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Understanding Romanticism's Essence

Romanticism emerged in the late 18th century in opposition to the Enlightenment ideals of reason and order. Romanticism emphasized imagination, emotion, freedom, the supernatural, and subjective experiences. It admired nature, ruins, and the medieval past. English Romanticism was influenced by the French and Industrial Revolutions and expressed discontent with social conditions. It viewed nature as a living being rather than something controlled by reason. Gothic novels became popular and featured dark, mysterious settings and supernatural elements to arouse fear. Romantic poetry best expressed emotions and nature served as a source of inspiration. The Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge was influential in establishing English Romanticism.

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43 views2 pages

Understanding Romanticism's Essence

Romanticism emerged in the late 18th century in opposition to the Enlightenment ideals of reason and order. Romanticism emphasized imagination, emotion, freedom, the supernatural, and subjective experiences. It admired nature, ruins, and the medieval past. English Romanticism was influenced by the French and Industrial Revolutions and expressed discontent with social conditions. It viewed nature as a living being rather than something controlled by reason. Gothic novels became popular and featured dark, mysterious settings and supernatural elements to arouse fear. Romantic poetry best expressed emotions and nature served as a source of inspiration. The Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge was influential in establishing English Romanticism.

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Maria vittoria Soda
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© All Rights Reserved
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Romanticism- A new sensibility

In the second half of the 18th century, a new sensibility emerged. This new trend of ideas was
in opposition with dominant ideals of order, calm, harmony and balance that characterized
the Augustan age. While Enlightment trends emphasized reason and judgment, focused on
impersonal material and were interested in science and technology, Romanticism emphasized
imagination and emotions, looked for freedom, was interested in the supernatural, valued
subjective and autobiographical material, and aimed to involve more people (the birth of the
novel).

Romanticism was also accompanied by a love for desolation, ruins, graveyards, ancient
castles, and admiration for the Medieval Age. Artists’ interest was focused in capturing the
different facets of everyday life, alongside exalting emotions over reason, and senses over
intellect.
English Romanticism was the emblem of the revolt against enlightened reason; it was strongly
influenced by the French Revolution and the English Industrial Revolution.
Romantics expressed a negative attitude towards the existing social and political conditions,
often accompanied with a sense of melancholy, coming from the meditation on the suffering of
the poor and on death. The individual was at the center of the art.

The Romantics introduced a new concept of nature; indeed, a new perspective on nature
replaced the classical view of nature as a set of divine laws, the emblem of order, which could
be controlled only by the faculty of reason. It was perceived as a real and living being, with an
immense power that could potentially overwhelm every man.

Another relevant feature about Romantic Age, is the distinction between the beautiful and the
sublime. The latter, is created from fear, the strongest of emotions (according to Edmund
Burke). Whatever is visibly terrible is always sublime, cause it arouses a sense of danger and
terror. In this perspective, conditions like obscurity and mystery, emphasize the sense of
sublime.

When, in nature, the great and the sublime meet, we are pervaded by a very specific emotion:
Astonishment. This feeling is a state of the soul, and it is the effect of sublime at its highest
degree. The inferior effects are admiration, reverence and respect.

The Gothic novel

The Gothic novel became popular at the end of the 18th century. The adjective ‘gothic’ as three
connotations:
-Medieval (linked to the architecture of the 12th and 14th centuries)
-Irregular, barbarous, opposed to Classicism
-Wild, supernatural, in the sense of mysterious

Gothic novels were marked by a taste for strange and mysterious, and the interest for this
type of novel became common to all social classes. The aim of those novels was to arouse fear,
hence, a great importance was given to terror. This emotion was created with obscure and evil
atmospheres and characters.
Darkness was a necessary ingredient of this type of works (the most important events usually
take place at night).

The setting of the gothic novels was undoubtedly influenced by the concept of sublime;
isolated castles, mysterious abbeys, convents, hidden passages and dungeons were some of
the most popular settings. Moreover, events usually took place in Catholic countries, due to
the Protestant prejudices against Catholicism.

The gothic hero is usually a wanderer, an outcast that is isolated from society, either
voluntary or involuntary. The plots are typically colored by the presence of supernatural
beings such as vampires, monsters, and ghosts. The greatest example of an English gothic
novel is Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

Romantic Poetry

At the end of the 18th century, and the beginning of the 19th century, English Romanticism saw
the prevalence of poetry, which best suited the need to give expressions to emotional
experience and individual feelings. Imagination gained a primary role in the process of poetic
composition.
The poet was seen as a prophet whose task was to mediate between man and nature, giving
voice to the ideals of freedom, beauty and truth. Nature became a main source of inspiration, a
stimulus to thought and a source of comfort and joy.
As regards poetic technique, breaking free from models and rules, the Romantic poet searched
for a new, individual style. More vivid and familiar words replaced Latinism and classical
words.

