The Rise of the Age of Romanticism - Assignment Example

? Romanticism Romanticism, also known as the Romantic Era first originated in Europe at the end of the 18th century, being at a special high between the years 1800 and 1850. This was a movement which encouraged the production of arts, music, literature and even intellects. This era started partially as a rebuttal to not only the Industrial Revolution, but also the Age of Enlightenment. The result being that this led to quite a great impact on education, science and even historiography as well as politics. The Enlightenment Era, also the Age of Reason was a movement carried on during the 17th and the 18th centuries in Europe and then in other places. The people were encouraged to think and use reason instead of following age old traditions, to use their intellect and learn more about the world around them. Scientific thought was promoted; searching for answers instead of just believing what they were told was the motto. Listening to superstitions and all that the church had to say were not tolerated. It was to replace this thought process that the Romantic Period stepped in even though the Enlightenment still has its effect on our lives in the current times. The book Gulliver’s Travels was written by Jonathan Swift in the year 1726. It is mostly read for entertainment purposes, reading about a man ending up at a land of small people and his adventures there. However, this could be seen as Swift mocking the believers of the Enlightened Era who thought that science could clear out everything, make lives of the people of the society better, and even make the behavior of the Yahoos reasonable. The Romantic Era produced a lot of brilliant music by various artists like Hector Berlioz in France, Giuseppe Verdi in Italy, and the universally famous Mozart, Beethoven and Hayden amongst several others. There was a wide variety of literature written as well and gave a rise of writers like Jane Austen, Edgar Allan Poe, the brothers Grimm, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, the Bronte sisters and Hans Christian Anderson whose works are still read today. Even the poets like Walter Scott, William Wordsworth, John Keats, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lord Byron and William Blake were given birth to during this time period, the same poets whose poetry the students read and analyze in school and even colleges1. There were also great pieces of art including sculptures, landscapes and other paintings produced by Caspar David Friedrich, John Constable, Samuel Palmer and Francisco Goya who remains one of the most famous artists till today. Romanticism was a universal movement, which means that there is no single definition that people have agreed on as the meanings seem quite diverse, even contradictory at some points. In his essay titled “On the Discriminations of Romanticisms”, Arthur O. Lovejoy writes that “we should learn to use the word ‘Romanticism’ in plural. This, of course, is already the practise of the more cautious and observant literary historians, in so far as they recognise that the ‘Romanticism’ of one country may have little in common with that of another … But the discrimination of Romanticisms which I have in mind is not solely or chiefly a division upon lines of nationality or language. What is needed is that any study of the subject should begin with recognition of a prima facie plurality of Romanticisms, of possibly quite distinct thought-complexes, a number of which may appear in one country”2. Generally, it is summarized by taking into accounts all the meanings together. These days, we use the word romantic quite loosely, the definition mostly has to do with two people in love and their shenanigans. However, the meaning differs depending on the country that the period carried on in and what was happening there at that time. Also, every artist had their own thought process over it and thus, created quite different pieces accordingly be they literature, landscapes, music, etc. The believers of Romanticism were Catholics and even atheists, their personalities differed, and thus, their way of understanding it was different as well. It was just their subtle, quiet way of rebelling against rationalization and academic rules, of valuing emotions over reason. Originally, Romanticism in terms of literature started off in Germany, including poetry, parts of dramatic dialogue, philosophy, letters and even literary criticism. Initially, novels were what were mostly considered as the major forms of the Romantic expression. It was in the year 1800 when many poets as well as philosophers such as the Schlegel brothers and Ludwig Tieck produced their best works. This land also produced many brilliant musicians, the most popular one being Ludwig van Beethoven. He started off as a Classicist, following with merging the Classical Music with the Romantic one, and finally just the Romantic. His talent is also all the more appreciated as he is believed to have created even lovelier pieces after he turned blind. This also makes the musician himself come off as Romantic as he defied all odds and despite his handicap, in fact, because of it, he became even better. There were also various painters who used their imaginations and their talents to make the best of the best pieces of art. Johan Christian Claussen Dahl was a Norwegian but spent most of his life living in Germany where he ended up dying, too. He is thought to be the first greatest Romantic painter; his landscapes in particular are most appreciated around the world. Some of his works are: Vesuv i utbrudd made in 1826, Castellammare painted in 1828 and Fra Stedje i Sogn which was created in 1836. Another popular artist was Joseph Anton Koch who was also a landscape painter, some of them being Schmadribach Falls in the Lauterbach Valley in the year 1811 and Grimsel Pass in 1813. He also made an oil painting on canvas titled Landscape with Noah in 1803. The Era then moved on to England in the year 1978 when Lyrical Ballads was published, which included some of the best poetry written by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. It is said to have ended at the death of William Scott in 1832. The English started with the Romantic Era as an uprising against the English Industrial Revolution. Most of their pieces of work were related to nature and imagination and they argued that all forms of poetry should have no rules to be followed. In