The Romantic Movement

1
The Romantic Movement

• France Germany

2
Romanticism

• Defining Romanticism is difficult because the
  idea of what is romantic varies. Arthur Lovejoy
  claimed that what had truly existed was not
  Romanticism but a veritable plurality of
  Romanticisms.
• Common factors which shaped Romanticism, such as
  the French Revolution and the British Industrial
  Revolution. Both of these crisis caused writers
  to look for explanations.
• Myths of creation and nature natural beauty
  harmony vs. artifice became more important, and
  replaced the Neoclassical ideals of rationalism,
  traditionalism, and formal harmony.
• Romantics emphasized individualism the
  individual spirit, mind and capabilities,
  imagination thought, and emotion bliss and
  agony as their guiding principles.

3
French Romanticism

• Reaction to the cruel realities of the French
  Revolution - trying to make sense of the chaos of
  their society.
• A sense of loss for what might have been, part of
  the French post revolutionary sentiment, was
  reflected in its many romantic writings
• Rousseaus Confessions had a major influence on
  the French Romantic movement.
• Focus on the past and individual remembering
  became one of the focuses of French Romanticism.
• The idea of living a solitary and imaginative
  life away from society was another important
  focus.
• Writings dealing with the emotions and the idea
  of the tragedy of love rather than a utopian
  bliss.
• Desire for freedom and escape authority

4
French Romantic Heroes

• Conscious that they are unlike others
  exceptional
• Solitude, leading to melancholy
• Feeling of being outside society so not bound to
  its laws
• Often an outlaw figure with a grudge against
  society more sinned against than sinning
• Love and fate go together
• Mysterious in past/origin and usually die

5
German Romanticism

• In Germany, Romanticism was a combination of
  spirit and life, of universe and the individual.
  Romanticism in Germany pertained not only to art
  and literature, but also to the sciences and
  everyday life.
• Journeys of self-realization
• Infusion of nature with the mysterious to make
  it unique and beautiful
• Life is poetry, and that all things are
  connected in such a way that a beautiful harmony
  and peace can exist.
• Some aspects of loss modern society is out of
  touch with something important.
• pain of unrequited love or love triangle
• Impossible loves
• Romanticism was seen as a diversion from present
  problems but the end product was a piece that
  acknowledged what was happening politically while
  providing a respite from reality.
• Goethes tales included ghost stories, love
  stories and moral tales.

6
German Romantic Heroes

• Conscious that they are unlike others
  exceptional
• Need for individual spiritual growth
• Suffer emotional pain loss in love
• Somehow hopeful that harmony can be achieved
• Stunned by natural beauty find the mysterious
  in nature
• Fantastical realms combined with reality magic,
  gods, devils