The Romantic PeriodMs. Faucette’s English III

Romanticism (Historical Context)

The Romantic Movement begins in Europe, namely Germany and England, in the late 1700s.

Romanticism becomes an international phenomenon. In America, Romanticism peaks from approximately 1830 to 1890.

In America, The Romantic Movement comes as a reaction to The Age of Enlightenment and coincides with the industrialization and westward expansion of the country.

Romanticism (Overview)

Romanticism was a cultural movement. It affected art, music, literature, philosophy, etc.

Romanticism was a reaction against the scientific rationalization of the world that had been the focus during the Enlightenment. Instead, Romantics viewed nature and the world as something beyond human control and understanding.

Romantics favored the soul, passion, and emotions!

Romanticism (Overview) Romantics believed that authentic experience

occurred through intense, heightened emotions. To really experience something, one had to feel! Horror, compassion, terror, melancholy, awe, misery, etc…

Romantics also rebelled against classicism. Classical philosophy favored balance, symmetry, and aesthetic perfection. Romantics, instead, favored the raw beauty of the natural world, with its chaotic asymmetry and imperfections.

Romanticism in Literature Rather than writing about the present times

or the future, romantic literature focuses on the past. This builds deep sentiment or nostalgia in the reader. (Nostalgia occurs when you yearn for a time of yore.)

Romantic literature includes the supernatural or the occult. These elements easily stir emotion!

Romantic texts delve deep into the human psyche, exploring human emotions, sensibilities, and reactions. EMOTION!

American Romantic Authors Edgar Allen Poe Nathaniel Hawthorne (The Scarlet

Letter) Henry Wadsworth Longfellow William Cullen Bryant James Russell Lowell Oliver Wendell Holmes John Greenleaf Whittier Emily Dickinson (LATE ROMANTICS) Walt Whitman (LATE ROMANTICS)

Romantic Art

The Lady of Shallot by Waterhouse

Romantic Art

Outbreak of Vesuvius by Dahl

The Nightmare by Fuseli

Romantic Music

Chopin, Waltz in D Flat Major http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S

TJOZZufG3o

Romantic Music

Richard Wagner, Ride of the Valkyries

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V92OBNsQgxU

Romantic Music

Shubert’s Serenade http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o

wpkZzSRlYA&feature=related