those times, Wordsworth, Samuel Coleridge and Robert Southey were called the Lake Poets. This was because they were very close and lived near each other in the district which had lakes in the north of England. Southey’s most famous poem is “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” which has the natural as well as supernatural elements in it that make it one of the greatest Romantic poetry ever written. Southey was awarded the Poet Laureate in 1813, which was passed on to Wordsworth in the year 1843. Most of Wordsworth’s poems relate to the beauty around him, he writes about the nature that he had greatly appreciated since childhood, especially due to his tour of the Swiss Alps. His most famous poems include “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”, “To the Cuckoo” and “The Sparrow’s Nest”. Another well-known poet was Percy Bysshe Shelley3. One of the most famous poets of that time was George Gordon Byron whose most famous poem is “Don Juan”. In fact, the people of that age were so impressed with him that they created the Byronic Hero named after him. This fictional character had quite a colorful personality; he was arrogant and cynical, moody and lonely, intelligent and having a jaded past, and everything else that would make a man attractive to a woman. This Romantic Hero had an impact on many of the authors of that time who based off their heroes on him. The book Glenarvon had him as the main character and was written by Lady Caroline Lamb who had been in a relationship with the real Lord Byron, his characteristics were borrowed by Victor Hugo for the persona of Claude Frollo in his book The Hunchback of Notre Dame published in 1831. Even the Bronte sisters formed their heroes after him. Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights was released in 18474 and the character of Heathcliff displayed the Byronic qualities to the core. Similarly, Charlotte Bronte’s most popular book Jane Eyre was published in 1847 under a pseudo name and Mr. Rochester as the Byronic Hero. Even today, many contemporary books have been written and are being written which have such heroes. And it is these characteristics which make the books so widely read even today. There was other literature penned during this time period as well even if it did not star a Byronic Hero. Gothic novels were written as well, these had some elements of romance in it but most of them had violence and horror and even the supernatural. One example of such a book is Frankenstein which was written by Mary Shelley – the wife of the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. This book was published in 1818 and seems to be influenced by the Enlightenment Period or rather, the negative side of science and how, in the end, nature is important and will run its course. Its main character is Victor Frankenstein who is a scientist working on an experiment and ends up creating a hideous monster. He goes against nature and takes it in his own hand to give birth to a new life. The experiment goes wrong and results in a creature he cannot bear. A variety of events take place, resulting in deaths and destruction of friends and family and loved ones. This is just Mary Shelley’s reply to why science and nature are two separate things and the latter is just as – if not more – important than the former. There were some writers like Sir Walter Scott who wrote historical stories based on Scotland legends as that was the country that he hailed from, his most famous works being Waverly and Ivanhoe. Purely romantic stories were also written by some, one being Jane Austen who was the first published English woman author. Her works included Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Mansfield Park, etc. all of which are still widely read today. In fact, the authors of the current time period have put her characters with a similar plot line in the contemporary times due to their popularity amongst the masses. After the French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars, the people in France needed a distraction, Romanticism appealed to them and so the movement started here in the first half of the nineteenth century. They could now finally produce the art which they liked, not what they had to make for the rulers’ amusement5. The influence of it had an impact on the country’s theatre, poetry as well as the novels penned by the writers there and continued on till the rest of the nineteenth century during the literary developments which were quite diverse. The French produced historical novels as well as those with gothic themes and even some in which nature played a major role in. The writers such as Victor Hugo were greatly influenced by the foreign lands, England in particular. Other authors who penned great works are Alexandre Dumas who wrote the famous The Three Musketeers, Gerard de Nerval and Alfred de Musset. They also formed literary salons like the Arsenal and the Cenacle where people joined together to discuss the new works. Many plays were written to be acted out in the theatre mostly to do with national sacrifice or having the theme of patriotism or tragedy. Soon though, the tragic were combined with the comic elements and metrical freedom won. The plays written by Friedrich Schiller were historic focusing on the time of King Louis XIII with rebel princes or underappreciated artists. The movement moved on to America by the 1850s where the people there were greatly influenced by the English. The more popular works of this time are The Scarlett Letter written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Moby-Dick by Herman Melville and Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Representative Men. The books became emotional as ever and more for entertainment purposes than sermon or for education. Romanticism did not limit itself to any particular country or even continent but was widespread. The result led to amazing works of literary as well as visual works, and great pieces to listen to, many of which remain widely popular to this day and age. In fact, they even influence the contemporary artists. Bibliography Day, Aidan. Romanticism (The New Critical Idiom). Routledge, 1995. Gleckner, Robert F and Gerald Enscoe, Romanticism: Points of View (Waynebook; No. 40). 2. Wayne State University Press, 1975. Gunderson, Jessica. Romanticism (Movements in Art). Creative Education, 2008. Lovejoy, Arthur O. "On the Discrimination of Romanticisms." 1924. Read More