Philosophical Paradigm
Romantic philosophy saw a fundamental shift from viewing and thinking about the world from an objective view, to a subjective view.
The Enlightenment Era valued explaining the world objectively based only on reasoning, facts and logic. It attempted to explain the world through a series of scientifically proven laws that accounted for all facets of life. This method of interpreting the world is made clear in arguably one of the finest works of the Enlightenment, Newton’s Principia Mathematica, the culmination of much of the knowledge and theories put forward from previous Enlightenment scientists. . This work contains extremely influential ideas such as Newton’s laws of motion, Newton’s law of universal gravitation and a variation of Kepler’s laws of planetary motion. Newton also developed a field of mathematics now known as calculus in order to formulate his theories. Newton has thus explained laws that govern the whole universe and then rationalised these in the pure language of mathematics. This is essential to the enlightenment, the understanding that the universe can be explained by rational laws that can be explained by man in a pure language. Thus the world was entirely interpreted through objective views, as the Enlightenment Era sought to order the world through universal laws and rational facts.
However, Romantic philosophy heavily altered this highly objective, rational way of viewing the universe. Immanuel Kant is greatly responsible for this philosophical paradigm-shift. In his publication, the Critique of Pure Reason Kant argued that we do not see “things in themselves”, rather we only understand things from a human point of view, from a perspective. Thus the things themselves, must not be analysed, rather it is the mind and the perspective that is important. This led directly to the Romantic idea of idealism, the belief that the external world is formed and created by the interpretation from the mind. Thus the subjective viewpoint became hugely valued as the primary method of understanding the world as the individual’s perspective became incredibly important as idealism held that it was the individual’s interpretation that was key to understanding. This is evident throughout many, if not all, of the Romantic prescribed texts. One excellent example is Coleridge’s poem This Lime-Tree Bower my Prison in which Coleridge, instead of describing what he physically can see, describes what he imagines he would see if he was able to go on the walk with his friend, the “gentle-hearted Charles”. Thus the Romantics placed great emphasis on the subjective viewpoints in interpreting the world, rather than the objective as was evident in the Enlightenment Era, as this was seen to be an false way of understanding the world.
As the subjective viewpoint was most valued as the way of understanding the world under the concept of idealism, it follows that the imagination was exalted as the supreme faculty of the human mind. As idealism promotes the ideals that the world is formed and interpreted by the mind, it follows that the world is to an extent shaped and created by the mind, by the imagination. For this reason many of the Romantics regarded the imagination akin to the approximate human equivalent of the creative powers of nature or even deity. Blake stated “This world of Imagination is the world of Eternity... All Things are comprehended in their Eternal Forms in the divine body of the Savior, the True Vine of Eternity, The Human Imagination.” Blake explains the imagination in a way superior to that of the finite material world. It is a divine quality in the mind of the Romantic. These philosophical ideas on imagination are evident in once again many if not all of the prescribed texts, one example being Keats’s poem Ode on a Grecian Urn as Keats does not merely describe a landscape, instead he describes a landscape engraved on an urn in great detail that must largely be formed from his imagination.
The Enlightenment Era valued explaining the world objectively based only on reasoning, facts and logic. It attempted to explain the world through a series of scientifically proven laws that accounted for all facets of life. This method of interpreting the world is made clear in arguably one of the finest works of the Enlightenment, Newton’s Principia Mathematica, the culmination of much of the knowledge and theories put forward from previous Enlightenment scientists. . This work contains extremely influential ideas such as Newton’s laws of motion, Newton’s law of universal gravitation and a variation of Kepler’s laws of planetary motion. Newton also developed a field of mathematics now known as calculus in order to formulate his theories. Newton has thus explained laws that govern the whole universe and then rationalised these in the pure language of mathematics. This is essential to the enlightenment, the understanding that the universe can be explained by rational laws that can be explained by man in a pure language. Thus the world was entirely interpreted through objective views, as the Enlightenment Era sought to order the world through universal laws and rational facts.
However, Romantic philosophy heavily altered this highly objective, rational way of viewing the universe. Immanuel Kant is greatly responsible for this philosophical paradigm-shift. In his publication, the Critique of Pure Reason Kant argued that we do not see “things in themselves”, rather we only understand things from a human point of view, from a perspective. Thus the things themselves, must not be analysed, rather it is the mind and the perspective that is important. This led directly to the Romantic idea of idealism, the belief that the external world is formed and created by the interpretation from the mind. Thus the subjective viewpoint became hugely valued as the primary method of understanding the world as the individual’s perspective became incredibly important as idealism held that it was the individual’s interpretation that was key to understanding. This is evident throughout many, if not all, of the Romantic prescribed texts. One excellent example is Coleridge’s poem This Lime-Tree Bower my Prison in which Coleridge, instead of describing what he physically can see, describes what he imagines he would see if he was able to go on the walk with his friend, the “gentle-hearted Charles”. Thus the Romantics placed great emphasis on the subjective viewpoints in interpreting the world, rather than the objective as was evident in the Enlightenment Era, as this was seen to be an false way of understanding the world.
As the subjective viewpoint was most valued as the way of understanding the world under the concept of idealism, it follows that the imagination was exalted as the supreme faculty of the human mind. As idealism promotes the ideals that the world is formed and interpreted by the mind, it follows that the world is to an extent shaped and created by the mind, by the imagination. For this reason many of the Romantics regarded the imagination akin to the approximate human equivalent of the creative powers of nature or even deity. Blake stated “This world of Imagination is the world of Eternity... All Things are comprehended in their Eternal Forms in the divine body of the Savior, the True Vine of Eternity, The Human Imagination.” Blake explains the imagination in a way superior to that of the finite material world. It is a divine quality in the mind of the Romantic. These philosophical ideas on imagination are evident in once again many if not all of the prescribed texts, one example being Keats’s poem Ode on a Grecian Urn as Keats does not merely describe a landscape, instead he describes a landscape engraved on an urn in great detail that must largely be formed from his imagination.
