Welcome. Today is April 14th Random fact: There are 10 human body parts that are only 3 letters long. You need your journal and a writing utensil. Journal: what does “romantic” mean to you?

Romantic Poetry 1798-1848 (1910?) In context: (650-1066) Anglo Saxon—Alliteration and Caesura (1066-1500) Middle English—Rhyme and Ballads (1500-1660) Renaissance (1660-1798) Neoclassicism

What was happening in the world during this period? 1825 - Erie Canal opens 1838 - Invention of photography 1846 - Neptune discovered 1859 - Charles Darwin publishes The Origin of the Species 1861-1865 - American Civil War

1869 - Transcontinental Railroad completed 1872 - Brooklyn Bridge opens 1876 - Telephone invented 1877 - Phonograph invented 1886 - Statue of Liberty presented to New York 1893 - Henry Ford builds first car 1903 - Wright Brothers first airplane flight at Kitty Hawk, NC 1905 - E=mc2 - Einstein’s Theory of Relativity

Social and Political Influences Industrialism First occurred in Britain Power shifted from aristocratic landowners to middle class city dwellers Populations moved from an agrarian (rural) center to an urban center

Definition 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

Imagination 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.”

Intuition 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.”

Idealism 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.

Inspiration 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.”

Individuality 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…”

Origins 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.

The Arts 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.

Visual Arts Neoclassical art was rigid, severe, and unemotional; it hearkened back to ancient Greece and Rome Romantic art was emotional, deeply-felt, individualistic, and exotic. It has been described as a reaction to Neoclassicism, or “anti-Classicism.”

Visual Arts: Examples Romantic Art Neoclassical Art

Music “Classical” musicians included composers like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Franz Josef Haydn. Romantic musicians included composers like Frederic Chopin, Franz Lizst, Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky

Music: Components 1730-1820. Classical music emphasized internal order and balance. 1800-1910. Romantic music emphasized expression of feelings.

Literature 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.

Five Major Romantic Era Poets Keats Wordsworth Blake Byron Shelley John Keats During his life, his poems did not receive favorable reviews by the critics The poetry of Keats is characterized by sensual imagery, most notably in his odes

“Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art” Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art— Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night And watching, with eternal lids apart, Like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite, The moving waters at their priestlike task Of pure ablution round earth's human shores, Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask Of snow upon the mountains and the moors— No—yet still stedfast, still unchangeable, Pillow'd upon my fair love's ripening breast, To feel for ever its soft fall and swell, Awake for ever in a sweet unrest, Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath, And so live ever—or else swoon to death.

William Wordsworth William Blake Helped to launch the Romantic Age His most famous work is The Prelude chronicles the spiritual life of the poet Has an interest and sympathy for the life and troubles of the “common man” He is considered the nature poet by focusing ordinary people in country settings Started writing poetry when he was twelve Blake was a nonconformist who associated with some of the leading radical thinkers of his day He rebelled against traditional poetic forms and techniques He valued imagination over reason

I Wandered Lonely as A Cloud William Wordworth I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. Continuous as the stars that shine And twinkle on the milky way, They stretched in never-ending line Along the margin of a bay: Ten thousand saw I at a glance, Tossing their heads in sprightly dance. The waves beside them danced; but they Out-did the sparkling waves in glee: A poet could not but be gay, In such a jocund company: I gazed—and gazed—but little thought What wealth the show to me had brought: For oft, when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood, They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude; And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils. The Tyger William Blake Tyger! Tyger! burning bright In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or eye Could frame thy fearful symmetry? In what distant deeps or skies Burnt the fire of thine eyes? On what wings dare he aspire? What the hand dare sieze the fire? And what shoulder, & what art. Could twist the sinews of thy heart? And when thy heart began to beat, What dread hand? & what dread feet? What the hammer? what the chain? In what furnace was thy brain? What the anvil? what dread grasp Dare its deadly terrors clasp? When the stars threw down their spears, And watered heaven with their tears, Did he smile his work to see? Did he who made the Lamb make thee? Tyger! Tyger! burning bright In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or eye Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

Percy Shelley Lord Byron Shelley had a very unconventional life and was very idealistic He was also a radical nonconformist He did not become famous until after his death Wife: Mary Shelley, who wrote Frankenstien He indulged in excesses and had huge debts and many love affairs His most famous creations are his dark heroes, called Byronic heroes, who, in fact, were not heroes at all, but stood out from ordinary humans as larger than life

So We’ll Go No More a Roving George Gordon, Lord Byron So, we'll go no more a roving So late into the night, Though the heart be still as loving, And the moon be still as bright. For the sword outwears its sheath, And the soul wears out the breast, And the heart must pause to breathe, And love itself have rest. Though the night was made for loving, And the day returns too soon, Yet we'll go no more a roving By the light of the moon.