1. What does it mean to call something Romantic?
Romantic Period
What does it mean to call something Romantic?

2. Statements that Embody or Suggest Romanticism
1. The answers to life’s most puzzling questions can be found through discussions with a simple person who lives in the country close to nature—not with a sophisticated, well-educated person from the city.
2. The answer to life’s most puzzling questions can be found through a connection with nature.
have students indicate on a sheet of paper whether they personally agree or disagree with each statement by recording “A” for agree or “D” for disagree.
Portrait of Insane Woman, 1822

3. Statements that Embody or Suggest Romanticism
The Nude Maja
3. The use of one’s imagination is more important than rational thought.
4. Subjectivity is more important than objectivity.
5. Knowledge is gained through gut reactions and subjective hunches rather than level-headed, objective, deductive thought.
Understanding the lived experience of people is essential. There is no way to BE objective, as we are subjective – we have opinions and our opinions are valid!
The Clothed Maja

4. Statements that Embody or Suggest Romanticism
6. Nature is more important than art.
7. Experimental trial and error is a better process than the conventional scientific method.
8. Poetry should be spontaneous and full of emotion, not planned and straightforward.
The Leaping Horse 1825

5. Statements that Embody or Suggest Romanticism
9. Sensitivity, feelings, and spontaneity are more important than intellectualism.
10. “Dare to be” is a better battle-cry than “dare to know.”
The Burning of the Houses
of Lords and Commons,
16th October, 1834, 1835
After all students have read and responded to the questions, ask them to total all of their As and Ds. Then have students determine how “Romantic” they are by sharing the following key:
3 or fewer As = “not Romantic”
4 or 5 As = “sort of Romantic”
6 or 7 As = “highly Romantic”
8–10 As = “extremely Romantic”

6. Characteristics of Romanticism
Interest in the common man and childhood
Romantics believed in the natural goodness of humans which is hindered by the urban life of civilization. They believed that the savage is noble, childhood is good and the emotions inspired by both beliefs causes the heart to soar.
The Voyage of Life: Youth begun 1839

7. Characteristics of Romanticism
Strong senses, emotions, feelings
Romantics believed that knowledge is gained through intuition rather than deduction. This is best summed up by Wordsworth who stated that “all good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.”
The Voyage of Life: Childhood begun 1839

8. Characteristics of Romanticism
Awe of Nature
Romantics stressed the awe of nature in art and language and the experience of sublimity through a connection with nature. Romantics rejected the rationalization of nature by the previous thinkers of the Enlightenment period.
The Woodcutter 1891 Watercolor over graphite

9. Characteristics of Romanticism
Celebration of the
Individual
Romantics often elevated the achievements of the misunderstood, heroic individual outcast.
Friedrich, Caspar David
The German romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich, b. Sept. 5, 1774, d. May 7, 1840, was one of the greatest exponents in European art of the symbolic landscape.
He studied at the Academy in Copenhagen ( ), and subsequently settled in Dresden, often traveling to other parts of Germany. Friedrich's landscapes are based entirely on those of northern Germany and are beautiful renderings of trees, hills, harbors, morning mists, and other light effects based on a close observation of nature.
Some of Friedrich's best-known paintings are expressions of a religious mysticism. In 1808 he exhibited one of his most controversial paintings, The Cross in the Mountains (Gemaldegalerie, Dresden), in which--for the first time in Christian art--an altarpiece was conceived in terms of a pure landscape. The cross, viewed obliquely from behind, is an insignificant element in the composition. More important are the dominant rays of the evening sun, which the artist said depicted the setting of the old, pre-Christian world. The mountain symbolizes an immovable faith, while the fir trees are an allegory of hope. Friedrich painted several other important compositions in which crosses dominate a landscape.
Even some of Friedrich's apparently nonsymbolic paintings contain inner meanings, clues to which are provided either by the artist's writings or those of his literary friends. For example, a landscape showing a ruined abbey in the snow, Abbey with Oak Trees (1810; Schloss Charlottenburg, Berlin), can be appreciated on one level as a bleak, winter scene, but the painter also intended the composition to represent both the church shaken by the Reformation and the transitoriness of earthly things.
Wanderer above the Sea of Fog 1818

10. Characteristics of Romanticism
Importance of Imagination
Romantics legitimized the individual imagination as a critical authority.
Ulysses deriding Polyphemus, 1829
What are the five characteristics of Romanticism?
What were some of the basic Romantic beliefs?
Do you think these beliefs are relevant today? Why or why not?

11. The Raft of Medusa
of Théodore Géricault’s painting The Raft of the Medusa. Discuss the historical background of the painting with students and how the painting represents the plight of the passengers and crew of the ill-fated French ship Medusa in Wikipedia offers more information about this event. Ask students to comment on and describe what they see in the painting.
What images do you see in Géricault’s painting?
What do you think Géricault’s purpose was in depicting this event?
What do you like about the painting? Why?
What don’t you like about the painting? Why?
They should click on each highlighted area to learn more and respond to prompts about the painting. Have students print out their work when they are finished.
Bring the class back together and ask for volunteers to share some of the interesting elements in the painting. Some of these elements include:
A “pyramid of hope” is created in the center of the painting by dead figures at the bottom, dying figures in the middle, and a topmost figure waving a rag at the top.
A large wave in the mid-left side of the painting threatens to break on the raft.
Rays of sunlight breaking on the horizon at the top of the painting.
On the right side a tiny image of a rescue ship can be seen on the distant horizon.
In the far right hand corner of the raft is a bloodstained axe.

12. Diction The Raft Of Medusa
What is the denotative (dictionary meaning) and the connotative (idea/implied meaning or association) meaning of the primary words in the title:
The
Raft Of
Medusa

13. Characterization appearance and/or dress effect on others
Explain how characterization is used to establish the difference in emotions between the people at the bottom of the raft and at the very top through an analysis of the following elements of indirect characterization:
appearance and/or dress
effect on others
action or movement

14. Imagery Is the painting dominated by warm or cool colors?
Describe the location of the dark and light areas.
Overall, do the colors and light establish a positive or negative tone?

15. Symbolism
What is the symbolic meaning of three individual elements in the work?
How do these three symbols work together to establish an overall meaning of the work?

16. Tone
Review your responses for numbers 2–4 and describe what you believe to be the artist’s attitude towards the subject of this painting.
Explain how two elements from the work help establish this tone (remember that some works have more than one tone).

17. Plot
At what point on the plot line does the scene depicted in this work fall?
Explain how specific elements in the work helped you determine your answer.

18. Theme
State the central, underlying, and controlling idea of this work.
It is important to recognize the difference between the theme of a literary work and the subject of a literary work. The subject is the topic on which an author has chosen to write. The theme, however, makes some statement about or expresses some opinion on that topic. For example, the subject of a story might be war while the theme might be the idea that war is useless.

19. Romanticism Upcoming Readings: Ozymandias (pronounced OzzyMANDeeus)
“Rime of the Ancient Mariner”
Frankenstein: the Frankenfolio
Options: lessons in manners, budgeting,

20. Frankenfolio A Portfolio: compilation of your stuff!
Presentations: each of you will present at least two times
Chapter Presentation
Mini-lecture (a research topic)
Layers of Fun!

21. Weekend homework Read “Ancient Mariner”, answer questions
Decisions for Frankenstein
Group, Chapter, and Mini-Lecture