Transcript Enlightenment vs Romanticism

A comparison of Enlightenment
and Romanticism Thought
• Romanticism,
• The Enlightenment,
(Conservatism and
(Liberalism or NeoIdealism) was a
Classicism) was an
reaction to the
outgrowth of the ideas of
philosophes
the philosophes
• It emphasized feelings,
• Advocated for reason,
imagination, emotions
logic and common sense
and inuition
• Stressed order, harmony
and emotional restraint
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
“I know the feelings of my heart,
and I know men. I am not
made like any of those I have
seen. I venture to believe that I
am not made like any of those
who are in existence. If I am
not better, at least I am
different.” Confessions, 1781
Eccentricity is okay
on nature and the natural world...
• The universe is giant mechanical
clock with all parts working
harmoniously and simultaneously
• Man's passions are not good and
must be subordinated to social
rules
• Deism – saw God as “the Great
Planner” who assembled the
Universe, wound it up and leaves
it alone.
• Criticized “mechanism” -fitting
all people into a mechanical
framework diminished their
unique individuality
• Machines are “soul-less” without souls/spirit
• Nature is “The Sublime” -lofty,
noble & majestic
• Pantheism-the presence of God
in nature
on scientific rationalism...
• use the scientific
method to discover
and understand the
natural world and
Man.
• “the scientific method
crushes emotions,
feelings and impedes
creativity.”
… Lord Byron
William Blake
• “The Reasoning
Power of Man is an
incrustation (scab)
over my immortal
spirit.”
on Christianity...
• rejected Christianity
and all religions for
their reliance on faith
and superstition…
• “miracles” defy reason
and logic
• viewed God as a
spiritual force that
inspired people and
enriched life.
on the Middle Ages ...
• “The Dark Ages” a
period of decay and
ignorance in which
superstition and
fanaticism reigned
• Medieval institutions
and traditions stopped
human progress
• “An Age of Faith” - a
time of deep religious
faith that nurtured
social harmony
on the concept of history...
• it provided examples
of human folly in the
past and helped people
prepare for a better
future.
• “each historical period
is unique to a given
time, place and people
with its own
soul…zeitgeist.”
Georg W.F. Hegel
on imagination ...
• the imagination of the
• it distorts reason and
individual should
ignores common sense
determine the content and
shape of man’s creations
and self-expression
William Wordsworth
• “…imagination and
feelings, not
mathematics and logic,
yield the highest
truth.”
• “I am certain of
nothing but of the
holiness of my
heart’s affections
and the truth of
imagination.”
John Keats
on human feelings...
• feelings are an
obstacle to clear
thinking and hide the
truth.
• feelings are the avenue
to truth-spontaneous
human emotions
reveal the inner self.
The approach to literature
• rules and formulas
were introduced for
the perfect play, poem
or piece of music
26 rules for tragedy
25 rules for comedy
24 rules for epic poetry
• Express yourself,
listen to your inner
voice.
• you can’t learn to
write poetry from a
textbook
Victor Hugo, 1802-1885
• “Freedom in our art!...
Let us take a hammer to
the theories, to the rules
and the formulas ….”
• American RomanticistsEdgar Allen Poe
Walt Whitman
James Fenimore Cooper
Nathaniel Hawthorne
on folk and cultural traditions...
• the philosophes
ridiculed and
dismissed folk
traditions as peasant
superstitions which
stood in the way of
human progress
• Romanticists viewed
native languages,
songs and legends as
the unique creations of
a people and their
deepest expressions of
national feelings.
• folk traditions were
the spiritual force of a
people’s identity and
creativity.
on works of art...
• to attempt to portray,
as accurately as
possible, the subject
and it’s surrounding
environment.
• Greek and Roman
subjects
• Used as propaganda,
to teach or inform
• Paintings are not mere
imitations of nature
but authentic and
spontaneous
expressions of the
artist's feelings,
intuition, fantasies and
dreams
> calm grandeur
> noble simplicity
> realistic detail
>contrived, stagelike and stiff –
frozen in time
> figures are solid
but immobile
The Death of Socrates
Achilles receives the ambassadors of Agamemnon
• Napoleon
crossing the
St. Bernard
Pass
• Napoleon
Crossing the
Alps
Hamlet at the gravesite of Yurick
Tintern Abbey (A Gothic ruin in Wales)
Raft of the Medusa, 1819, Gericault
Boat in a Maelstrom
Saturday Afternoon, Constable
Monticello, Jefferson 1784
Nuschwanstein Castle, Ludwig II, 1864
Any Questions?
a self-quiz…
The Oath of the Horatii
• Zeus and
Thetis
Liberty Leading the People, Delacroix 1830
Town On A River, Schinkel 1815
Palace de Pena, Portugal
• Palacio de Pena
The Sabine Women, David
Vergil Reading to Augustus, Ingres
A Mountain Stream
The Boatmaker, Constable
U.S. Capitol
Any Questions?