Economic Paradigm
Romanticism as a movement represents a huge discontent with the economic structuring of it’s time and as such, largely a disassociation with this paradigm.
The Romantics privileged a connection to the natural, and thus a connection to economic social classes was not largely valued. The concept of the ‘noble savage’ became extremely prominent due to this desire to have a connection with the natural, Rousseau explaining, “the noble savage is an individual living in a ‘pure state of nature’—gentle, wise, uncorrupted by the vices of civilization.” Thus a disconnection to the economy is greatly valued, in favor of a connection to the natural as Romantics believed that nature offered a refuge from the artificial constructs of economic civilization. Civilization and economy was considered to rational, and too ‘mechanical’, and instead nature offered a more ‘organic’, passionate and imaginative method of being. Thus disassociation to the economic class structuring of society was greatly encouraged.
Once again this is extremely evident in many of the prescribed texts. To give a few example, Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte depicts Heathcliff as the noble-savage to begin with, coming from an unknown economic class background, and at home in the natural surroundings, and it is only when he returns to Wuthering Heights having established his wealth and his social status that he becomes truly evil, and not just a victim of the family. It is also evident in Coleridge’s poem Rime of the Ancient Mariner, as the narrator has come to be distanced from society, and warns of the disconnection to the natural.
Thus the Romantic period can be seen as a reaction against the radically changing economic structure of the time which devalued traditional Romantic ideals such as the innocence of the child. The Industrial Revolution occurring in the 18th century saw a shift in the jobs people were doing. No longer was the economy based around agriculture and handmade items, but rather mass produced machine-made items and products. This led to the overpopulation of major cities as, economy became more focused on the ‘urban’. This overpopulation, combined with the policy of ‘laissez-faire’ of the time, meaning “let the people do as they please”, resulted in rampant homelessness, famine and child-labor. Thus the industrial revolution is looked down upon by the Romantics, and many of the issues that it causes are clearly addressed in the literature of the Romantics. William Blake’s poem, The Chimney Sweep promotes an extremely harsh view on child labor as Blake symbolizes the loss of childhood innocence that was caused by child-labour as he sates “all of them lock’d in coffins of black”. The innocence of a child was so highly regarded by the Romantics, as illustrated in William Wordsworth’s poem The Child is Father of the Man and thus the loss of innocence as a direct result of industrialization represented a massive problem to the Romantics. The Romantics therefore fought against this radically changing economic structure of Industrialization as it went against the core values of Romanticism.
The Romantics privileged a connection to the natural, and thus a connection to economic social classes was not largely valued. The concept of the ‘noble savage’ became extremely prominent due to this desire to have a connection with the natural, Rousseau explaining, “the noble savage is an individual living in a ‘pure state of nature’—gentle, wise, uncorrupted by the vices of civilization.” Thus a disconnection to the economy is greatly valued, in favor of a connection to the natural as Romantics believed that nature offered a refuge from the artificial constructs of economic civilization. Civilization and economy was considered to rational, and too ‘mechanical’, and instead nature offered a more ‘organic’, passionate and imaginative method of being. Thus disassociation to the economic class structuring of society was greatly encouraged.
Once again this is extremely evident in many of the prescribed texts. To give a few example, Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte depicts Heathcliff as the noble-savage to begin with, coming from an unknown economic class background, and at home in the natural surroundings, and it is only when he returns to Wuthering Heights having established his wealth and his social status that he becomes truly evil, and not just a victim of the family. It is also evident in Coleridge’s poem Rime of the Ancient Mariner, as the narrator has come to be distanced from society, and warns of the disconnection to the natural.
Thus the Romantic period can be seen as a reaction against the radically changing economic structure of the time which devalued traditional Romantic ideals such as the innocence of the child. The Industrial Revolution occurring in the 18th century saw a shift in the jobs people were doing. No longer was the economy based around agriculture and handmade items, but rather mass produced machine-made items and products. This led to the overpopulation of major cities as, economy became more focused on the ‘urban’. This overpopulation, combined with the policy of ‘laissez-faire’ of the time, meaning “let the people do as they please”, resulted in rampant homelessness, famine and child-labor. Thus the industrial revolution is looked down upon by the Romantics, and many of the issues that it causes are clearly addressed in the literature of the Romantics. William Blake’s poem, The Chimney Sweep promotes an extremely harsh view on child labor as Blake symbolizes the loss of childhood innocence that was caused by child-labour as he sates “all of them lock’d in coffins of black”. The innocence of a child was so highly regarded by the Romantics, as illustrated in William Wordsworth’s poem The Child is Father of the Man and thus the loss of innocence as a direct result of industrialization represented a massive problem to the Romantics. The Romantics therefore fought against this radically changing economic structure of Industrialization as it went against the core values of Romanticism.
Further Reading
http://www.writersnotebook.co.uk/the-romantic-imagination/ - Provides great information on the Romantic valuing of the imagination
http://www.philosopher.org.uk/rom.htm - Goes through many of the philosophical ideals of the key Romantic thinkers in chronological order. Provides a great summary for the Philosophical paradigm.
http://www.enotes.com/image-noble-savage-literature-criticism/image-noble-savage-literature - Good information on the idea of the noble savage.
http://www.philosopher.org.uk/rom.htm - Goes through many of the philosophical ideals of the key Romantic thinkers in chronological order. Provides a great summary for the Philosophical paradigm.
http://www.enotes.com/image-noble-savage-literature-criticism/image-noble-savage-literature - Good information on the idea of the noble savage.