Romanticism Essays (Examples)

Romanticism Some Historians and Literary

Russian writers like Pushkin, Lermontov and Turgenev experienced with the symbols of Romanticism as they inevitably reached the remotest literary fecund corners of the continent. Turgenev lived in Europe for a while, at the very heart of Romanticism and his translated literary works received the acclaim of the critics and were welcomed by the public as well, showing him as an artist who became an integral part of the scene and not as an exotic outsider.

Lermontov, one of the most valuable poets of the Russian literature, remained an obscure writer for the rest of the world for a long time because of the poor translations of his literary works. Pushkin, who shared the same tragic death with Lermontov, was considered the genius of the Russian literature and after his works had found proper translations, he took his deserved place as one of the greatest poets of the universal literature…… [Read More]

Romanticism A Disdain for the Unities of

Romanticism: A disdain for the unities of form and the embrace of the unities of genre

The integral relationship between the visual and verbal genres of the Romantic period of letters is perhaps one of its most striking aspects. Poetry and painting in particular seemed to be fused in a homogenous blend of intense individualism, emphasis on naturalism, and a stress upon spontaneous human feeling, with all of its imperfections. One of Romanticism's earliest literary progenitors, illiam Blake, perhaps most perfectly embodies this aspect of Romantic artistic philosophy. Blake illustrated his theological poems with strikingly drawn and painted figures from the Bible. To appreciate the artist's work in its totality, and his individualistic theological point-of-view, one must observe the poem in the form it was originally designed, as paired with the author's illustrations.

However, this integral relationship between the visual art of painting and the verbal art of poetry is…… [Read More]

Romanticism American Romantic Poet and Author Edgar

omanticism

American omantic poet and author Edgar Allan Poe

Poe is one of the early American poets of omantic literature. In the poem Annabel Lee he uses idealism in omance language to describe a relationship with a woman in first person. A description of the adult lovers as children most likely represent innocence or naivety. The omanticism comes in by comparing the couple to elements of nature. The love that the two share is free from societal norms or influence. The joy of just being together and sharing themselves with one another is so great that even angels were envious of them.

The way that Poe wrote the literary prose is very rhythmic much like the movement of waves in the ocean. This imagery ebbs and flows as one reads the lines. The poem also has a dreamlike quality to appearing surreal or supernatural. In the world of Poe and…… [Read More]

Romanticism and Rousseau Books 1-6

He shifts from the instinctual world of the emotions to a cerebral existence, and loses a sense of what is truly meaningful in life. In Romantic thinking, which also idealized a pastoral, earthy lifestyle, being separated from the world of the emotions was seen as negative. Rousseau describes his feelings for books as a child as a kind of romance, and he felt equally as intensely about Ovid's Metamorphosis and the characters in Moliere's plays as he did about aspects of his real existence. But his imitation of Greeks and Romans, which some people might admire as precocious, Rousseau sees as false, much like the false dogmatism of many Catholics, which he chronicles in Book 2, regarding his theological education. Anything that takes a person away from nature was negative, according to the Romantics: Rousseau describes a rustic feast as better than fine Parisian fare, and sees the beauty and…… [Read More]

Romanticism and Romantic Poetry Was a Combination

Romanticism and Romantic poetry was a combination of personal philosophy and vision of the world and also a reflection of the times. In many ways we can understand Romantic poetry as a reaction to the rise of science and materialism and the denial by society of the importance of nature and imagination.

The Romantic writers' reaction against conventional views was largely determined by their opposition to the emerging rational and mechanical views of reality that was becoming dominant. Reason and science were replacing the imaginative and poetic view of life. The Romantic poets opposed the increasingly mechanical and scientific world and one of the ways that they expressed their opposition can be seen in the adoration of nature.

In this view nature acts as a symbol of freedom from the constraints of hard reason under which, as both lake and Wordsworth state, all human beings labor. Many Romantic poets like…… [Read More]

Romanticism Slavery the Story of

" By simultaneously freeing most of the southern slaves and permitting their admittance into the armed forces, Lincoln provided some indication of his underlying motives. One main reason for the Emancipation Proclamation was that it formally welcomed a very willing fighting force amid the Union ranks.

Slavery, however, could not be eradicated so easily. Although it became illegal for one individual to be in servitude of another without pay, the southern states orchestrated a myriad of segregation statutes, or "Jim Crow" laws, which ensured the privileged positions of white Americans while trampling the rights of blacks. "In bulk and detail as well as in effectiveness of enforcement the segregation codes were comparable with the black codes of the old regime, though the laxity that mitigated the harshness of the black codes was replaced by a rigidity that was more typical of the segregation code." Essentially, black Americans were formally ostracized…… [Read More]

Romanticism and Realism of the

He accomplishes similar sentiments in "The Stars are Mansions uilt 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. oth 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…… [Read More]

Romanticism & Neoclassical Painting Jacques-

" The work also shows sensitivity to the emotional side of life by its stress upon the political reformers' upbringing as one of motherly virtue and love, not simply manly heroism.

Discussion 2

Although the depiction of the beheading of a U.S. solider may be awful it is not an avante guard image of the war. To be avante guard is not the same thing as being anti-war. The image may stir the public's outrage and make Americans ask 'why are we fighting' but it does not humanize either the soldier or the Iraqi people. In fact, it dehumanizes the fighting man, as he is deprived even of the dignity of having a face and identity that his loved ones back home could recognize as human, and it dehumanizes the Iraqi people because it shows them as senseless killers. Truly radical images of war show not simply blood and violence,…… [Read More]

Romanticism in Keats' Ode to

He thinks of leaving "the world unseen/and with the fade away into the forest dim" (19-20) and tells the bird that he "will fly to thee" (31) on the wings of poetry itself. Life and death are immersed in the song of the nightingale as the poet wrestles with his imagination.

