Sample Student Research Project, fall 2004
LITR
4232: American Renaissance
Sample Student Research Project, fall 2004
Joseph Leber
11/18/2004
The Power of Romanticism
If anyone was asked on the street, “What is romanticism?” nine out of ten people would have an answer. There are many people who have a definition of what is romantic to them, whether it’s a candle-lit dinner, a walk on the beach, or whatever they choose. However, romanticism in literary terms is a much more layered thing. This style of writing has left me enthralled since we began studying it at the beginning of the semester. What was this style that abandoned all forms of rationale to lead the readers by feelings and thoughts? What was this style that blanketed the reader not with worldly acumen but with emotion? What was this style that led all that followed it by the heart and not by the mind, as all other styles proceeded to do? I became instantly intrigued by this work, and wanted to learn all that I could.
I have decided to undertake a study upon the history of romanticism to see its roots. By researching this genre, I wanted to learn of its importance in the literary world, how it influenced all life through Western Europe, and how it permeated into United States culture. This was one of the most important styles in the world during the late 18th century and most of the 19th century, although it began as early as stories began. Through this research project, I hope to get a complete history of this literary genre, and how influential it truly was.
History of
Romanticism
Romanticism began in the late 18th century. It was a response to the Enlightenment, and to Classicism. It was a form that did not centralize itself with the thought that people were all basically similar throughout time and geographical areas (As most Enlightenment thinkers believed) or in form, calm, and rationale (As most Classicist people believed). It was, instead, a belief in the individuality and one that “stressed strong emotion, imagination, freedom from classical correctness in art forms, and rebellion against social conventions.” (History of Romanticism). Basically, artists freed themselves from any constraints set upon them by the two other main movements and did what aroused them. They looked at nature, human moods and struggles, folk culture, national and ethnic origins; just whatever they could get their hands on. This idea was first thought by scholars to be introduced to the world by William Wordsworth in 1798 with his Lyrical Ballads. This series of poems examined the beauty of nature and the actions of people in their natural setting. His work showed distaste for the social conditions in the late 18th century, and what was going to continue into the 19th century. However, this style was not entirely new, and was shown in other writers work, such as Robert Burns, William Blake, and Mary Wollstonecraft during 1785 to 1789. This new style of work was not defined until the early parts of the 19th century, by German critic Karl Wilhelm Friedrich von Schlegel. He coined the term Romanticism as a designation for those opposed to the Classic form. He believed that it was a product of Christianity itself. He believed that the true seeds of Romanticism began in the Middle Ages, where there was much more of a sense of Romantic sensibility which differed from any Classical thoughts. Since this Christian culture dealt with the struggles of human sin and guilt being consistently opposed to the struggle of heavenly perfection, it became a launching board for many Romantic writers after it. This meaning from Germany was carried to England, France, and eventually America. Many writers through Western Europe began using this genre of writing as a basis for their work. It became known for its “abundant imagery coinciding with an equally abundant quantity of natural objects, the theme of imagination linked closely to the theme of nature, such is the fundamental ambiguity that characterizes the poetics of romanticism” (Rhetoric of Romanticism, pg. 2). Because of this ambiguity, “No single figure or literary school displays all the characteristics considered to be ‘Romantic,’ any general definitions tend to be imprecise.” (Toward a Definition of Romanticism). No one really embodied the true nature of Romanticism; writers only took bits and pieces of it.
Romanticism also picked up on other genres, most notably that of the sublime and the gothic. These two styles helped mold Romanticism into what it currently is, and many Romantic writers used these two genres frequently in their work. The genre of sublime was firstly defined by Edward Burke, who had defined as “Whenever strength is only useful, and employed for our benefit or our pleasure, then it is never sublime…it must be subject to us; and therefore can never be the cause of a grand and commanding conception”(Notion of the Sublime). Sublime was a mixing of both pleasure and pain, something that most Romantic writers conceptualized of what was happening to Europe’s people through the early stages of the Industrial Revolution. The gothic genre also was central in other Romantic writers work. This genre used to thrill readers by tales of supernatural and one of gloom and desolation. They used decrepit castles full of dungeons and secret passages, ancient buildings, wild landscapes, and more. This style became instrumental to some romantic writers as a means of separating nature from the harshness of industrialization and human progress. They felt nostalgia for the Gothic past, and so this produced a fondness for these landscapes and ideas. These two genres paved the way for what was to become for Romanticism during the 19th century.
