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Romanticism
A Movement Across the Arts
Introducing the Romantic Era:1798-1832
La Belle Dame Sans Merci, John William Waterhouse (1893)
Liberty Leading the People, Eugène Delacroix
(1830)
Enlightenment vs.
SOURCES OF
INSPIRATION
ATTITUDES AND
INTERESTS
SOCIAL CONCERNS
Romanticism
CLASSICISM & RATIONALISM
scientific observation of the outer
world; logic
classical Greek and Roman literature
ROMANTICISM
examination of inner feelings, emotions;
imagination
literature of the Middle Ages
pragmatic
interested in science, technology
concerned with general, universal
experiences
believed in following standards and
traditions
felt optimistic about the present
emphasized moderation and selfrestraint
appreciated elegance, refinement
idealistic
interested in the mysterious & supernatural
concerned with the particular
valued stability and harmony
favored a social hierarchy
interested in maintaining aristocracy
concerned with society as a whole
believed nature should be controlled
by humans
desired radical change
favored democracy
concerned with common people
concerned with the individual
felt that nature should be untamed
sought to develop new forms of expressions
romanticized the past
tended towards excess and spontaneity
appreciated folk traditions
Adapted from chart in Prentice Hall Literature: The English Tradition (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1991): 631.
The Enlightenment, while an era of great
scientific and industrial progress, was unable to
address the social, political, and emotional
stressors seething under the surface.
Revolution brewed and then finally exploded in
France. New modes of expression blossomed. A
new respect and love for the common man, for
the individual, took root…
The vanguard for this new era consisted of
poets, each unique, all dedicated to the ideals of
a new age…
The Romantic Era
William Blake (1757-1827)
William Wordsworth (1770-1850)
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)
Painter, Poet, Visionary
“Father” of Romantic Poetry
Poet of the Imagination
“The Garden of Love” and “The Tyger”
The Prelude and “Tintern Abbey”
“Kubla Khan” and Rime of the Ancient Mariner
“First Generation”
“Second Generation”
George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824)
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)
John Keats (1795-1821)
Scoundrel, Womanizer, Poet
Romantic Revolutionary
“Greatest” Romantic Poet?
“Ode to the West Wind” and “Ozymandias”
“La Belle Dame sans Merci” and
“Ode on a Grecian Urn”
“She Walks in Beauty” and
Harold’s Pilgrimage
Childe
 Romanticism
refers to a movement in art,
literature, and music during the 19th century.
 Romanticism is characterized by the 5 “I”s
Imagination
Intuition
Idealism
Inspiration
Individuality
Definition
 Imagination was emphasized over “reason.”
 This was a backlash against the rationalism
characterized by the Neoclassical period or “Age
of Reason.”
 Imagination was considered necessary for
creating all art.
 British writer Samuel Taylor Coleridge called it
“intellectual intuition.”
Imagination
Samuel Taylor Coleridge – Rime of
the Ancient Mariner
 Romantics
placed value on “intuition,” or feeling
and instincts, over reason.
 Emotions were important in Romantic art.
 British Romantic William Wordsworth
described poetry as “the spontaneous overflow
of powerful feelings.”
Intuition
William Wordsworth – I Wander
Lonely as a Cloud
 Idealism
is the concept that we can make the
world a better place.
 Idealism refers to any theory that emphasizes
the spirit, the mind, or language over matter –
thought has a crucial role in making the world
the way it is.
 Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher, held
that the mind forces the world we perceive to
take the shape of space-and-time.
Idealism
Immanuel Kant
 The
Romantic artist, musician, or writer, is an
“inspired creator” rather than a “technical
master.”
 What this means is “going with the moment” or
being spontaneous, rather than “getting it
precise.”
Inspiration
 Romantics
celebrated the individual.
 During this time period, Women’s Rights and
Abolitionism were taking root as major
movements.
 Walt Whitman, a later Romantic writer, would
write a poem entitled “Song of Myself”: it
begins, “I celebrate myself…”
Individuality
Walt Whitman
 Romanticism
began to take root as a movement
following the French Revolution.
 The publication of Lyrical Ballads by William
Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge in
1792 is considered the beginning of literary
Romanticism.
Origins
Lyrical Ballads by Walt Whitman
and Samuel Taylor Coleridge
 Romanticism
was a movement across all the
arts: visual art, music, and literature.
 All of the arts embraced themes prevalent in the
Middle Ages: chivalry, courtly love. Literature
and art from this time depicted these themes.
Music (ballets and operas) illustrated these
themes.
 Shakespeare came back into vogue.
The Arts
 Neoclassical art
was
rigid, severe, and
unemotional; it
hearkened back to
ancient Greece and
Rome
Visual Arts
 Romantic art
was
emotional, deeply-felt,
individualistic, and
exotic. It has been
described as a reaction
to Neoclassicism, or
“anti-Classicism.”
Romantic Art
Neoclassical Art
Visual Arts: Examples
 “Classical” musicians
included composers
like Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart and
Franz Josef Haydn.
Music
 Romantic musicians
included composers
like Frederic Chopin,
Franz Lizst, Pyotr
Il’yich Tchaikovsky
 1730-1820.
 1800-1910.
 Classical
 Romantic music
music
emphasized internal
order and balance.
emphasized expression
of feelings.
Music: Components
 In
America, Romanticism most strongly
impacted literature.
 Writers explored supernatural and gothic
themes.
 Writers wrote about nature – Transcendentalists
believed God was in nature, unlike “Age of
Reason” writers like Franklin and Jefferson, who
saw God as a “divine watchmaker,” who created
the universe and left it to run itself.
Literature