Ode to a Nightingale" would not be Romantic in nature with out its attention to the poet and his awareness of his own sesibilities. It emphasizes, if not depends, on the senes - most notably the senses of hearing and sight - to be understood. The poet's imagination is captured by the song and, because of his experience - not the bird itself, he trancends this world. He writes, "In some melodious plot/of beechen green, and shadows numberless,/Singest of summer in full-throated ease" (8-10). The poem also examinies the beauty of nature by focusing on this simple song of…… [Read More]

Romanticism in Most of Edgar

He is a selfish man who cares only about his well-being and nothing about others who are dying from the red death. However, there are also literary scholars who say that this story is much more than what it appears to be. Poe may have meant something quite different about Prospero's actions.

Says Canada, for example, while literary scholars have analyzed all of these aspects of Poe's work, they have studied many more, as well. "Of particular interest is Poe's fascination with psychology. An outspoken admirer of phrenology, a pseudoscience based on the premise that various functions are controlled by specific regions of the brain, he tirelessly explored subjects such as self-destruction, madness."

Some critics argue instead that Poe's story had a religious motive, because Poe is often seen as a philosophical-religious writer who expounds on the conditions of salvation and psychological reconciliation to the will of God (Wagenknecht, 217;…… [Read More]

Romanticism a Fair Term The Period Between

Romanticism a Fair Term?

The period between the French Revolution (1789) and the first two decades of the 1800s has been called the "Age of Romanticism." The mature work, specifically of English Romantic authors, covers the years of 1789 through 1823. By its' nature using an "ism" to classify a group of work by a number of authors limits discussion. An "ism" also implies that all of the authors fit into a nice, neat category. Many of the authors in Britain did have similar views of the world and similar styles of writing, but to apply the term Romanticism to all of these writers oversimplifies the work that these authors did. It is unfair to blindly use Romanticism to explain the writing of all these authors.

To have a reasonable discussion of the fairness of the term Romanticism, a good starting point is the dictionary definition of romantic. According to…… [Read More]

Romanticism Transcendentalists Differed Romanticism Irving Hawthorne Poe

Romanticism Transcendentalists differed Romanticism Irving, Hawthorne, Poe, Melville. Cite specific examples support answer

Romanticism has had a great influence over nineteenth century literature, considering the wide range of writers who produced works in accordance with this current. However, as Romanticism progressed, it contributed to creating Transcendentalism. The former primarily focused on the internal aspects of individuals, as Romantics often related to the importance of concepts like sentiments and freedom. In contrast, Transcendentalism concentrated on ideas that dealt with external influences on the individual's mind. Transcendentalists took on a more revolutionary attitude and expressed great interest in having the public acknowledge American values while also appreciating the importance of progress alongside of these respective values.

Herman Melville is probably one of the most ardent supporters of Romanticism in a context involving the current's comparison with Transcendentalism. Even with the fact that the writer believed that Transcendentalism was far less complex than…… [Read More]

Romanticism No Other Period in English Literature

omanticism

No other period in English literature displays more variety in style, theme, and content than the omantic Movement of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Furthermore, no period has been the topic of so much disagreement and confusion over its defining principles and aesthetics. omanticism is often described as a large network of sometimes competing philosophies, agendas, and points of interest. These philosophies are often very contentious and controversial, as is the case with Walt Whitman. In England, omanticism had its greatest influence from the end of the eighteenth century up through about 1870. Its primary vehicle of expression was in poetry, although novelists adopted many of the same themes. In America, the omantic Movement was slightly delayed and modulated. Contrary to the English example, American literature championed the novel as the most fitting genre for omanticism's exposition. Walt Whitman however, extensively used poetry to express sexual themes and controversial…… [Read More]

Romanticism Art Help Roger Fry

All of the styles inspired by the Romantic current can be clearly traced from the Formalist point-of-view, as they had in common the use of image itself, leaving meaning and content to a secondary design.

In the poetry and literature world, the Romantic period was a chance to explore the inner feelings of the artist, the development of his own soul and thoughts, where the author is the hero of the story, indirectly even, in autobiographical and confessional works. In the world of visual expression, the Romanticism moved the importance from the mimetic perspective to a more expressive characteristic, and the art work was weighed in its capacity to transmit emotions and feelings rather than communicate a messages.

It also promoted the idea that universal human behavior was more interesting than individual human activities. This means that in Romantic literature heroes are very varied and different, the characters presented as…… [Read More]

Romanticism as a Reaction to the Enlightenment

European Enlightenment: The Revolution of Romanticism

The European Enlightenment has often been described as a resurgence of interest in classical learning and a belief in the value of rationality as a way of explaining the ways in which the world worked. One of the most popular philosophies during the Enlightenment was Deism, which viewed the universe as a kind of a clock that had been set into motion by a divine being but which then operated according to the principles of the universe, not the careful surveillance of God. Deism and other Enlightenment philosophies had their roots in the scientific revelations of "Galileo, Kepler, and, especially, Newton" which "resulted in a vision of the world that was remarkably orderly and precise in its adherence to universal mathematical laws" (Staloff). This later was extended to political philosophy. Enlightenment era philosophers such as John Locke maintained that all human beings, regardless of…… [Read More]

Individuals and Society Romanticism Was Not Only

Individuals and Society

omanticism was not only a literary movement that emphasized tragedy but it was the one that praised the misfits and gave them the cult status that we may associate with people like Marilyn Mason today. In those days, being a social misfit was in vogue or so it appeared from some very well-known novels including the Sorrows of Young Werther, Frankenstein and Black Elk Speaks. All these books explore the intricate connection of individual with the society and depict the 'outcast-ness' of the central omantic characters. While not all the leading characters of this era exhibited negativity that surrounded Frankenstein still most of them displayed abhorrence for the normal social order which resulted in their expulsion from the mainstream social circles. In this connection, Werther, the central character from The Sorrows of Young Werther serves as an adequate example of a classic omantic misfit. He was madly…… [Read More]