The writers during this time centralized their works on nature and the beauty of it, instead of the mechanization of the world around them. During this early part of the 19th century, many romantic thinkers looked back at Shakespeare plays and studied them more often as a sense of enlightenment and to draw inspiration from what he accomplished. Many important Romantic writers began to emerge during the early to mid 19th century. Writers such as Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, John Keats, Coleridge and others became what were known as the leaders of this Romantic era. These artists became influential to those around them, and used their influences for their own beliefs and ideas. Some of these artists, as with other romantic thinkers during their time, rejected the established idea of politics and other social causes. Lord Byron and Shelley voiced the strongest views on this, with a bulk of their work as a form of protest against the social and political wrongs done in Italy in Greece. These writers used their power to try and change society, but others like Coleridge, Wordsworth, and Keats used their abilities to expound on the ideas of the supernatural, the exotic, and to show a true love of nature. Most of these artists used whatever they felt moved them. Many Romantic writers used the gothic genre for inspiration; they used castles and old, abandoned buildings for their backdrops. Many Romantic writers during this age used the sublime genre for inspiration; they integrated nature, and human emotions into their work. The idea of Romanticism did not only spring up in writings, as many painters used this for inspiration. Artists such as William Blake, Eugene Delacroix, and others used their skills with a paintbrush to illustrate their own visions of romanticism, and the ideas of Romanticism were used widely throughout Western Europe until the coronation of Queen Victoria in 1837, where Victorian writings soon became the norm, and romanticism simply faded out. However, this genre did not stay just within Western Europe, as it was trickled slowly through the Atlantic Ocean to the Eastern seaboard of the Untied States.
America was quick to embrace this idea of romanticism and its’ relative genres of sublime and gothic. It took America by storm, invading all of the important works during this time as heavily as it did during its heyday in Western Europe. Writers such as James Fennimore Cooper, Edgar Allen Poe, Emily Dickinson, William Apess and others began making numerous works based on these ideas. However, there are several different points that separated American Romanticism with its European counterpart. First of all, the gothic style of these writers had to become radically different. Since America was a new land, and did not have any type of old buildings or anything of that nature, they had to shift the backdrops to forests and other landscapes. After all, who knew what lurked within the forests? People who immigrated onto this land had no idea what could be living in these areas, and writers during this era quickly jumped on this. A great example would come from Cooper, as he wrote in The Last of the Mohicans, on how the forest was dark and mysterious and almost seem to become its own thing, a living, breathing creature. None did this better then the originator of American gothic writing, Washington Irving. As he wrote in both Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, the forest became something of mystery and excitement. The forest became home to mystical creatures, and to supernatural happenings. Poe was another writer who relied heavily upon the Gothic. He wrote almost exclusively in the realm of the gothic. From The Raven to Ligeia, he centered his writings on dark, moody, supernatural plots and ideas. He personified the American gothic writer. However, all of the American writers did not just use gothic ideas and themes for their work. Others used things of a sublime nature, and some followed the path first led by Wordsworth, and looked at the benefit of nature. Artists like Emerson, Whitman, Dickinson, and other poets expressed a love for all things natural. These views eventually led to Transcendentalism, but at the beginning of their work, the ideas that they wrote about were purely Romantic in nature. Almost every artist in America somehow mixed some ideas of a sublime nature into their work. Even the authors of the slave narratives eloquently used things of a sublime nature in their work. An example of this comes from Sojourner Truth’s narrative, where she says " I met God! an' says I, 'O God, I didn't know as you was so great!' An' I turned right round an' come into the house, an' set down in my room, for 't was God all around me. I could feel it burnin', burnin' burnin' all around me, an' goin' through me" (The Heath Anthology of American Literature, vol. 1, 4th ed.). Jacobs, Douglass, Stowe, Truth, all of these writers used the slave narratives as a new look at life, but it was full of Romantic ideas and sensibilities. The American Romanticism movement, like its British counterpart, also used paintings and other forms of artwork as a form of expression. The Hudson River School was the only school in the United States which actively used romanticism as a subject for painters. Paintings ranged in all forms of landscapes, but all became romantic spectacles for any lover of the arts. Painters like Thomas Cole, Asher Durand, George Inness, and others quickly became the leaders in romantic paintings and designs. These American writers used new styles and techniques to capture their audience. They used the civilization around them to forge their own paths down the Romantic trail. The ideas of romanticism in America died around the same time that it did in Europe, but some of the writings and feelings that it caused still permeate in today’s work. For example, every harlequin romance is based on the ideas of romanticism. All of those novels that always have a buxom lady and a muscular man on the cover are offshoots of Romanticism. It is a style that will never die.
Biography of James
Fennimore Cooper
James Fennimore Cooper was born at Burlington, New Jersey on September 15, 1789. His father was a judge and a member of Congress. He was reared as a boy on his father’s estate near Lake Otsego. This was heavily wooded area, and it may have inspired him for his works to come.
He went to school at Albany and New Haven, and attended Harvard at the age of thirteen. He was by far the youngest one there, but still maintained a good education, and entered the navy at age sixteen. He stayed in the army for six years before marrying and retiring from the Navy in 1811. He settled down in Westchester and for a life of literary labor.
In 1819, he published his first piece, “Precaution,” under a anonymous name, where it received little attention. However, his popularity skyrocketed with the release of “The Spy” in 1821, and he began his famed Leather-stocking series with “The Pioneers” in 1823. In 1826, he completed “The Last of the Mohicans,” which most believe is his masterpiece. In the same year he traveled to France, where he published “The Prairie” and “The Red Rover,” in 1826 and 1827 respectively. He continued to live in Paris until 1833, writing numerous novels, including: “The Wept of the Wish-ton Wish,” in 1827; “The Notions of a Traveling Bachelor,” in 1828; “The Water Witch,” in 1830; “The Bravo,” in 1831; “The Heidenmauer,” in 1832; and “The Headman of Berne,” in 1833. He also wrote for the “National,” defending America from attacks made by other European countries. He then returned to America in 1833.
