Ileana Dejuan
American Romanticism
5 July 2002

The Romantic Movement

Introduction:

            I decided to take American Romanticism because I wanted to learn more about our country’s literary foundation.  While I thought I would learn about its literary heritage, I had no idea that I would also encounter a European movement that moved from country to country until finally amercing itself in America.

            The term Romanticism was one that I wanted to understand.  I wanted to acknowledge the time frame of its birth and continued growth.  I decided to focus my journal on the question of when Romanticism actually amerced into the literary world.  I began my research journal by first focusing on where Romanticism derives from.  I searched the web and found several interesting sites, www.vcu.edu/engweb/eng372/intro-h4.htm, www.geocities.com, www.utm.edu/research/iep/g/germidea.htm, that focused on the ideologies that contrive romanticism.  Next, I wanted to focus my attention in Maurice Cranston’s book “The Romantic Movement” and Richard Harter Fogle’s “The Romantic Movement in American Writing”..  This helped to understand the time frame of when Romanticism was first introduced. 

            When I signed up for this course, I expected to learn soley on the Romantic Era in America.  I expected to learn about its origins, but was surprised to learn that the movement originates in Germany and sweeps through several European countries before landing in America.  In preparing for the class I looked on the web to find out more information on this movement. 

            In order to begin my research journal, I began by answering the question of what is Romanticism.  I found a website, www.geocities.com that was very useful in understanding the basic concepts of the term Romanticism.  The website defined Romanticism as a movement of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries which marked a literary reaction from neoclassicism.  Many people, who begin to research the Romantic Movement, may not know what the term neoclassicism is.  This website gives a great introduction into the definition of Neoclassicism as a literary movement that was characterized by emotional restraint, order, logic, clarity and decorum.  I knew before my research began what Neoclassicism consisted of, however this website gave me a better foundation for future research and future literary analysis. 

            I discovered that Romanticism arose gradually and can be expressed best as having liberalism in literature.  Romanticism freed the artists and writers from the restraints and rules of the classicists.  It suggested a concentration in the individual and in the experience. 

            In order to be more useful the site listed Romantic characteristics to further understand what Romanticism is.  Sensibility, Primitivism, love of nature, a sympathetic interest in the past, mysticism and individualism are all elements of Romanticism.  Many of these terms were ones we used previously in class, so I was able to further understand the definition with a clearer perspective.

            This particular website discusses the Romantic Movement in England as coming to light in the early eighteenth century.  However, something that was interesting to learn about was that it was not until the middle of the century that its characteristics became prominent with such writers as Keats, Shelly, Blake and so on. 

            This website was very easy to read and understand.  It defined the term Romanticism in the first paragraph, and goes on to discuss the aspects of the literary movement.  This is all done in such a simplistic way in order to enable an individual a better understanding of Romanticism. 

            However, I have not covered where the literary movement originated from and why? 

Another website that I found very useful and insightful was

www.utm.edu/research/iep/g/germidea.htm

In this site I discovered that Romanticism was originally a German Movement.  In Germany, thought was given precedence over sensation and instead of empiricism, and idealism was dominant.  This site, like the first one, was very easy to read and understand.  For anyone doing preliminary research on the German Romantic movement this is a great site to obtaining information.  It begins with a description of the characteristics that comprise the German Romantic Movement and goes on to offer information on Kant’s transcendentalism, and the contributions that Goethe and Schiller made to the German Movement. 

            I discovered that the conceptual framework of the German Movement (also described as the German Idealism) was provided by Kant.  I was both surprised and intrigued by my findings.  For instance, I discovered that Kant placed religion and ethics above the ban of rationalism.  He believed that the constancy of experience is accounted for by the fact that the world as we know it is only the sum total of phenomena.  On the other hand Goethe and Schiller are said to be representatives of the German Idealism.  I discovered that Goethe emphasized the moral and religious worth of the individual, while Schiller emphasized the unity of the mind and nature.  Romanticism derives from the school of Goethe and Schiller in Germany in the late seventeen hundreds (about 1750’s); the movement establishes how idealistic speculation is forced to apply its norms to practical social problems. 

            By this time, I have discovered where Romanticism derives from, and that it was a product to move away from neoclassical and classical conventions.  The next phase is to discover when Romanticism moved to France, England and finally settling in America. 

The Romantic Movement by Maurice Cranston:

Chapter 4

            In order to proceed with the initial question as to when Romanticism existed, I studied Maurice Cranston’s book “The Romantic Movement”, which discusses how Romanticism moves from Germany to France, and England. 

After Romanticism is born in Germany it moves to France.  Chapter four of the book discusses how Romanticism did not flourish in France for several decades after its birth in Germany; rationalism and classicism were too deeply rooted in the culture.  In France Philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau shaped the Romantic approach in his country.  Rousseau established the philosophy of the importance of the individual experience and the freedom of the human spirit. 