American Romanticism the Literary Movement

Henry David Thoreau also senses this loss of distinction. His book, Walden, published in 1854 at the height of American Romanticism, celebrates his return to Nature -- a sanctum of non-artificiality -- where Romantic writers sought knowledge and spiritual fulfillment. Walden is a key work of American Romanticism because of its embedded ideas of solitude, individualism, pantheism and intuition. Thematically rich, Walden tackles the importance of self-reliance, solitude, contemplation and closeness to nature -- all of which form the path towards a sort of enlightenment represented by transcendentalism -- the capacity to transcend the realm of mundane existence and society. Aside from providing precious autobiographical material, Walden offers social critique of contemporary Western culture, marked by a materialist perspective and the destruction of nature.

As mentioned before, American Romantics focus on self-reliant individualism. Perhaps the best example of the theme of self-reliance is to be found in merson's eponymous essay.…… [Read More]

Sorrows of Young Werther Romanticism

Werther and Self Deception

omanticism was deeply interested in creating art and literature of suffering, pain and self-pity. With poets pining for a love long gone and dead and authors falling for unavailable people, it appears that romantics in literature were primarily concerned with self-injury and delusion. In Goethe's novel "The Sorrows of Young Werther," we find another romantic character fulfilling his tragic destiny by falling victim to extreme self-deception.

Werther's story may appear simple and even trite to some- a young man falls in love with a woman he can never be with and deludes himself into believing that she loves him too only to be severely disappointed in the end. When nothing is left to look forward to, Werther kills himself. Durkheim describes this type of suicide as egoistic suicide where a person kills himself to make other people feel sorry. "Egoistic suicide," Durkheim writes, "results from man's…… [Read More]

Life and Death in Romanticism the Romantics

Life and Death in Romanticism

The Romantics were a group of writers and artists who desired to see a return to beauty in the world. The imagery they used was designed to elicit strong emotion in their audience. Like all literary or artistic movements, there were a series of unspoken rules about what could and could not be included in a Romantic work. One such theme was the parallel between life and death and the thin line that separates the two. Mary Shelley and John Keats were both writers of the Romantic era and their works in tandem reflect the understanding of the limitations of an earthly existence. Both authors led fairly traumatic lives, losing parents at young ages and were haunted by the specter of death throughout their lives. These questions about life and death and the nature of existence were no doubt influenced by the popularity of metaphysical…… [Read More]

Enlightenment Romanticism and Gothic Literature

The supernatural is defining feature of gothic genres of gothic and horror. Supernatural motifs are also integral to Romanticism, especially as the supernatural is counterpoint to the natural. Romanticism reveals an uneasy relationship between science and nature. Science reveals nature and demystifies it, essentially taking God out of the question and leading to a “crisis of religious faith,” (Sanders 1). Focusing on the supernatural in literature, authors in both Old World and New externalized their anxieties about losing faith and losing connection with the predictability of organized religion. Science might yield absolute and measurable truths about nature but fails utterly to assuage the deeper anxieties in the human experience. Romantic and gothic literatures unearth those anxieties and clothe them in supernatural and disturbing imagery. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Washington Irving’s “Rip Van Winkle,” and Edgar Allen Poe’s “Fall of the House of Usher,” the natural and the supernatural are inextricably…… [Read More]

Romanticism

omanticism

"omance," "omanticism" and "omantic" are three related words frequently utilized rather loosely by literature readers and hence requiring some clear definition. The most important fact is these words are always written with the first letter capitalized to differentiate them from the words "romantic"and "romance" -- words which are generally used to denote erotically intensified conditions and events or love stories. While omances commonly do contain love interests, it isn't a prerequisite for this genre. Similarly, omantic poets don't just address experiences of love and love affairs; their poems revolve around the entire continuum of experiences of humanity.

omanticism, meanwhile, represented an intellectual and artistic movement between the late 18th-century and 19 thcentury. The emphasis of this movement was powerful emotions, which formed the fountainhead of aesthetic experiences. Especially emphasized were emotions like fear, consternation, terror, and wonder experienced in the face of nature's sublime-ness. omanticism elevated language, tradition and…… [Read More]

English Romanticism in the 1790s

"O Sylvan ye! thou wanderer thro' the woods, / How often has my spirit turned to thee!" (http://www.uoregon.edu/~rbear/ballads.html) Now, the poet wishes to "transfer" the healing powers of nature that he himself has experienced to his sister. By stating."..Nature never did betray / the heart that loved her" (http://www.uoregon.edu/~rbear/ballads.html) ordsworth assures his sister that she will also find peace in the middle of nature if she believes in the communion with nature. This prediction is an artifice of the poem and is not simple. "ordsworth's ability to look to the future to predict memories of events that are happening in the present is ingenious and complicated. But ordsworth beautifully clarifies this concept by using nature as the ideal link between recollection, foresight, and his relationship with another."(Eilenberg, Susan. Strange power of Speech: ordsworth, Coleridge, and Literary Possession. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992).

