Romanticism

1. Romanticism A Movement Across the Arts

2. 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

3. Imagination • Imagination emphasized over “reason” • Backlash against the rationalism characterized by the Neoclassical period or “Age of Reason” • Imagination considered necessary for creating all art

4. 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.”

5. Idealism • 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.

6. Inspiration • The Romantic artist, musician, or writer, is an “inspired creator” rather than a “technical master.” • Romanticism emphasized going with the moment, or being spontaneous, rather than being precise, controlled, or realistic.

7. Individuality • Romantics celebrated the individual. • Walt Whitman, a later Romantic writer, would write a poem entitled “Song of Myself.” It begins, “I celebrate myself.”

8. 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, such as chivalry and courtly love. • Shakespeare came back into vogue.

9. 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

10. Visual Arts: Examples Romantic Art Neoclassical Art

11. Literature • In America, Romanticism’s strongest impact was on literature. • Writers explored supernatural and gothic themes. • Writers wrote about nature as a place to escape, to reconnect with the primitive and Edenic, and/or to connect with God.

12. Sub-Movements of Romanticism • Gothicism • Edgar Allan Poe • The Fall of the House of Usher • The Raven • Nathaniel Hawthorne • The Minister’s Black Veil

13. “Gothic”? • Setting: “pseudo-medieval,” e.g. in a dark castle or abbey with secret passageways and hidden trap doors • Themes often focused on the darker side of human nature: betrayal, the desire for revenge, insanity, superstition, etc. • Supernatural Elements: ghosts and spirits • Mood and Tone: mysterious, dark, suspenseful, meant to arouse terror

14. Sub-Movements of Romanticism • Transcendentalism • Ralph Waldo Emerson • Nature • Self-Reliance • Henry David Thoreau • Walden • Resistance to Civil Government

15. Humans can transcend to a higher spiritual place One transcends through intuition, not reason One transcends by learning and living in harmony with nature One transcends as an individual, not as a group Every human being is capable of transcendence After transcending one will want to do the right and moral thing and will work to better society. Characteristics of Transcendentalism:

16. More characteristics of Transcendentalism • Everything strives to realize its inner potential • ALL OF NATURE is important and symbolic of spirit • Because all of knowledge is within the self, one does not need the past, the family, or society to set boundaries for behavior

17. Anti-Transcendentalists aka Dark Romantics • Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville • Unlike Emerson and transcendentalism, their view of the world lacked optimism. They saw a dark side to human existence and recorded this aspect of human nature in their works. • Similarities to transcendentalism: valued intuition over reason, saw signs and symbols in events, spiritual facts lie behind physical appearances. • Differences: spiritual facts are not necessarily good or harmless. • Their view developed from the mystical and melancholy aspects of Puritan thought. • Their works explored the conflict between good and evil, psychological effects of guilt and sin, and madness and derangement in human psyche. • They saw the blankness and the horror of evil within humanity.

18. On Hawthorne and “Y.G.B.” • Hawthorne (1804-1864) was born in Salem, Massachusetts; many of his novels and stories are set in Puritan New England. • Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” takes place in Salem in the late 1600’s, around the time of the Salem witch trials. • Hawthorne’s ancestor was a judge during the witch trials; Hawthorne changed the spelling of his name to distance himself from this ancestor.

19. Writing Influences • Hawthorne’s own family and local history provided material for much of his writing • His writing was typical of the nineteenth century romantics. Like them, his stories • deal with the strange and the mysterious. • involve symbolic imagination. • turn to the past for subject matter.

20. Hawthorne and “Y.G.B” Continue • Recurring themes in Hawthorne’s work: • the isolation and alienation of the individual • the workings of the inner mind, including psychological repression and madness • sin and guilt as universal • society’s (especially Puritan society’s) restrictions on sexual and religious freedom • the dangers of the mob mentality • dysfunctional family and other relationships

21. Recurring themes in Hawthorne’s work: the isolation and alienation of the individualthe workings of the inner mind, including psychological repression and madnesssin and guilt as universalsociety’s (especially Puritan society’s) restrictions on sexual and religious freedomthe dangers of the mob mentalitydysfunctional family and other relationships

22. The Scarlet Letter—Themes • Hawthorne struggled with his belief in individual conscience and the essentially evil nature of humankind What is the struggle between these forces? • Hawthorne focuses his attention on the problem of evil and the nature of sin.

23. The Scarlet Letter—Themes • Civil law versus Natural law • The nature of sin and the effects of sin on the individual • In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne analyzes the effect of one sin on the four main characters who are closely intertwined because of that sin (Hester, Pearl, Dimmesdale, Chillingworth) • The individual’s relationship to society

24. TheScarletLetter—Setting • Puritanism in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1642 • The Scarlet Letter has unity of place. All action occurs in the center of Boston and the outskirts of this village. • Accurate historical references are made to the actual governors, ministers, and practices of the Massachusetts Bay Colony of 1642-1650.

25. TheScarletLetter—Setting • The role of both the ministers and the magistrates was to enforce the laws of God. • The church and state cooperated in serving God. In fact, the people of the Massachusetts Bay Colony felt they had a covenant with God to establish a community, a “New Jerusalem,” under His laws.

26. NOTE: Hawthorne did not live during that time and was not a Puritan. Hawthorne wants the reader to react to these attitudes.

27. The Scarlet Letter—Style • Hawthorne displays a use of formal language with a precise diction; although the sentences are long and complex, they are logical and clear. • Hawthorne uses images frequently to create the mood and emphasize his ideas. • Notice especially the use of plant life to differentiate between those with whom Nature sympathizes and those with whom she does not. • Also, notice the use of darkness and shadows, light, the play of sunlight in the forest, etc.

28. The Scarlet Letter--Narration • The narrator tells most of the story in the form of a summary. • Between the passages of explanation by the narrator are poignant, dramatic scenes. • At times, Hawthorne interrupts the narration to provide necessary exposition. • On other occasions, speaking directly to the reader, Hawthorne offers a choice of interpretations. • What is literally true and what is a device to create a supernatural or symbolic effect?