His work back in the States began with "A Letter to my Countrymen," His publications continued by the appearance of "Monikins," and "The American Democrat," 1835; "Notes" centered around his time in Europe, and was published in a three novel set in 1837. "Homeward Bound," and "Home as Found," were published in 1838. In 1839 he published a "Naval History of the United States;" in 1840 "The Pathfinder," an excellent Leather-stocking novel, and "Mercedes of Castile" in 1841, "The Deerslayer;" in 1842, "The Two Admirals," and "Wing and Wing;" in 1843, "Wyandotte," "The History of a Pocket Handkerchief," and "Ned Myers;" in 1844, "Afloat and Ashore," and "Miles Wallingford;" in 1845, "The Chainbearer," and "Satanstoe;" in 1846 "The Redskins," and a set of "Lives of Distinguished American Officers," being supplemental to "Naval History." In 1847, he published "The Crater, or Vulcan's Peak;" in 1848, "Oak Openings," and "Jack Tier;" in 1849, "The Sea Lions;" in 1850, the final work, "The Ways of the Hour." He died of dropsy in 1851 in Cooperstown, New York.
Web Site Review
http://www.huntfor.com/arthistory/c17th-mid19th/romanticism.htm
This website was somewhat informative for search for the history of
romanticism. It gave a brief
outline of the history of romanticism, and it gave a brief background on some of
the most important artists that came during this period.
It was very good for showing all of the artist’s most important works
in their mini-biographies, and it also showed some of the most important artwork
to come from this period in the overall outline of the romantic period.
It was very good on giving me the history of the art that was influential
during the romantic period, and was useful in showing me what the artist’s
major works were. It was also very
concise in it’s numerous hyperlinks, which all took me to other websites which
helped me look at the art history of romanticism as well as the main website
did. Overall, it was a very good
site to learn the history of romanticism from an artist’s point of view.
This became my secondary reference, where I was able to view this book through the internet. The writer of this work, Paul de Man, gave an exhaustive amount of research in dealing with his findings on romanticism. He is a strong writer, and backed up his work with numerous sources. This book was produced before his death in 1983, and it showed that he spent his life really going after romanticism and learning all about its history and roots. I was amazed by the size of the book, and how well he was able to maintain his writing throughout. This was an excellent book in learning about romanticism and the history behind it, and I would recommend it to anyone.
Conclusion
The history of romanticism seemed to last from 1798 till 1837. However, it has been throughout the start of written history, and has stayed till now, and will continue throughout. It has been a very important genre, and has laid the groundwork for many of literary history’s most authors ever. Byron, Shelley, Wordsworth, and so many others made so many contributions to the history of the written word; all based their work on the genre of romanticism. It was just as important in American history, as Poe, Dickinson, Emerson, and others showed that America was just as infatuated with this style as those in Europe. The famous romantic ideas and beliefs did not just originate within the 19th century, as writers in the Middle Ages, those of the Victorian era, and even those of today; they all have influences in romanticism. The genre has influenced many authors throughout history, and its own history is varied and intriguing. I have learned much about the history of this genre, and its meaning to the literary world as a whole. It has been probably one of the most influential ideas in the cultural world, and set the stage for any different literary genres, like transcendentalism and others. It did not only affect writers, as it was just as important to painters and sculptors. Romanticism permeated throughout the major paintings in the early 19th century, as artists as William Blake, Sir Joshua Reynolds, and George Stubbs set the tone for Romantic artists during this era. This was a great time for the culture of the world, as new ideas from painters, writers, and other Romantic thinkers gave the world a new light, a new reason, a new hope. It was a very important time, and its history truly shows how important it was. It has been with us since the dawn of writing, and continues on today. It’s history is as captivating as the history of our own country, and delves into many problems and obtains as many new ideas as a beginning country does. I was very excited to begin this project, and now that it is over, I am excited to learn more. Romanticism is not only just a genre in literary terms, but a whole movement that has forever altered the face of culture as we know it.
Works Cited
De Man, Paul. The Rhetoric of Romanticism. Columbia University: Columbia University Press. 1984.
Truth, Sojourner. “Sojourner Truth, the Libyan Sibyl,” The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Edit. Lauter, Paul. Bouston: Houghton Mifflin. 2002.
Online Sources:
Toward a Definition of Romanticism.
Ed. Steven Kreis.
2000.
< http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/romanticism.html>
Biography of James
Fennimore Cooper.
LovetoKnow Corp. 2002.
< http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/romanticism.html>
Art History of
Romanticism.
Huntfor.com. 2004.
< http://www.huntfor.com/arthistory/c17th-mid19th/romanticism.htm>
Notion of the
Sublime.
Ed. June Wang. Columbia University 1999.
< http://www.arch.columbia.edu/Students/Fall99/Wang.June/Sublime%252fmac.doc>