Moreover, by imagining the future of his…… [Read More]

Goethe and Romanticism

Goethe and Romanticism
Goethe, as per the traditional German assessment, was more of a classical author, than a Romantic author. In the words of Smith (2009), “to students of German literature, it is so obvious that Goethe was un-romantic and anti-Romantic that they seldom bother to say so” (71). As per this viewpoint, his works are seen as having been influenced by diverse literary movements, i.e. Weimar Classicism and Storm and Stress. This is a viewpoint that ought to be questioned – particularly after placing his works and writings in the Romantic Movement context. This discussion argues that undeniable parallels exist between the Romanticism credo and Goethe’s works and ideology. In so doing, references will be made to Goethe’s best known works which include, but are not limited to, The Sorrows of Young Werther.
Admittedly, the debate pitting classicism against Romanticism in Goethe’s works may have been inspired (at least…… [Read More]

American Romanticism the Period Known

In Irving's case, he expanded on his background of writing historical works, with his satirical approach individual and distinctive. This developed the genre partly by introducing satire as an effective element. At the same time, it also showed that literature could be expanded to suit any style.

Edgar Allan Poe is the third writer who contributed significantly to the development of American Romanticism. Poe added an element of horror and wrote short stories that were both disturbing and haunting. One of the interesting things about Poe is that the effectiveness of his stories did not rely only on the storyline. For example, the short story "The Fall of the House of Usher" is the narrator's account of his visit to a haunted house and his encounters with the strange brother and sister that live there. In this case, it is not the actual storyline that makes the story effective. Instead,…… [Read More]

British Literature Romanticism to Present

British Lit. Romanticism to Present

Following the liberating Age of Reason, the Enlightenment, the age when humanity was triumphing through literature and Rousseau's philosophy was inspiring revolutions, the age of Romanticism saw the birth of some genius writers of its own. Among them, Lord Byron, a man who lived his thirty-six years with the intensity of one who wants to know it all and do it all, was a prolific writer whose works were the expression of his time.

Lord Byron was the restless soul who burnt every resource he had in his inquiries about the meaning of life. He traveled extensively and, like most of his fellow artists, was enchanted with the exotic of the East. Byron was both blessed and haunted by his genius. His image on the seashore, watching the fire lit to burn Shelly's body at Via Reggio, in Italy, is one of those images most…… [Read More]

Romantic Neoclassicism v Romanticism at First Glance

Romantic

Neoclassicism v. Romanticism

At first glance, one might be hard-pressed to observe that the two works of art presently in question actually depict similar subjects. In the pieces presented side-by-side here, the beholder sees that the central figure in both is a man in a bed. Indeed, if one was asked to guess the subject, it might not be far off to deduce that each depicts the very same moment in which the great philosopher Socrates conceded to his own execution by the ingestion of poison. That said, the similarities end there as each of the two works is eminently more evocative of its own artistic movement than of the subject itself. Indeed, the image on the left carries a distinctive romanticism that sets it apart from the neo-classicism on display in the right-handed image.

What stands out as a clear distinction from the outset is the degree to…… [Read More]

Art Romanticism

Art: Romanticism

Not immediately recognized for his contribution to the visual art world, William Blake is perhaps better known for his poetry. However, the Englishman received formal training in drawing and was officially apprenticed to an engraver in London in the late eighteenth century. Blake's interest in metaphysics is apparent in all his productions, especially in allegorical pieces based on the Old Testament like his "Nebuchadnezzar," (completed in 1795). Blake's color print, finished in pen and watercolor, is a typical example of the artist's chosen media; he rejected oil paints. Like all art classified as Romantic, "Nebuchadnezzar" is intensely individualistic and introspective. Blake's preoccupation with symbolism and esoterica is apparent in the subject matter as well as its execution. Drawing upon the Biblical allegory of a headstrong king who dreams (and later realizes) that his mind degenerates into that of a beast, Blake visually interprets the book of Daniel. "Nebuchadnezzar,"…… [Read More]

Edgar Allen Poe Romanticism of

While Poe relates these as true stories, as opposed to the works of his own imagination, one can't but read them also as the fantastical longing of husband wanting to deny death's ability to separate him from his beloved wife.

After Virginia died, Poe went on a frenzied search for a female replacement. Not that any woman could have truly replaced Virginia in his eyes, but only that he found himself quite incapable of maintaining himself without a woman's influence. Poe pursued and was briefly engaged to poetess Sarah Helen Whitman, however the engagement dissolved largely due to Poe's growing reputation as a drunk. After Whitman, Poe passionately pursued Annie ichmond, though for her marriage to another man, their relations remained platonic. At the same time Poe was writing impassioned love letters to ichmond, he formed yet further platonic bonds with Sarah Anne Lewis, and poetess Susan Archer Talley. Finally,…… [Read More]

Flowering of Romanticism The Expressive

The second section, entitled Adante con moto has been described as having "a lyrical theme with a hymnal resonance, even festive" in quality which indicates a sense of hope, even in the midst of despair (Munteanu 2006). In contrast to earlier musical works, which can be analyzed purely in terms of musical structure, Beethoven's Fifth is often analyzed as a creation of Beethoven's own, unique psyche: desperate yet occasionally finding joy. It is a sprawling yet seamless whole, like his mind and life, rather than a composition of particular movements that carefully balance one another and deal with several unified themes in a structurally perfect manner.

The third section entitled simply Allegro "has a free form, neither scherzo nor intermezzo, but constitutes itself as an epilogue to the dramatism in Part I and a prologue to Part IV. This is considered to be the key moment of the entire symphony,…… [Read More]

Beethoven Romanticism Developed as a

His music forms are also an important characteristic that define him as a Romantic composer. Indeed, his preference for sonatas allowed him both to use his enormous potential of imagination and to sustain it with borrowings from folk music or local influences. The symphony as well was redefined to fit his Romantic profile, Beethoven choosing to go with a more flexible structure than the previous one defined by Haydn, which was rigid and had fixed rules.

