Romanticism (c. 1790 - 1830)

What defines it?

Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog (1818), by Caspar David Friedrich

Components

emphasis on imagination, dreams, creativity, psychology (e.g., irrational states of mind)

celebration of nature in more organic and spiritual way than for Neoclassicists (i.e., nature is no longer a static pastoral scene with shepherds and trees, but living, powerful, dangerous)

time, history, nostalgia become important (process of romanticizing things, being sentimental)

the “Cult of Personality” becomes important for a writer (e.g., Lord Byron & Byronism)

basic hope in humanity; idealization and exaggeration of one’s condition; but with a certain melancholy and uncertainty, a darker vision (e.g., Gothic novels)

Catalysts imagination stimulated through walks, discussion, meditation, analysis, substance abuse (e.g.,

eating meat before bedtime [Ann Radcliffe]; opium; absinthe [the “Green Fairy,” popularized in Paris by 1840s])

theories of the picturesque and sublime (c. later 18th cent.) allow for more specific, deeper relationship with nature

importance of classical Greece & Rome in more sentimental terms (i.e., as fallen civilizations; not Neoclassical belief in permanent validity of classical principles); also through idealization of medieval era and imaginary places and ages; and through “exoticization” (e.g., Napoleon’s 1798 entry into Egypt opens European fascination with middle- and far-eastern cultures [deciphering of hieroglyphics, etc.])

misunderstanding of its “new” art (e.g., Wordsworth includes a preface to Lyrical Ballads; scandal helps popularize Lord Byron)

Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s belief in inherent qualities of “noble savage” (civilization as corrupt and requiring reform; see Rousseau excerpt in “materials: selected_notes: gray”)

Causes French Revolution (1789): brings shadow of “republican terror” closer to English shores; more

broadly marks cultural change in Europe (dropping of old guard)

Industrial Revolution (c. 1790 – 1850): steam engine brings advancements in transportation, technology, etc. (e.g., steam press revolutionizes printing industry, with books and newspapers being published in greater numbers than ever before)

emergence of middle class: this occurs somewhat earlier but, coupled with the Industrial Revolution, alters the reading landscape (more readers demanding certain things)

greater erosion of church influence and expansion of sciences (medicine, chemistry, etc.) leads to more doubt and questioning, and searching for alternative philosophies

Legacy search for self-identity, growth, satisfaction, experimentation and testing of limits, still seen in

today’s culture (in good and bad ways)

The “Green Fairy” was banned during the WWI years, but has been legalized again (c. 2007)

Comments on after-effects of absinthe use: from WWW (this is not an advertisement for absinthe, merely a humorous comment on the Romantic legacy)

Clips*

Childhood

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UK9Seodq3k

Greece & Italy (full clip; see 9:50 to 21:10 mins. for relevant info.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPd6v_m1tC0

Night

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJrp3kbLE_Q

Death

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGUzWhTxHcs

Artificial Paradise

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgoY8PWTLKs

* All clips from the TV documentary The Romantic Spirit (c. 1982)