). The artist began to view the natural beauty that surrounded them and expressed it in their art.

The music of the Romantic Period remains one of the most influential and known musical periods in the history of music. Composers of the era include Beethoven, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Schubert, and others and composed music for the people instead of just for the elite or royal society (Music History, 2010).

The period was known as a time of passion and emotion as the artist began to express their feeling through their works of art. For many nature was where that went to find solace and the imagination is free to roam. The website Huntfor.com, in the article, "Romanticism," signifies the Romantic Period by writing, "It started as an artistic and intellectual movement that emphasized a revulsion against established values (social order and religion). Romanticism exalted individualism, subjectivism, irrationalism, imagination, emotions and nature - emotion over reason and senses over intellect."

Romanticism get its influential start from the philosophical works of Jean Jacques Roesseau, who proclaimed God was present in nature, and led the Romantics to find a new found interest in nature and in human existence (Martilli, 2010). John Constable's pastoral paintings included God in direct involvement with nature to introduce people viewing his art to appreciate nature. The correlation between Constable's paintings and von Goethe in his novel, the Sorrows of Young Werther, depicts the true essence of nature in a pure and real way. During the same timeframe, J.M.W. Turner was creating masterpieces showing nature as being wild and free and William Wordsworth was using the beauty of nature to show the joy of life through stark and detailed descriptions of the nature itself.

Wordsworth's poem, "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud," depicts the very essence of the periods love with nature. His description of the cloud as it travels through the sky along the lake and the details of the daffodils reflect the beauty of the scene to the reader. He accomplishes similar sentiments in "The Stars are Mansions Built by Nature's Hands," where the vivid details pull the reader into the poem and you feel at one with nature.

John Constable showed the same type of attention to detail to gather the appreciation for nature and its beauty. In the "Hay Wain" painting, Constable gives a stark detail of what the area really looked like and instilled great detail in the river and landscape as well as the detail of the cottage. Turner's paintings reflected upon nature from a sometimes more destructive motif and as having awesome power. This is shown in two of his painting: The Slave-ship and Dawn after the Wreck. Both painters show their reverence to nature and the beauty and power associated with it.

Percy Shelley wrote more dismal poems involving death in a majority of them but at the same time he details the scenery around the event in vivid details. One example of this can be seen in the poem, "A Widow Bird Sat Mourning for Her Love." Shelley was a revolutionary and the death of two sons may have contributed to his stark reality with death.

Most of the artists of this period dealt with the use of feeling and emotions in their work. They wanted to express the meaning of life through nature, passion, and emotions. They sought to inspire people through vivid details and strong suggestive images. They sought to change the public's image of the world of life as centered and controlled to the understanding of one's inner self and the relationship between nature and man.

The reality of nature was the inspiration for much of the 19th Century and the nature images in paintings, vivid detailing nature in poems, and in other forms of art to show that nature was the guiding force for the human race. Nature expressed the emotions or the consciousness of the artist with the landscape or the world as seen through his eyes and the way he wanted others to view life. The artists wanted the people to see life in a way different than rational of previous eras.