Besides the argument mentioned previously, as an individual in society Beethoven reflected Romantic characteristics. Indeed, he was badly adapted to social norms, had very few friends and lived almost exclusively for the sake of his art and his creations. In this sense, he reflected the Romantic ideal of art for art and dedicated his entire existence to creating rather than anything else.… [Read More]

John Grady's Cole's Romanticism in

In a similar moment, when he and his friend become separated from Blevins, his friend tries to talk him out of going back for the boy, arguing that it can only lead to trouble. Cole simply can't bring himself to do it (79). It seems that he is driven by a notion of himself as a kind of manly hero, a notion that often gets him into trouble. Luce argues that this is a sign of Cole acting as romantic hero, pointing out that "The novel is suffused with evidence of his immaturity, his romanticism, his grandiosity, his disappointed sense of entitlement" (155).

When he meets with Alfonsa near the end of the novel, she approaches him with a weary worldliness, seeing in him the kind of youthful idealism that she had at one point believed in. She tells him a story of how she had once come to meet…… [Read More]

Romantic Poetry the Term Romanticism

The work expresses with clear honesty the need to express, reality and pain, in ordworthian values. The expression of the work is poignant and clear, as the washerwoman goes through the process of noticing nature, as a guide for time rather than as something she is able to explore at leisure. The woman and the poet explored leisure, in only those available times when she was not otherwise needed for work. There is a clear sense that even in the poet's golden years her sentiments changed little as she so effectively expressed the condition of her life, through the clear and present reality of necessity, better than many of her time. The romantic poet was given license to express pain, through individual self-expression, and this working class woman was not only not an exception but probably even more committed to the ideals of the period than many of the classic…… [Read More]

Romanticism Project

Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem, "To a Beautiful Spring in a Village" represents the Romantic Movement in that the poet expresses appreciation for the "sweet stream." Coleridge is also expounding on his experience of the stream, which is an example of how the Romantic riters wrote. The poem celebrates the stream with its "friendly banks" and "pebbled falls," focusing on every detail and finding joy in all of them. (Perkins 397)

illiam ordsworth's poem, "Lines ritten in Early Spring" is an excellent example of Romantic verse as it, too, places a great deal of respect and awe upon nature. In this poem, ordsworth laments what "man has made of man" while rejoicing in the beauty of nature. The poet is emphasizing the workings of nature when he thinks that "every flower enjoys the air it breathes" and the birds around him "hopped and played" with their every movement seeming to be…… [Read More]

What Was the Romantic Movement

Romanticism

There are many way to approach the concept (or movement) known as romanticism, and over the many years romanticism has been perceived and defined in wildly different ways. Scholars and historians have spent tens of thousands of words dissecting, describing, and trying to come to terms with what romanticism really means. The truth is there are many ways to approach romanticism, and this paper looks into scholarly approaches to romanticism in 1925, 1949, and 1990. How is the approach to romanticism in 1925 different -- but also similar -- to another approach in 1990? That question and others that are germane to this topic will be presented in this paper. The three scholarly articles that will be critiqued in this paper are: Paul Kaufman's "Defining Romanticism" (1925); Morse Peckham's "Theory of Romanticism" (1951); and David Perkins' "The Romantic Movement" (1990).

Three scholarly articles from three periods in the twentieth…… [Read More]

Facets of the Romantic Age

Romanticism is many things. It is a concept, a notion, a way of looking at the world and everything in it that strives for ideals and certain values. Many of those values are based on nature and things that are beyond the creation of man. In fact, nature was able to provide a means of shelter for man during the 19th century as the world itself was changing so much in the wake of the industrialization and urbanization. Romanticism, then, is an idealism that is not necessarily linked to God but which celebrates the organic aspects of God's creations -- such as nature. The human condition of romanticism, therefore, is an attunement to nature and an idealization to it. The human condition of romanticism is found in a number of delightful poets in the British Romantic movement include John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelly, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, to name a…… [Read More]

Neo-Classical Art and Romanticism

Art has always been used as a means of expression and of confirmation of events and movements that take place in the society in that respective period of time. The Neo-Classical and Romanticist art makes no exception to this rule and the two periods have been considered in the history of artistic art as two of the most representative for the expressivity they brought to the world of the arts as well as through the painters they inspired. Jacques-Louis David and Eugene Delacroix are two of the most representative painters of the New Classical period and the Romanticist art and their paintings are significant for the symbols and ideals these two periods provided for the artistic world.

Neo-classical art must be seen in the wider context of the 18th century and the era of Enlightenment when the new perceptions on the role of reason were redefined against the concepts of…… [Read More]

Romantic Era Began in the Late Eighteenth

omantic era began in the late eighteenth century as a reaction against the Age of Enlightenment and was a period of great change and emancipation. The movement started as an artistic and intellectual reaction against aristocratic social and political norms of the Enlightenment and against the scientific rationalization of nature. During the Enlightenment literature and art were primarily created for the elite, upper classes and educated, and the language incorporated in these works was highly poetic, completely different from that spoken by the masses. Artists of the omantic era accessed the ballads and folklore that was familiar to commoners, rather than from the literary works popular with the aristocracy. This shift in emphasis was most strongly manifested in the visual arts, music, and literature. This was the beginning of a period of artistic freedom, experimentation, and creativity. The movement stressed strong emotion, imagination, freedom from classical correctness in art forms,…… [Read More]

Emily and Dickinson and Walt

The poet is in turmoil and he turns from his love in order to prevent tarnishing or "spoil" (Pound 2) her because she is surrounded by a "new lightness" (3). This poem reflects upon the importance of experience. Like the poets mentioned before, this poet wants us to consider every aspect of our actions. e should not only think of what we want to do but also how that desire and acting upon it will alter our lives. Robert Frost is focused upon the experience of nature. In "Dust of Snow," the poet brings poetry to life as if it were music. hen we read:

The way a crow

Shook down on me

The dust of snow

From a hemlock tree (Frost 1-4)

