Transcript Romanticism - AP European History at University High School

What is Romanticism?
 Cultural and artistic movement of the 19th C
 Revolt against 18th C Enlightenment & Classicism
 Emotion over reason!
 Emphasis on intuition, feeling, emotion, and imagination as ways
of knowing
 Began in 1790s, peaked in 1820s
 Mostly in Northern Europe, especially in Britain and Germany
 Glorification of the artist as GENIUS
Characteristics of
Romanticism
 Individualism
 Individuals have
unique, endless
potential
 Self-realization comes
through art
 Romantics often had
dramatic, emotional
lives - Bohemian
Characteristics of
Romanticism
 The Romantic Hero –
sentiment and
individualism
 Solitary hero who was
ready to defy the world
and sacrifice his life for
a great cause
 Lord Byron
Characteristics of
Romanticism
 Glorification of Nature
 Rejection of
industrialization &
middle-class values
 Viewed nature as
awesome, powerful,
tempestuous, spiritual
 Pantheism – identifying
great force in nature
with God
 Desire to return to
country/farm life
Characteristics of
Romanticism
 Interest/portrayal of the
exotic, the occult, and
the macabre
 Witches, ghosts,
demons, pagan
mythology
 Fascination with
dreams & the unknown
 Edgar Allen Poe
Characteristics of
Romanticism
 Fascination with History
 Grimm Brothers &
Hans Christian
Anderson – preserved
German/Danish fairy
tales
 Revival of medieval
Gothic architecture –
idealized Middle Ages
 Historical studies
promoted the growth
of national aspirations
Characteristics of
Romanticism
 Nationalism
 Synthesis of history &
emotional intensity
 Reaction to revolutions
and upheavals
Poetry
 Best embodiment of artistic characteristics of
Romanticism
 Flourished in Britain
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William Wordsworth
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Lord Byron
Percy Bysshe Shelley
John Keats
William Blake
“Daffodils”
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze
“Ode to Melancholy”
No, no, go not to Lethe, neither twist
Wolf's-bane, tight-rooted, for its poisonous wine;
Nor suffer thy pale forehead to be kiss'd
By nightshade, ruby grape of Proserpine;
Make not your rosary of yew-berries,
Nor let the beetle, nor the death-moth be
Your mournful Psyche, nor the downy owl
A partner in your sorrow's mysteries;
For shade to shade will come too drowsily,
And drown the wakeful anguish of the soul.
Literature – The Great Age of
the Novel
 The Gothic Novel
 Jane Eyre – Charlotte
Bronte (1847)
 Wuthering Heights –
Emily Bronte (1847)
Literature – The Great Age of
the Novel
 The Historical Novel
 Ivanhoe – Sir Walter
Scott (1819)
 The Hunchback of Notre
Dame – Victor Hugo
(1831)
 Les Miserables – Victor
Hugo (1862)
 The Three Musketeers –
Alexander Dumas
(1844)
Literature – The Great Age of
the Novel
 The Science-Fiction
Novel
 Frankenstein - Mary
Shelley (1817)
 Dracula – Bramm
Stoker (1897)
Romanticism in Art
 Eugene Delacroix (17981863)
 French
 Dramatic, colorful,
exotic paintings
 Considered greatest
Romantic painter
Romanticism in Art
 Caspar David Friedrich
(1774-1840)
 German
 Preoccupation with
God and nature – lots
of landscapes
Romanticism in Art
 Joseph M. W. Turner
(1775-1851)
 English
 Colorful, dramatic
landscapes –
demonstrate power and
terror of nature
Romanticism in Art
 John Constable (17761837)
 English
 Gentle country
landscapes
Romanticism in Music
 Romanticism realized most fully and permanently its goals
of free expression and emotional intensity in music
 Expansion to full orchestra
 Glorification/fame of the musician
 Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
 Contrasting themes and tones – dramatic and emotional
music
 “Beethoven’s music opens the flood gates of fear, of terror, of horror,
of pain, and arouses that longing for the eternal which is the essence
of Romanticism. He is thus a pure Romantic composer.”
The Political Implications
 Romanticism could reinforce the greatest themes of
political liberalism or political conservatism
 Contributed to growing nationalist movements
 The uniqueness of cultures was emphasized