Wordsworth and Colerdige were known as the Lake Poets because they lived together in the
district of the Great Lakes in Northwestern England. In 1798 they published the Lyrical
Ballads, which became the manifesto of English Romanticism. While planning their work, they
decided that Wordsworth would write on the beauty of nature and ordinary things with the
aim of making them interesting for the reader. Coleridge, instead, should deal with topics like
supernatural and mystery.

The poets of the second generation are Byron, Shelley and Keats. Their poetry reflects their
political disillusion, and they were also connected with individualism and escapism.
They all died very young and away from home.

Common questions

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In Romantic poetry, nature was a main source of inspiration and was seen as a living being with immense power, capable of stimulating thought and providing comfort and joy. Unlike prior movements that viewed nature in terms of divine laws and order, Romantic poets saw nature as chaotic and sublime, intertwined with human emotion. It was a stimulus for reflection and a refuge from industrial society .

The concept of the sublime, which involves fear and admiration for the terrifying, was central to Gothic literature. It influenced both themes and settings, with an emphasis on creating a sense of awe and dread. Gothic novels often featured dark, isolated, and mysterious environments like castles and dungeons. These settings enhanced the mysterious and supernatural elements, aiming to evoke terror and fascination in the reader .

Gothic novels often took place in Catholic countries, reflecting Protestant prejudices against Catholicism at the time. The settings used Catholic imagery to create an exotic and mysterious atmosphere, paralleling popular fears and suspicions about Catholic rituals and institutions. This choice of setting added to the novel's eerie and mysterious tone, aligning with the Gothic emphasis on the supernatural and the unknown .

The French Revolution emphasized the individual and freedom, key tenets of Romanticism, reflecting a shift from societal conformity to personal expression. The Industrial Revolution, meanwhile, exacerbated societal ills and inspired Romantic poets to critique industrial society and idealize nature. The suffering brought on by industrial progress forced Romantic writers to meditate on the plight of the poor and the loss of connection with nature, themes integral to Romanticism’s focus on individuality and emotion over reason and industrial advance .

A typical Gothic hero in English Gothic literature is a wanderer and an outcast, isolated from society, either by choice or circumstance. The settings these heroes find themselves in include isolated castles, mysterious abbeys, hidden passages, and dungeons, often in remote locations. These locations, often depicted with a sense of mystery and supernatural occurrences like ghosts, contribute to the atmosphere of terror that is central to Gothic literature .

In Romantic aesthetics, the sublime, as described by Edmund Burke, is associated with fear, the strongest of emotions. It is invoked by things that are awful or terrifying and arouses a sense of danger and terror. The beautiful, in contrast, is associated with pleasure and serenity. Conditions like obscurity and mystery enhance the sublime, creating feelings of awe and astonishment, which is the highest state of the sublime .

The Medieval Age significantly influenced Romantic and Gothic literature through its themes of chivalry, the supernatural, and its architectural inspiration. Romanticism admired the perceived emotional richness of the Medieval Age, incorporating its themes of heroism and mystery. Similarly, Gothic literature utilized medieval settings like castles and ruins as backdrops to evoke a sense of awe, terror, and the sublime. These elements reflected a romanticized past used to contrast the rationalism and order of contemporary society .

Wordsworth and Coleridge had complementary yet distinct approaches in the Lyrical Ballads. Wordsworth focused on the beauty of nature and everyday life, aiming to make mundane subjects interesting by highlighting their inherent beauty and emotional connections. Coleridge, on the other hand, delved into themes of the supernatural and mystery, exploring the emotions arising from these mysterious and awe-inspiring experiences. Together, they captured the Romantic ideals of emotional depth and the celebration of nature and imagination .

Romanticism's emphasis on individual expression and emotion greatly contributed to the novel's development by breaking away from rigid classical forms and embracing personal narratives and emotional depth. This allowed for more diverse storytelling, focusing on subjective experiences and personal conflicts, which were ideal for the novel's format. The birth of the novel during this time provided a new medium for exploring the imaginative and emotional landscapes emphasized by Romanticism .

Romanticism differed from the Enlightenment by emphasizing imagination and emotions over reason and judgment, which were core to Enlightenment values. While the Enlightenment focused on impersonal material, science, and technology, Romanticism sought freedom, the supernatural, and valued subjective, autobiographical material. It placed the individual at the center of art, highlighting personal emotional experience rather than universal truths derived from reason .

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