1. Vs. The Other R’s : Reason and Realism
Romanticism
Vs. The Other R’s : Reason and Realism

2. Romanticism is not…

3. Romanticism is…
Characters are commonly upper-class or “larger than life”
Plots are unusual, mysterious, adventurous, and sometimes over-the –top extravagant
Endings are happy – perhaps too happy
Writing style is formal, loaded, and “tough”
Setting is unrealistic and often fabricated

4. Other Defining Features of Romanticism
Past – longing for the medieval, pre-industrial, or past in general
Irrational/Inner mind/Insanity – depict the human psyche and topics that transcend reason
Nature – longing for the purity of nature, which defies human rationality; nature is mysterious and unbounded
Emotion/Exotic – favor emotion and passion over reason. Exotic themes and locales are popular
P-I-N-E

5. Early Am Age of Reason Romanticism Realism
1600s s s s
Puritans, preachers, explorers Politicians, inventors fiction and motivational writers satirists, social activists
Journals, poems, letters, speeches, pamphlets, short stories, poems, novels
Observations, sermons autobiographies , essays essays about life

6. Romanticism was a reaction to the Age of Reason:
  NON-ROMANTIC/CLASSICAL ROMANTIC
~Reasonable and practical Emotional                                        ~Public Responsibility Individual needs ~Loves Public, Urban life                                    Loves Solitude & Nature    ~ External Reality Fantasy/Introspection ~Objective Science Subjective Perception ~Desire Repressed    Satisfaction of Desire ~ Mechanical Organic ~
~Form/order Creative Energy/Power ~Mundane Exotic ~Bourgeois Family "Noble Savage"/Outcasts ~Materialist/Empirical Philosophy Idealist Philosophy
Realism was a reaction to Romanticism…

7. R vs R 1820-1865ish 1865-1914ish Characters may be “larger than life”
Plot contains unusual events, mystery, or high adventure
Ending often happy
Language is often “literary” (inflated, formal…)
Settings often made up; if actual settings, focus is on exotic, strange mysterious
Writer is interested in history or legend; the past is important in the plot
Characters resemble ordinary people
Plot is developed with ordinary events and circumstances
Ending might be happy
Writer uses ordinary speech and dialect, common vernacular
Settings actually exist
Writer is interested in recent or contemporary life