Outline Of Romanticism

Romanticism
A revolution in art, philosophy, politics and social issues

Influential philosophers
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Emmanuel Swedenborg (Heaven and Hell -1758)
Voltaire (man in control of his own destiny)
Montesquieu (division of powers)
Locke (limited, liberal gov), Bentham (liberty & rights )
• Rousseau (The Social Contract – 1762-) and
Diderot (Manifesto of Pure Reason -1760)
• Immanuel Kant (Critique of Pure Reason -1781- and
Critique of Judgement -1790-)
• Thomas Paine and Jefferson

Major historic events
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American Revolution
French Revolution
Reign of Terror
Wars of independence in Poland,
Greece, Spain, Latin America.
• Industrial revolution change in the value of life in urban society

Major Precepts of Romanticism
 Imagination (the
dream or inner world)
 Nature and its beauty (spirituality)
 Nature and its force
 Symbolism & Myth
 Emotions & the Self (intuition, instincts; the heart as a source of knowledge; ideas ¨felt¨ as sensations )

 The Romantic Hero (Napoleon & Prometheus)
 Paradoxical Combinations (beautiful soul and ugly body)

 Self-Consciousness & self-reliance
 The sublime (awe and terror)

The Romantic Hero: characteristics

 Rejects established norms and conventions.
 Rejected by society
 The self is the centre of his/her own existence.  Focuses on thoughts rather than actions.
 Often placed outside the structure of civilization force of physical nature.
 Amoral or ruthless.
 Sense of power and leadership.

More characteristics of the romantic hero
 Introspection
 The triumph of the individual over the restraints of theological and social conventions.  Strong desire to wander, explore the world.  Melancholy.
 Misanthropy (general hatred, distrust, or desdain of the human species or human nature).

 Alienation and isolation.
 Praise of rural life.
 Individualism (the poet and his art)

General themes and motifs
Medieval history (chivalry)
Love
Religion
Some excesses (including suicide)
Terror
Folk history and language and medieval fantasy.  The mystical, subconscious and supernatura.
 The uncivilized and the odd.
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THE BIG SIX ROMANTIC POETS
• The first generation
William Blake (1757-1827)
William Wordsworth (1770-1850): the Lake
School
S. T. Coleridge (1772-1834): the Lake School
• The second generation
Lord Byron (1788-1824): the Satanic School
Percy Shelley (1792-1822): the Satanic School
John Keats (1795-1821): the Cockney School

William Blake (1757-1827)

Songs of Innocence & Songs of
Experience (1789-1794)

Samuel T. Coleridge (1772-1834)