            Romanticism flourished in France under the restoration of the Bourbon Dynasty, which followed the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo.  Due to the fact that Napoleon had exploited neo-classicism for his own purposes, after his defeat, his successors looked for an alternative to rationalism.  It was interesting to learn that one of the reasons that Romanticism existed in France was because the nation was tired of war.  They wanted to shrink away from the violence and destruction that the Napoleonic war had caused.  After the Revolution in 1789, the culture was attracted to Rousseau’s thoughts on a Democratic nation and individual freedom.  The common man and the writers wanted more freedom to express feelings and obtain a voice in their society. 

Chapter 3

            I continued my journal by turning my attention to the Romantic Movement in England.  Chapter three of the “Romantic Movement”, discusses how in England Edmund Burke, is the first philosopher of romanticism.  In was interesting to discover that once again it is a philosopher that constructs the boundaries to a literary framework and not a writer or a poet.  Burke insisted that art must address the imagination not reason. He maintains the idea that the human imagination and the human emotion is the most significant thought to the literary framework of the romantics.  For instance, He believed that the sublime arouses delight, while the beautiful is that which excited love.  This chapter was a good start at looking at how Romanticism is derived in each country.  This is something that I could keep and analyze later about how one country follows another country in a literary genre that evokes individualism and freedom.  After reading this chapter questions such as whether Democracy was a concept that derived from romanticism arose.  It seemed to me that although Romanticism is a literary genre, it is also a political one.  This is something that I would like to analyze and research to a greater extent at a later point in time. 

            Creating this journal answered some of my questions, and made me acknowledge what I could possible learn in the future. 

After England the Romantic Movement settled in America.  I found a very informative website that helped me to understand why the movement settled there and at what time?  

www.vcu.edu/engweb/eng372/intro-h4.htm

I was intrigued to learn that the period between the Jacksonian Era and the close of the Civil War in America tested the nation’s development.  Nature was seen as an inspiration, and writers such as Whitman began to create an idealized image of the wilderness.  Romanticism suggested the importance of individualism marked by the encouragement of revolutionary political ideas.   More than ever before the individual was seen at the center of all life.  Writers began to regard Nature as the revelation of truth, and seek to find the ideal by transcending the actual. 

            This site helped me to understand the true progression of the Romantic period that began in Germany and ends in America.                                                                   Another book that was very insightful was Richard Harter Fogle’s “The Romantic Movement in American Writing”.  The book discusses how in the 18^th Century American Romantics was a movement that emphasized less rational and more intuition.  The movement evoked a need to be more in touch with your senses.  However, pride in the individual self and the value of the experience also emphasized the Romantic Movement in America.  Having completed the course I presumed to understand the sentiment behind the Romantic Movement.  However, I was happy to learn new elements to the genre.  For instance, Romantic writers believed that all reality is organically and vitally unified.  They maintain the idea that everything is alive, related and meaningful.  I believe that the reason that Americans were willing to partake in the Renaissance, was a need for change after the close of the Civil War.  Maybe the country needed to believe in something that had meaning? 

            This book was a good introduction into the American Literary genre.  It offers the reader an opportunity to get acquainted with many established romantic writers such as Poe, Whitman, Irving and so on.  Although I new that Romantics were idealists, I was surprised to discover that many writers in this time believed that the modern mind was in danger from incomplete and perverted values.  They (Romantics) portrayed the usual society within the unusual, as it is revealed to the imagination.  The Romantic Movement in America also believed that the search for a hidden wonder involves more than literary purposes; it is concerned with democracy, social justice, love, charity and the general welfare of the modern mind and society. 

Conclusion:

            In conclusion, Romanticism was a movement in the art, literature and philosophy of many European countries and America.  The movement began in the late 1700’s and through the middle 1800’s ( from about 1750 to about 1870).  The period is marked by its values of the imagination, individualism, subjectivity and nature. 

            While researching for my journal I learned that inspiration for the romantic approach initially came from two individuals, Jean Jacques Rousseau and Johann Goethe.  The literature emphasized the importance of feeling and imagination.  A romantic literature everywhere developed an appreciation for the imagination over reason, emotions over logic and intuition over science. 

            In conclusion, all the questions that were asked in the beginning of the journal have now been answered.  Romanticism is a concept that is familiar to me now.  I am aware of where it originated from and why it was introduced as a revolt against neoclassicism.  From my research I believe that the reason that so many countries partook in the Romantic Movement was due to the political injustices that they were living in.  This is an idea that I could look at later and write a thesis on.  I could use the preliminary research that I have gathered for this journal and use it for future projects that relate to the topic of literary genres. 

            My journey through the Romantic Movement opened my eyes to the reality that we are all connected.  Ultimately, what one country goes through, another may have a varied experience with a similar result.  I wonder would have happened to literature if Romanticism had not been so popular or so secular.  Would movements such as transcentalism ever have evolved? Or would Democracy be such a dominant expression of government as it is today?

            By researching when Romanticism began and when it ended, we can obtain a good insight to the history of both the culture and the literature of America as well as the European countries.