Here the poet wants to explore rather than embark on some discovery. These writers are different in their individuals styles but they each desire to connect with…… [Read More]

Collective Perception Art Is One Facet of

collective perception, art is one facet of life that is governed more by individual thought and emotional predisposition than by institutional prejudices. It should seem a natural disposition of the artist to look within himself for expression, rather than to the very established conventions from which he may seek to provide asylum. Likewise, it strikes a chord of logic to us that an artist makes his primary appeal to his own imagination, rather than to millennia of intellectual rules. This, however, is a new perspective as compared to the age of humanity. From Enlightenment through the mid eighteenth century, classical rules intended to preserve the integrity and exclusivity of artistic expression were the prime determinant in the nature of societal artistic output. However, a surge in the population of the bourgeoisie, an overall expansion in the international middle class, opened up the possibility for artistry without the condition of aristocracy.…… [Read More]

Comparison of Two Books

Romanticism of Scott's Piracy with the Revolutionary realism of Cooper's Pilot

Great art is not supposed to come from anger or a sense of competition with authors. However, the first great sea tale The Pilot, by the merican author James Fenmore Cooper, was written explicitly out of anger, in reaction to a romanticized account of piracy and sea life. The Pirate by the Scotsman Sir Walter Scott was a romantic account of why men took to sea, out of romantic despair, with little concern for the real damage done to the naval code of conduct and safety as a result of piracy on the waters. Cooper, in contrast, knew intimately the difficulties of fighting military conflict from a navel perspective, and did not see piracy as something to be valorized. Rather than a plot motivated by love, where the sea was a subsidiary motivating force, Cooper resolved to tell a…… [Read More]

Romantic Ideal in the Poetry of William

Romantic ideal in the poetry of William Blake, William Wordsworth and Walt Whitman shares the attitude that the most worthy part of human existence lies in simplicity and deep emotion rather than rational thought. Romanticism is based upon a movement away from the rationality of Enlightenment and the wealth-driven society inspired by Industrialism. This ideal is reflected in the work of the poets mentioned above. To demonstrate this, "The Chimney weeper," "Ode: Imitations of Immortality" and "I ing the Body Electric" from each respective poet are considered.

William Blake

Blake's poetry emphasizes the evils of existing power systems within society, and how these are used to oppress the poor and powerless. This is shown in his poem "The Chimney weeper." The little chimney sweeper is representative of the poor and oppressed suffering under the current systems of power. The parents and the church are images reflecting the oppressive forces. The…… [Read More]

Childhood Poets of the Eighteenth Nineteenth and

Childhood

Poets of the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth century concerned themselves with childhood and its various experiences, but the particular historical and aesthetic contexts within which different poets wrote affected their perspective on the matter greatly. As literature moved from Romanticism to naturalism, the tone poets took when considering children and their place in society changed, because where children previously existed as a kind of emotional or romantic accessory, they soon became subjects in their own right, with their own experiences and perspectives. By examining illiam ordsworth's "Michael," illiam Blake's "The Chimney Sweeper," and .B. Yeats' "A Prayer for my Daughter," one is able to see how the gradual transition from Romanticism to naturalism brought with it a less exploitative consideration of children, one that better reflected their place in the rapidly changing world.

The first poem to examine is illiam ordsworth's "Michael," because it fall squarely in the…… [Read More]

Orient West Minoan and Romantic Movements Describe

Orient West

Minoan and omantic movements

Describe the earlier historical art period, characteristics of the style, and social conditions that may have contributed to the advent of this style.

Within the history of the Ancients, the story of Classical Greek art and architecture is prefaced by the earliest epoch of the seafaring Cretan civilization, Minos. The Palace of King Minosis is a magical structure reflective of this early world of classical lyricism. It is in fact, Homer's reference to the island, and its legendary king, in Book XIX of the Odyssey, that has informed us of Aegean cultures, and our fascination with all things Minoan. The central locus of exchange for communique with other civilizations of antiquity such as the nearby lands of Pharonic Ancient Egypt, the Palace of King Minos is our greatest resource for inquiry into the roots of ancient classical civilization.

obust in economy and in cultural…… [Read More]

Victorian Childhood and Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland as Victorian Literature -- Being a child in Victorian England was difficult. They had to behave like the adults did, follow all rules, they had to be seen but not heard. Children, however, are naturally curious; unable to sit for long periods of time, and as part of normal cognitive development, consistently asking questions about the world. In fact, childhood is the period when a child acquires the knowledge needed to perform as an adult. It is the experiences of childhood that the personality of the adult is constructed. Alice's adventures, then, are really more of a set of curiosities that Carroll believed children share. Why is this, who is this, how does this work? and, her journey through Wonderland, somewhat symbolic of a type of "Garden of Eden," combines stark realities that would be necessary for her transition to adulthood.

For Victorians, control was part of…… [Read More]

Vindication of the Rights of

Ross (1988) notes the development of Romanticism in the late eighteenth century and indicates that it was essentially a masculine phenomenon:

Romantic poetizing is not just what women cannot do because they are not expected to; it is also what some men do in order to reconfirm their capacity to influence the world in ways socio-historically determined as masculine. The categories of gender, both in their lives and in their work, help the Romantics establish rites of passage toward poetic identity and toward masculine empowerment. Even when the women themselves are writers, they become anchors for the male poets' own pursuit for masculine self-possession. (Ross, 1988, 29)

Mary ollstonecraft was as famous as a writer in her day as her daughter. Both mother and daughter were important proponents of the rights of women both in their writings and in the way they lived and served as role models for other…… [Read More]

Compare and Contrast a Religious Group's Statement

eligious Group's Statement

William James' passage at the top of Gordon D. Kaufman's essay, "eligious Diversity and eligious Truth"

is both profound and poignant (187). Kaufman quotes James as saying "... The whole notion of the truth is an abstraction from the fact of truths in the plural ... " James also writes that "Truth grafts itself on previous truth, modifying it in the process

In the case of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS), also known as the Mormon Church, their "truth" has most certainly been "grafted" on previous truth, and the various "truths" that they build their religion upon -- plus, the "new truths" they seek to promote all over the globe -- make an interesting study for purposes of this paper.

