R O M A N T I C I S M
What was the Romantic Movement?
Commenced in late 18th century as a consequence of dynamic social change culminating in the French Revolution and the Napoleonic era
Romanticism was an intellectual orientation that was instilled in many works of literature, painting, music etc. in Western civilization between the 1790's and 1840's
It was a rejection of the precepts of order, calm, physical materialism, and 18th century rationalism
Instead it was a celebration of the power of the imagination, the development of nationalistic pride, the individual, the emotional and the transcendental.
It embraced human emotion and passion before rationality
A celebration of nature, of the creative relationship between the human heart and the natural world and of the desire to exhibit highest human potential
Romanticism changed the perceptions people held of nature, of the importance of spiritual and imaginative enlightenment and allowed people to remove themselves from the rational views of life, to focus on an emotional side of humanity.
Romantic history painting. Commemorates the French...
English: Watt's steam engine at the lobby of the H...
"The Storming of the Bastille", Visible in the cen...What beliefs did they hold about the nature of the world?
The Neoclassicist poets that preceded the Romantic Movement were obsessed with reason and commonsense. They believed everything was ordered, logical and correct, which was reflected in their highly structured poetry and their use of satire and wit to comment on life.
In reaction, Anti-intellectualism emerged - belief that everything could not be rationalized. Nature was seen was the ultimate wonder, not to study but to be appreciated and enjoyed.
Writers of the Romantic Age reacted strongly to the events of their time:
o The city became synonymous with pain and hardship, from the poor conditions for the proletariat during the early stages of Industrial Revolution.
o Supporters of the French Revolution, who had envisioned a new age of...