By: Susan M. Pojer Horace Greeley HS Chappaqua, NY ROMANTICISM: Emotions! Passion! Irrationality By: Susan M. Pojer Horace Greeley HS Chappaqua, NY

Congress of Vienna The Age of Metternich- 3 goals Conservatism- Why?

The Spirit of the Age (1790-1850) A sense of a shared vision among the Romantics. Early support of the French Revolution. Rise of the individual  alienation. Dehumanization of industrialization. Radical poetics / politics  an obsession with violent change.

Compare and contrast Enlightenment and Romantic views of nature, with reference to specific individuals and their works.

ENLIGHTENMENT ROMANTICISM State of nature All men are born alike Created equal Nurture not nature All men are born unique Born different Nature not nurture Morals Amoral Not innate knowledge Locke: blank slate Virtuous Instincts Education Education is important Teach each other Education should lay out choices Let child choose Change Artificial change Take out old, put in new Organic Continual change and growth Anti-social behavior Anti-social behavior because people have not been taught right/wrong Lack of self-control Leave people to themselves so that they can be healthy Their hearts are pure Anti-social behavior because of societal pressures (schools, parents, etc.) Freedom Freedom should be limited “Don’t cry ‘Fire’ in a crowded movie theater” Freedom should not be limited Rulers Rule by an educated elite Rule by the masses because they know themselves Voting Voters should read and become informed before they vote Vote what is best for themselves Voters should follow their instincts Vote quickly The vote will be the best for all If you ask one person, you’ll know what everyone would want

A Growing Distrust of Reason Early 19c Enlightenment Romanticism Society is good, curbing violent impulses! Civilization corrupts! -Rousseau The essence of human experience is subjective and emotional. Human knowledge is a puny thing compared to other great historical forces. “Individual rights” are dangerous efforts at selfishness  the community is more important.

The Romantic Movement Began in the 1790s and peaked in the 1820s. Mostly in Northern Europe, especially in Britain and Germany. A reaction against classicism. The “Romantic Hero:” Greatest example was Lord Byron Tremendously popular among the European reading public. Youth imitated his haughtiness and rebelliousness.

Philosophical forerunners of Romanticism 1. Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778): most important (Social Contract, 1762); believed society and materialism corrupted human nature • Believed man was a “noble savage” in a state of nature

George William Friedreich Hegel (1770-1831) Dialectic -- initial idea (thesis) is challenged by an opposing view (anti-thesis) and results in a hybrid of the two ideas (synthesis)

Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762-1814) a. In Addresses to the German Nation (1806) he developed a romantic nationalism that saw Germans as superior over other peoples. b. Strongly anti-Semitic

Romanticism Emotion over reason Emphasized the human senses, passion, and faith Glorification of nature; emphasized its beauty and tempestuousness Rejected the Enlightenment view of nature as a precise harmonious whole as well as deism. Rejected Enlightenment view of the past which was counter-progressive to human history

Encouraged personal freedom and flexibility By emphasizing feeling, humanitarian movements were created to fight slavery, poverty and industrial evils. In some cases, drew upon ideals of the Middle Ages (gothic) Honor, faith and chivalry

Characteristics of Romanticism Copy this in your notebook Examples Emotions Emotion over reason -Emphasized the human senses, passion, and faith   The "Rugged" Individual The Individual/ The Dreamer: -Individuals have unique, endless potential. The Power & Fury of Nature Glorification of nature; emphasized its beauty and tempestuousness -Rejected the Enlightenment view of nature as a precise harmonious whole as well as deism. -Overwhelming power of nature. Science Can Be Dangerous!

Honor, faith and chivalry Characteristics of Romanticism Examples The "New" Technology Is Dehumanizing   By emphasizing feeling, humanitarian movements were created to fight slavery, poverty and industrial evils. The Gothic: "Romanticizing "the Middle Ages Honor, faith and chivalry Mysticism - Dreams, hallucinations, sleepwalking, and other phenomena that suggested the existence of a world beyond that of empirical observation, sensory data, and discursive reasoning fascinated the Romantics

Return to Christian Nationalism - glorification of both the individual person and individual cultures. - all cultures are valuable because each contributes to the necessary clash of values and ideas that allows humankind to develop   Return to Christian - Methodist preachers emphasized the role of enthusiastic, emotional experience as part of Christian conversion.

Wandering Above the Sea of Fog Caspar David Friedrich, 1818

The Wreck of the Hope (aka The Sea of Ice) Caspar David Friedrich, 1821

The Raft of the Medusa Théodore Géricault, 1819

The Eruption of Vesuvius - John Martin

Dr. Frankenstein’s Adam & Eve??

Rain, Steam, and Speed Joseph Mallord William Turner, 1844

Rain, Steam, & Speed (details)

The Slave Ship Joseph Mallord William Turner, 1842

The Slave Ship (details)

Flatford Mill – John Constable, 1817

The Hay Wain - John Constable, 1821

Salisbury Cathedral from the Bishop’s Ground John Constable, 1825

Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows John Constable, 1831

British Houses of Parliament 1840-1865

Neuschwanstein

Cloister Cemetery in the Snow Caspar David Friedrich, 1817-1819

Saturn Devours His Son Francisco Goya, 1819-1823

Greece on the Ruins of Missolonghi Eugène Delacroix, 1827

Liberty Leading the People Eugène Delacroix, 1830

Detail of the Musket Bearer Delacoix, himself

The Shooting of May 3, 1808 Francisco Goya, 1815

God as the Architect - William Blake, 1794

Romanticism in Literature The world is too much with us” by William Wordsworth The World is too much with us; late and soon,    Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers:    Little we see in Nature that is ours;  We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!  …we are out of tune    

The Great Age of the Novel Historical Novel: Ivanhoe - Sir Walter Scott (1819) Les Miserables - Victor Hugo (1862) The Three Musketeers – Alexander Dumas (1844)

The Great Age of the Novel Science Fiction Novel: Frankenstein - Mary Shelley (1817) Dracula – Bramm Stoker (1897)

Other Romantic Writers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm - Grimm’s Fairy Tales (1814-1816) - Defined German culture- Nationalism Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - Faust (1806-1832) Faust sells his soul to the devil for all knowledge-

The Romantic Poets Percy Byssche Shelley Lord Byron (George Gordon) Samuel Taylor Coleridge William Wordsworth John Keats William Blake

George Gordon’s (Lord Byron) Poem The Prisoner of Chillon

Music Music (c. 1820-1900) 1. Romantic music places a strong connection with emotion as well as nationalism (which is conveyed through the use of national folk songs)

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1826) Transitional figure between the Classical and Romantic eras One of the first composers to covey inner human emotion through music Epitomized the genius who was not constrained by patronage (as were virtually all of his predecessors) Many of his later works were written when he was deaf First composer to incorporate vocal music in a symphony by using the text to one of Schiller’s poems (“Ode to Joy”) in the last movement of his 9th Symphony.

Franz Schubert (1797-1828) Frédéric Chopin (1810-49): Richard Wagner (1813-1883), German nationalist composer who strongly emphasized Germanic myths and legends (Anti-Semitic) Peter Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) 1812 Overture (1882)

Romanticism: The Great Paradox

The Political Implications Romanticism could reinforce the greatest themes of political liberalism or political conservatism. Contributed to growing nationalist movements. The concepts of the Volk and the Volkgeist. The uniqueness of cultures was emphasized.