What is Romanticism?
This is the single question that will plague you, as the HSC English Extension student studying Romanticism more than any other. It is difficult to define what Romanticism is as the word ‘Romanticism’ has been used in so many different ways and meanings. F.L. Lucas (a literary scholar) identified 11,396 definitions of “romanticism” and many scholars argue that the best solution is simply to abandon the term once and for all. This is partly due to the fact that many of the Romantics’ ideologies differed very strongly amongst themselves, and many did not consider themselves, or define themselves as Romantic. Despite this it is possible to understand Romanticism, by understanding what it opposed. It was a movement that fundamentally countered the Age of Enlightenment and the ideals of the philosophes, the major thinkers of the Age of Enlightenment.
The Age of Enlightenment
As the Romantic movement is a countering of the ideals present in the Age of Enlightenment, it’s necessary for you to know a bit about the Age of Enlightenment, so that you are able to understand the Romantic period in it’s surrounding context, and better understand the extremely revolutionary ways of thinking the Romantics employed.
The Enlightenment was essentially a declaration of freedom, to be able to think for ones-self, free from the tyranny of politics and religion. This period was characterized by a number of radical European philosophers and scientists challenging the previous belief systems and ideologies of the time. At the height of the Enlightenment, Immanuel Kant wrote, “Dare to know! Have the courage to use your own intelligence!” This line identifies the ethos of the enlightenment’s scholars and intellectuals; that man has the ability to understand his own nature and the natural world, without help from any dogmatic authority such as institutional religion.
The Enlightenment period was characterised by a group of radical intellectuals who were known as philosophes. The philosophes had in common a critical attitude towards any orthodoxy, especially religion. As the church dictated all philosophy and stated theirs was the only correct way of viewing the world, the philosophes were of course highly critical of the church’s ideas as this goes completely against their ideology of man’s ability to think and discover for himself. In order to compete against the dogma of the church, the philosophes turned to a rational, methodical way of discovering and understanding the world. They turned to science, as it supplied a scientific method, and the means to be rational.
Rationality and reason was the key to Enlightenment freedom! The key to being able to understand the world, and the key to allow a person to "Dare to know".
The Enlightenment was essentially a declaration of freedom, to be able to think for ones-self, free from the tyranny of politics and religion. This period was characterized by a number of radical European philosophers and scientists challenging the previous belief systems and ideologies of the time. At the height of the Enlightenment, Immanuel Kant wrote, “Dare to know! Have the courage to use your own intelligence!” This line identifies the ethos of the enlightenment’s scholars and intellectuals; that man has the ability to understand his own nature and the natural world, without help from any dogmatic authority such as institutional religion.
The Enlightenment period was characterised by a group of radical intellectuals who were known as philosophes. The philosophes had in common a critical attitude towards any orthodoxy, especially religion. As the church dictated all philosophy and stated theirs was the only correct way of viewing the world, the philosophes were of course highly critical of the church’s ideas as this goes completely against their ideology of man’s ability to think and discover for himself. In order to compete against the dogma of the church, the philosophes turned to a rational, methodical way of discovering and understanding the world. They turned to science, as it supplied a scientific method, and the means to be rational.
Rationality and reason was the key to Enlightenment freedom! The key to being able to understand the world, and the key to allow a person to "Dare to know".
Romanticism in Comparison
Hence the Romantics and the Philosophe’s, whilst ideologically very different, fought for the same thing. Freedom from human constraints. However the Romantics saw the Enlightenment values of reason and rationality fail in the extreme violence of the French Revolution beginning in 1789. Thus the Romantics saw the Enlightenment values of rationality and reason as suffocating human passion and spirit. To them, it had created a world that was mechanical and cold, it had merely substituted the flaws of the tyranny of religion and politics, with the tyranny of rules and regulations, stemming from mechanical reasoning and rationality. As Rousseau famously stated “Man was born free, and he is everywhere in chains.” The Romantics thus sought to free themselves from these intellectual chains.
Thus many of the values the Romantics held, were geared towards removing the ‘chains’ of the Enlightenment. This is made clear in the rubric which lists the values of the Romantics as the “imagination, individualism and idealism.”
Idealism became vitally important to the Romantics as it held that the world was interpreted and thus formed by the mind. This meant that the world could only be understood from a subjective viewpoint, which the Romantics venerated. This proved a massive change from the Enlightenment who sought to understand the world from an objective viewpoint, one free from the influence of the mind and only understood through rational and logical facts.
