What is Romanticism?
Awe of Nature
- Romantics "stressed the awe of nature in art and language and the experience of sublimity through a connection with nature" (NCTE, 2008).
- In addition, "Romantics rejected the rationalization of nature by the previous thinkers of the Enlightenment period" (NCTE, 2008).
Quickwrite:
Write about a place in nature where you have felt a feeling of elevation or connectiveness to the natural world? Write down as many sensory details that you can about the place. What was your emotional reaction to nature?
Celebration of the Individual
Importance of the Imagination, Emotion and the Senses
Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog
Romanticism:
- Celebration of the individual
- Importance of imagination, emotions and the senses.
- Awe of nature
Liberty Leading the People
Quickwrite:
Write for one minute on
each of the following pieces of art. What characteristics make each piece Romantic?
Chalk Cliffs on Rugen
Orphan Girl at the Cemetery
- The Romantics believed that all men are inherently good, and that goodness can be destroyed by urban life.
- They believed that "the savage is noble, childhood is good, and the emotions inspired by both beliefs causes the heart to soar" (NCTE, 2008).
- Romantics often elevated the achievements of the misunderstood, the underdog, or the heroic individual outcast (NCTE, 2008).
- Romantics believed that knowledge comes from intuition and experience rather than deduction or reasoning (NCTE, 2008).
- Romantics "legitimized the individual imagination as a critical authority" (NCTE, 2008).
I'm not bad,
just misunderstood.
Table Share:
Come up with three examples of modern movies that have themes of Romanticism that celebrate the individual (misunderstood monster or heroic outcast).