Romanticism

1
Romanticism

• 1820s-1890s

2
The Time Period

• In America, 1820s-1890s
• Development of the Civil War in America meant
  increased political tensions.
• Manifest Destiny still going strong.
• First great creative period in America.

3
Major Aspects

• A reaction against the Age of Reason
• Evoking and criticizing the past.
• Respect for wild and pure nature.
• Connection with emotion.
• Isolation of the artist or author.
• Emphasis on Transcendentalism.
• Asserting the idea of Nationalism.

4
Definition

• Movement in art, literature, and music during the
  19th century.
• Seen most strongly in music, literature, and the
  visual arts.
• Characterized by the 5 Is
• - Imagination
• - Intuition
• - Idealism
• - Inspiration
• - Individuality

5
Imagination

• Imagination was emphasized over reason.
• Needed more connection with nature and the
  surrounding world.
• Promoted expanding your mind.
• Considered necessary for creating art.
• Imagination preferred over classical rules.

6
Intuition

• Feeling or instincts.
• British Romantic William Wordsworth described
  poetry as the spontaneous overflow of powerful
  feelings.

7
Idealism

• Idealism is the concept that we can make the
  world a better place.
• Emphasizes the spirit, the mind, or language over
  matter.
• Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher, held that
  the mind forces the world we perceive to take the
  shape of the space and time.

8
Inspiration

• Romantics believed the artists, writer, or
  musician is an inspired creator rather than a
  technical master.
• Spontaneous, going with the moment

9
Individuality

• During this time period, Womens Rights and
  Abolitionism were taking root as major movements.
• Promoting the overall welfare and bettering the
  nation through the individual.
• The individual is at the center of all life,
  which places the individual at the center of art.

10
Subjects

• Nature
• the Self
• the inner
• the past
• the world of human nature
• Supernatural

11
Ideas

• Beauty- picturesque
• The exotic
• The mysterious
• The emotional
• Moral qualities

12
The Dark Side

• Edgar Allan Poe
• The strongest poetic influence in the pre-Civil
  War America
• Still maintained the main ideas of Romanticism,
  just from a more cynical perspective.
• Less of the light and fluffy and more of the
  dark and twisty.

13
Beauty in Nature

• Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau
• Both believed and promoted transcendentalism.
• Expressed philosophic and religious ideas at an
  elevated level.
• Disguised their political messages and criticisms
  in their writings.

14
Tall-Tale

• Type of folklore associated with the American
  frontier.
• Characterized by humorous exaggerations, heroes,
  super-human traits, and unbelievable events.

15
Transcendentalism

• A philosophy which holds that basic truths can be
  reached through intuition rather than through
  reason.
• Beauty in nature.
• Essential divinity of all people.
• Primary importance of the human spirit.
• Mostly seen through novels or essays.

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Romanticism Summary

• Feelings are more important than reason.
• Imagination is most important.
• Happiness can be found in nature, not in
  civilization.
• Innocence is more important than sophistication.
• The individual is more important than society.

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• Nature is the way to gain spiritual wisdom.
• Beauty and truth can be found in the supernatural
  and imagination.
• Poetry is the highest work of the imagination.
• Inspiration comes from myth, legend, and
  folklore.