As the subjective mind became deeply responsible for a Romantic understanding of the world, it follows that imagination became equally important, and perhaps the singly most exalted facet of the human mind to the Romantics. As the mind explained the world, imagination allowed for it to be understood in all its depth. William Blake, one of the most famous Romantics wrote about the imagination “There Exists in that Eternal World the Permanent Realities of Every Thing which we see reflected in this Vegetable Glass of Nature.” Thus the imagination was held as an almost divine power used not only to understand the world, but also to shape and form it. Once again this is in stark contrast to the Enlightenment ideals of science and only objective facts to attempt to make the world logical. The Romantics did not believe the world logical and hence believed it could only be understood by a force that was equally as organic, the imagination.
Of course a world understood by the subjective mind, and formed by the imagination must inherently favor the individual above all else. The Romantics thus valued the individual, the eccentric and the unique. While previously the desire was for restraint and the obeying of societal rules set by Enlightenment thought, the Romantics favored pure passion and expression. This is evident as Romantics experimented with the ‘rules’ of composition and genre. The artist also became seen not as a maker of works, but rather as merely channeling and inspiring a creation that was inherent in the creator. The creator became an ‘inspired creator’ and not a ‘technical master’. Thus individual uniqueness was highly valued by the Romantics.
Thus many of the values the Romantics held, were geared towards removing the ‘chains’ of the Enlightenment. This is made clear in the rubric which lists the values of the Romantics as the “imagination, individualism and idealism.”
Idealism became vitally important to the Romantics as it held that the world was interpreted and thus formed by the mind. This meant that the world could only be understood from a subjective viewpoint, which the Romantics venerated. This proved a massive change from the Enlightenment who sought to understand the world from an objective viewpoint, one free from the influence of the mind and only understood through rational and logical facts.
As the subjective mind became deeply responsible for a Romantic understanding of the world, it follows that imagination became equally important, and perhaps the singly most exalted facet of the human mind to the Romantics. As the mind explained the world, imagination allowed for it to be understood in all its depth. William Blake, one of the most famous Romantics wrote about the imagination “There Exists in that Eternal World the Permanent Realities of Every Thing which we see reflected in this Vegetable Glass of Nature.” Thus the imagination was held as an almost divine power used not only to understand the world, but also to shape and form it. Once again this is in stark contrast to the Enlightenment ideals of science and only objective facts to attempt to make the world logical. The Romantics did not believe the world logical and hence believed it could only be understood by a force that was equally as organic, the imagination.
Of course a world understood by the subjective mind, and formed by the imagination must inherently favor the individual above all else. The Romantics thus valued the individual, the eccentric and the unique. While previously the desire was for restraint and the obeying of societal rules set by Enlightenment thought, the Romantics favored pure passion and expression. This is evident as Romantics experimented with the ‘rules’ of composition and genre. The artist also became seen not as a maker of works, but rather as merely channeling and inspiring a creation that was inherent in the creator. The creator became an ‘inspired creator’ and not a ‘technical master’. Thus individual uniqueness was highly valued by the Romantics.
For More In-Depth Information on the Ways of Thinking of the Romantics
Further Reading and Helpful Links
Core Ideals of the Enlightenment: - This provides a very succinct summary of the ideals of the Age of Enlightenment
The Romantic Era: - Provides a great overview of the Romantic ideals, with a good comparison to conflicting Enlightenment ideals.
Introduction to Romanticism: - Great information on some of the characteristic values of the Enlightenment, including many featured in the rubric.
From the Enlightenment to the Romantic Revolution: - A great and very easy to understand website highlighting the change in the ways of thinking from the Age of Enlightenment to Romanticism, and discussing how Romanticism came about as a reaction to the Enlightenment.
The Romantic Era: - Provides a great overview of the Romantic ideals, with a good comparison to conflicting Enlightenment ideals.
Introduction to Romanticism: - Great information on some of the characteristic values of the Enlightenment, including many featured in the rubric.
From the Enlightenment to the Romantic Revolution: - A great and very easy to understand website highlighting the change in the ways of thinking from the Age of Enlightenment to Romanticism, and discussing how Romanticism came about as a reaction to the Enlightenment.