Classicism vs Romanticism

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Classicism vs Romanticism

• Honors American Literature

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Classicism (Age of Reason)

• Definition
• Believed that reason is the dominating
  characteristic of both nature and human nature,
  and both are governed by fixed, unchanging laws

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Classicism

• 18th C (1700s)
• Nature a self-contained machine, whose laws
  could be rationally understood
• Valued clarity, order, balance
• Imagination had to be restrained by reason and
  common sense

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Classicism

• Upheld tradition
• Resisted change
• Human limitations
• Reason over Imagination
• Social over Personal all emphasized
• Common over Individual by Romanticism

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Romanticism

• Definition
• Emphasized emotions, an individual, intuition

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Romanticism

• 1800 1830
• Imagination gives expression to that which marks
  each persons unique being
• All art is the imaginative expression of the
  inner essence of the individual/claim for
  individual freedom.

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Romanticism

• Emphasized the human potential for social
  progress and spiritual growth
• Reflected political ideas in Decl. of Ind. all
  men are created equal which led to emphasis of
  the dignity and worth of the common indiv. and to
  social reforms to fulfill this ideal of equality

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• Romantic writers tried to express their own
  intuitive experiences.

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Common Romantic Subjects

• Nature
• The Past
• Inner World of Human Nature

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Nature

• Emphasized beauty, strangeness, mystery of (not
  rational laws)
• Saw as an organic process, constantly developing
  and changing
• Connection btwn human imagination and the natural
  world

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The Past

• Later Romantic poets used dramatic incidents from
  early American history

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Inner World of Human Nature

• The exploration and expression of the writers
  most private inner being.
• Belief that this interior world of intense
  feeling is not ruled by reason.
• Interested in the irrational depths of human
  nature.

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A Quick Comparison
Age of Reason Romanticism
Reason Imagination
Social (society) Personal
Common Individual freedom
Common sense Intuition
Tradition Social reforms, spiritual growth (change)
Rational law of nature Nature as mystery
Human limitations Supernatural
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Application

• How do the 3 common romantic subjects apply to
  The Scarlet Letter?