The thesis of the paper is as follows: the doctrines, beliefs, basis of origin / foundation -- and the social strategies of…… [Read More]

From the Baroque Period Through the Romantic Age

art is changed by the changes that occur in political culture. The writer presents examples and contrasts two of the following areas Baroque, ococo, Neoclassicism, and omanticism and argues the point of how the eras drive changes in artwork. In addition the writer devotes two pages to comparing three works of famous artists.

Art has always been influenced by the masses. Political culture, and change have been driving forces behind the changes in art that history has witnessed. When political and cultural changes occur it is generally because of changing attitudes of those who live in the era and drive those changes. This extrapolates to changes in many things including taste in artwork. Two periods in history provide classic examples of such change occurring and being directly related to political and cultural changes that were taking place in society during the time.

The Neoclassical period and the omantic era are…… [Read More]

Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog by

Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog" by Caspar David Friedrich, a paining I believe embodies both omanticism and reality on the same canvas. omanticism was the result of several major events that took place in the background, from a political, social, economic, and cultural point-of-view. It was therefore only natural that the artistic world would be influenced by these developments.

Caspar David Friedrich is one of the most important painters of the omantic period largely because he managed to include the realities of his time into a omantic trend that encompassed artistic and human values alike. In order to better understand the complexity of his work, it is important to point out the background of the era and its implications for the painter. In this sense, perhaps one of the essential aspects of the time, especially in Germany, was the industrial revolution that took place at the end of the…… [Read More]

Romantic Literature

Adam Bede, George Eliot uses some of the conventions of the omantic novel while violating others. In the end the book asks us, as readers, to answer the fundamental question posed in so many books written within the omantic tradition: Do the hero and heroine live happily ever after? But this is not the mindlessly vacuous posing of that question that we come across in so many works, for Eliot is far too intelligent a writer simply to ask us whether a particular romantic pairing will turn out well. ather, behind the question of what happens to particular characters is - for Eliot as well as for ourselves - the larger question of what makes a human life happy. It is Eliot's insistence that we examine the nature of love, the position of the individual in the society that she is writing about, and the importance of fate as opposed…… [Read More]

Sleepy Hollow as Popular Culture

First, evil in Sleepy Hollow is more equating with a satirical view that, in this case, evil is a more benign humor, bumbling, caustic in disrupting the town, and, as it was in Ancient Greek and oman drama, simply more of an irritant than planned destruction. Focusing again on the time period, our first introduction to this theme is one of Dutch New York against Urban New England. The Dutch community is sylvan, nostalgically conceived, changeless, and an Eden for its inhabitants. Ichabod arrives as a Yankee whose spoiling of this Eden simply cannot be tolerated -- and even more, by marrying the daughter of a wealthy and high-ranking community member, becoming part of Eden himself. This simply could not happen to a community that is so "European in nature."

Sleepy Hollow, as a town is clearly Dutch, with Dutch values, culture, and mores, or for riving, "population, manners, and…… [Read More]

Kant and Rousseau Reducing Conflicts Between States

Kant and Rousseau

Reducing Conflicts Between States

The Theories of the Great Philosophers Rousseau and Kant

The great philosophers of the 18th century were the first of their kind to fully encapsulate what it meant to be an ethnocentric state, rather than a simple nation or territory, and also were the first philosophers able to address the question of war between states as not merely individual struggles for dominance, but rather persistent frictions present in the system of states themselves. The formal idea of statehood came of age in the Peace of estphalia in 1648, which ended the Thirty Year's ar, and affirmed the domination of the central government of each state as the supreme power of the land, rather than any religious or social power. At this time, every state was essentially a dictatorship, and the world was divided into fiefdoms. The peace reached at estphalia created the conditions…… [Read More]

Cultural and Social Influence of Neoclassical Artist

Cultural and Social Influence of Neoclassical Artist (Antonio Canova)

Antonio Canova

Culture and social influence of the Neoclassical artists

Antonio Canova's life was mainly of sculptor because his father, Pietro Canova, was a stonecutter of Possagno. His became brought up with his grandfather, Pasino Canova (1714-94), who was a mediocre sculptor specializing in altars with low reliefs and statues in late Baroque style such as Crespano. In 1770 Antonio became an apprenticed of the sculptor Giuseppe Bernardi in Pagnano, in Asolo, and in Venice. After the death of Bernardi, he decided to work in the studio of the sculptor Giovanni Ferrari (1744 -- 1826) for a few months. While in Venice, Antonia got a chance to study the nude at the Accademia and the plaster casts of famous antique sculptures in the collection of Filippo Farsetti. This is where his first independent work was placed (two Baskets of Fruit).

