Romanticism Practice Flashcards

Core Definitions and Origins of Romanticism

  • General Definition: Romanticism was a broad cultural movement that permeated art, literature, and philosophy. Its fundamental tenet was the belief that feeling and emotion were of greater importance than reason and science.
  • Temporal Context: The movement emerged and spread in the aftermath of Napoleon's influence across Europe.
  • Scopes of Influence: Romanticism manifested as:
    • A literary movement.
    • A philosophical movement.
    • An artistic movement.

Romanticism as a Reactionary Movement

  • Reaction to the Industrial Revolution:
    • Romanticism opposed the mechanization of human life where individuals were expected to work toward the service of a machine.
    • It lamented the destruction of nature resulting from industrialization, specifically noting how smoke from factories began to cover the environment.
    • The movement criticized the industrial era's dismissal of sentiment and reason in favor of industrial output.
  • Reaction to the Enlightenment:
    • The Enlightenment prioritized "hard facts" and neglected tradition, religion, and feeling.
    • Romanticism sought to reclaim these neglected aspects of human experience.
  • Reaction to the French Revolution:
    • The French Revolution was seen, to some degree, as the practical application of Enlightenment reason.
    • Romantics argued that the excessive application of reason, as seen in the Revolution, could lead logically to the violence of the guillotine.

Romanticism in Music

  • Emotional Priority: The music of this period was characterized by being incredibly romantic and emotionally driven, starkly contrasting the structured logic of previous eras.
  • Key Figures and Works:
    • Ludwig van Beethoven: His Ode to Joy is cited as a celebratory work that references the "daughter of Elysium Joy."
    • Hector Berlioz: His Symphonie Fantastique is a major romantic work that depicts themes such as a "witch's Sabbath."
  • The Gothic Influence: There was a specific desire to return to the "Gothic" style—a time when people felt emotions more powerfully and were not afraid to experience fear.

Romanticism in Literature: Shelley and Coleridge

  • Mary Shelley's Frankenstein:
    • Scientific Achievement vs. Emotional Failure: Dr. Frankenstein is depicted as the ultimate scientist who achieves the impossible: creating life from dead parts.
    • The Resulting Monster: Despite the scientific success, he creates a "monster" because provide life without providing emotional attachments, family, or sentimental needs.
  • Samuel Taylor Coleridge's Kubla Khan (In Xanadu):
    • Philosophy of Creation: Coleridge believed that a true romantic must abandon reason and logic to become a creature of pure emotion.
    • The Opium Influence: Legend states that Coleridge used opium to achieve a state of pure emotion, leading to a vision of an epic poem on the scale of the Iliad, the Odyssey, or Paradise Lost (100100 to 200200 pages).
    • The Story of the Interruption: After writing a page and a half (starting with "In Xanadu did Kubla Khan / A stately pleasure-dome decree"), he was interrupted by a postman at the door and lost the vision.
    • Significance: Whether or not the story is true (documented corrections suggest it may have been more planned), the notion is what matters: that true art comes from sentiment and unadulterated feeling rather than logic.

Humanity vs. Nature: The Concept of the Sublime and Insignificance

  • Enlightenment View: This period held that the world was knowable and that humans could use technology to tame nature. Examples include understanding gravity, economics, and creating geometric gardens.
  • Romanticism View: This movement argued that humans are actually insignificant and that nature is far more powerful and untamable.
  • Percy Bysshe Shelley's Ozymandias:
    • Summary: A traveler describes a ruined statue in a desert—huge stone legs and a shattered face. The pedestal reads, "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
    • Full Poem Context:
      • "I met a traveller from an antique land,"
      • "Who said—'Two vast and trunkless legs of stone / Stand in the desert… Near them, on the sand, / Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown, / And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, / Tell that its sculptor well those passions read / Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, / The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;"
      • "And on the pedestal, these words appear: / My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; / Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair! / Nothing beside remains. Round the decay / Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare / The lone and level sands stretch far away.'"
    • Moral: No matter how great human achievements (pyramids, cities, or empires) might seem, they will eventually fade away and be reclaimed by nature.

Romanticism in Art and Theory

  • Friedrich Schlegel's Theories:
    • Schlegel argued that good art must come from feeling, not from formulas, logic, or rules.
    • He posited that true religious sentiment is the primary source of feeling.
    • In the absence of religion, one should read the best romantic poetry (e.g., Shelley or Coleridge) to be imbued with the necessary sentiment.
  • John Constable:
    • Known for Salisbury Meadow.
    • Celebration of Wild Nature: He depicted nature as it is—non-perfect, with trees tilted or bare on one side.
    • Religious Symbolism: Featured the Salisbury Cathedral, representing the romantic view of religion as a source of feeling.
    • Fleeting Human Works: The painting includes a man fording a river with a cart because a man-made bridge had collapsed, signifying that nature outlasts human engineering.
  • Caspar David Friedrich:
    • Known for Cross in the Woods (also referred to as Cross in the Mountains).
    • Thematic Blending: Trees and the church architecture are painted so that they seem part and parcel of the same entity, blending the natural and the divine.
  • J.M.W. Turner:
    • Considered the "utmost" of romantic painters.
    • Attack on Sensationalism: He challenged the Enlightenment idea (supported by D'Alembert) that we only know what we can clearly observe with our senses.
    • Technique of Blurring: Turner used reflections and light to blur distinctiveness, arguing that we cannot perceive everything exactly or logically.
    • Burning of the House of Commons (18341834): Turner painted the fire while it happened, emphasizing the lack of distinct lines and the melding of colors to show the fleetingness of human endeavors.
    • Rain, Steam, and Speed: Turner painted the steam train, the ultimate symbol of industrial progress.
      • Early trains traveled at approximately 19 mph19\,mph.
      • Speeds soon increased to 30 mph30\,mph.
      • Turner depicted the train and man-made bridges as being completely blended into nature rather than distinctive from it.

The Decline of Romanticism

  • Political Shifts: Romantic ideas fueled a series of political revolutions.
  • The Turning Point: The failed Revolutions of 18481848 caused Romanticism to lose its cultural power.
  • Successor Movement: Realism emerged as the next cultural movement, acting as a direct reaction against the idealism and emotionality of Romanticism.