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LITR 4232: American Renaissance  |
Final Exam Essays 2013 Sample answers for describe your learning about Romanticism as a term or concept . . . |
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Sarah Gonzalez
The Depth of Romanticism
In the beginning of this course, I thought that the term Romanticism meant
something very generic in terms of love. Now I see it as something completely
different and more significant. As we learned in the beginning of the course,
Romanticism started in the late 1700s as a period, movement, or style in
literature, music, and other arts. To this day, Romanticism is reflected in any
type of artistic work. In spite of the fact that the Romantic period is over,
its styles and values are represented in many popular forms and attitudes today.
Romanticism has not only survived but thrived for so long for its ability to
evoke human emotion like nothing else can. This is why romantic work is so
popular and acclaimed.
One term associated with Romanticism that I have come to better understand is
the sublime. My initial understanding was that it meant when a person has no
words to describe something. After studying the term more closely, I learned
that even though that is evidence of the sublime, there is more to it than that.
The sublime describes an experience that mixes both terror and beauty. By Dr.
White’s description, the sublime includes two opposing elements. “In contrast to
beauty or prettiness, the sublime describes beauty mixed with terror, danger,
threat—usually on a grand or elevated scale. For audiences, the experience of
the sublime brings a powerful mixture of pleasure and pain.” At first I thought,
well how can that be true? How can something be both beautiful and terrifying at
the same time? Upon further reflection, I realized that there are examples of
this around us all the time. For example, a tornado is not only terrifying but
dangerous. Tornados can destroy anything in its path and kill whosoever gets in
its way. However, the sheer power and measure of a tornado is beautiful because
it is something produced by nature. Nature is associated with beauty and in
turn, ties in with Romanticism.
The element of the sublime in Romanticism is very powerful, especially in
literature. Most of the texts that we have read in the course have shown
evidence of the sublime. Edgar Allan Poe, who is perhaps the most romantic of
all American authors, was a master of incorporating nearly every possible
element of romanticism into his works. In Poe’s
The Fall of the House of Usher, the
narrator uses phrases such as “an intensity of intolerable awe”, “a feeling half
of pity, half of awe”, which are used to express instances where the sublime is
being felt. One particular scene personifies the sublime most precisely, “The
impetuous fury of the entering gust nearly lifted us from our feet. It was,
indeed, a tempestuous yet sternly beautiful night, and one wildly singular in
its terror and its beauty.” [30].These types of descriptions can be seen
throughout the story and are characteristic of Poe’s style of writing.
The sublime is just one aspect of Romanticism that I have come to know. However,
Romanticism involves many other diverse, contradictory elements, gestures, and
meanings. One other component of Romanticism that I had trouble grasping was in
regards to romantic emotion. In Dr. White’s explanation of how romantic emotion
often has an inner-outer orientation, the things that immediately surround one’s
self—e.g., the classroom, workplace—is reality, the here and now, which cannot
be romanticized. This means that a person cannot want or desire something that
they already have. I had difficulty understanding this because when looking at
some of Poe’s work, I found this explanation to be a little confusing, in
particular with Annabel Lee. The poem
consists of a distraught lover who is mourning his lost love and is proclaiming
the massive love that they felt for one another. “She was a child and I was a
child, in this kingdom by the sea, but we loved with a love that was more than
love-I and my Annabel Lee”. The speaker here is expressing their tremendous love
and when she dies but their love doesn’t. “For the moon never beams without
bringing me dreams of the beautiful Annabel Lee; and the stars never rise but I
see the bright eyes of the beautiful Annabel Lee; and so, all the night-tide, I
lie down by the side of my darling, my darling, my life and my bride in her
sepulcher there by the sea-in her tomb by the side of the sea.” The speaker
definitely desires to be with Annabel Lee after she dies, given the conclusion.
This supports Dr. White’s explanation of how a person cannot want or desire what
they already have. As we saw with this poem, a person cannot desire something
until it is taken away from them. Separation, especially a permanent one, is
what conjures up all the emotions of desire and yearning.
The inherent attractions of Romanticism are undeniable. I have learned a lot
about what makes a particular style romantic and which artists are known for it.
Literature and other forms of art would be very dull if it weren’t for
Romanticism. Then again, I consider myself a romantic and that might be why I
feel that it accounts for all of the great literary and artistic work that has
been produced throughout the years.
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