Antonio…… [Read More]

Turner and Jacques Louis David Painters of Style

Neoclassicism:

Oath of the Horatii (1784) by Jacques-Louis David

Romanticism:

The Plagues of Egypt (1800) by Joseph Turner

Style Guide

Representing the Neoclassicist period of art is the French painter Jacques-Louis David's (1784) Oath of the Horatii, painted for the French government (prior to the Revolution) in Rome. It conveys a Republican sentiment, both in form and in function (as the story of the Horatii was an old one from ancient Roman history that told the story of two brothers who banded together to fight oppression within the city-state). This same theme of taking a stand against oppression would be important in the coming years in France and especially in Paris, where the revolution would break out in force. This painting thus delivers up a theme that is in full support of the classical ideals represented by the Horatii as they take arms and prepare themselves to fight the corrupt…… [Read More]

Poe Gold Bug Edgar Allen

Inductive reasoning leads Legrand to discover an encrypted message that he sets out to painstakingly decipher. Poe's detailed analysis of the cryptogram is quintessentially romantic, encouraging rational inquiry into seemingly supernatural phenomenon. A respect for both the natural and supernatural worlds is implied by the story. Interestingly, nothing supernatural does take place in "The Gold-ug." Legrand admits to the striking coincidences that led him to the treasure, but coincidences themselves are not supernatural events. Legrand states, "it was not done by human agency. And nevertheless it was done."

The titular bug is a scarabaeus, which is a direct allusion to ancient Egypt. Like pirates, the imagery and lore of ancient Egypt has romantic, compelling connotations for readers. The reference to the scarab is coupled with the eerie image of the skull. When Jupiter finally climbs out on the "dead" limb the situation takes on an ominous tone before resolving itself…… [Read More]

Black Tulip the Novel the

At times these endings are mesmeric, while at others they increase the pace to integrate smoothly with the subsequent chapter.

Dumas also uses characterization to create suspense. One good example of this is William of Orange, who makes his initially anonymous appearance in Chapter 3 of the novel. He is described as a pale, thin, and almost creepy person. he reader learns only later that this is William of Orange. After the murders, the reader also learns that William's inner being is quite as uncomely as his physical appearance, when it is revealed that he is behind the murders of the De Witt brothers.

Dumas' addressing the reader directly gives the impression of being taken into the author's confidence, as if secret information is to be revealed. his contributes to the suspense of the overall plot by creating parallel between the reader-author relationship and the lives of the characters.

Romance…… [Read More]

Romantic Movement Explored in the

The winds are "driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing" (4) and the poet's thoughts are like "winged seeds" (7) of each passing season. The poet writes, "ild Spirit, which art moving everywhere; / Destroyer and preserver; hear, oh, hear!" (13-4). Critic Jeanine Johnson notes that "Ode to the est ind" "returns to the idea that human development and nature follow parallel cycles. If the seasons correspond to the ages of human life, spring being a time of new birth is childhood, summer is young adulthood, autumn is middle age, and winter being the time nearest death is old age" (Johnson). Each stanza represents a stage of life that is seen as if it were an aspect of nature and when examining the stages of life, one cannot overlook death. Johnson contends, "Human death is permanent. The poet tries to counter his sadness at the thought of dying with an…… [Read More]

Blake Desire Desire in Blake's

I was surprised by a lot of the darker imagery in a lot of his work, especially in "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell." I knew that his religious views were controversial, but in his day it would not have been too surprising if he ended up in some sort of legal trouble over what almost appear to be Satanistic statements.

A really like Blake's style, however, the way his images seem to blend together without clear boundary, like his concept of Heaven and Hell and what I could understand of the rest of his philosophy. The fact that he manages to kind of confuse the reader's mind using only the black and white of ink and paper is a truly astounding testament to his skill as a poet, and as an artists (with the use of color).

Wordsworth's Sonnets

The World is Too Much with Us"

1) We waste…… [Read More]

Revolutions in Romantic Literature

Pierre Bourdieu, "The Field of Cultural Production" from David Finkelstein and Alistair McCleery, the Book History Reader, London: Routledge, 2002.

Bordieu's work is interesting in terms of analyzing contemporary media production. It is interesting that a person's profession defines and narrows is or her perspective. To wit: Bourdieu spoke about 'culture'. Now, even though his intention was culture in the conventional sense, fields including science (which in turn includes social science), law and religion, as well as expressive domains such as art, literature and music, when he spoke about culture he onerously focused on the expressive-aesthetic fields, namely literature and art. These were his occupations and this is what the man thought about. It is possible that another, perhaps a scientist, writing about culture, would extract th scientific aspect of it. Since Bourdeau was an author, he approached it form that tangent and, thereby, gave culture his own p-articular meaning.…… [Read More]

Ezra Pound or HD Poetry

Ezra Pound's Meditatio

Meditatio

When I carefully consider the curious habits of Dogs

I am compelled to conclude

That man is the superior animal.

When I consider the curious habits of man

I confess, my friend, I am puzzled.

As one of the fathers of literary modernism, Ezra Pound reacted to classicism and romanticism and, in the poem, Meditatio, expresses the conflict between individual identity and the bestial nature of humankind. In fact, it is the social issue of what it means to be human that this poem epitomizes - what even the definition of human and human causality might be, and in particular, the nature of humanity when compared to one of the classic symbols of human unity -- canus familiarias, the dog.

There are several levels of conflict within this short poem. First, Pound tells us in the title that this is a "meditation." In other words, this…… [Read More]

Poem To William Wordsworth by Coleridge

Romantic era poets like Coleridge and ordsworth both relied heavily on nature imagery to convey core themes, and often nature became a theme unto itself. In "To illiam ordsworth," Coleridge writes accolades for his friend using many of the tropes of Romanticism, including the liberal use of nature metaphors to commend ordsworth's creativity. The metaphors are mainly encapsulated by the spirit of springtime and the ebbing of energy that seasonal rebirth entails. Elements of nature in "To illiam ordsworth" include the tumultuous transition from winter into spring, with its attendant storms, as well as the swelling and ebbing of energy that comes from the act of gestation, procreation, and birth.

In "To illiam ordsworth," Coleridge shows that poetry and the act of creating poetic verse is akin to the mystery of creation itself. Coleridge uses analogies of pregnancy and birth to underscore the parallel between creative writing in poetic format…… [Read More]