 |
LITR 5431 American
Romanticism 2010 Student Midterm Samples #2 short essay |
 |
Elena Luquette
Romantic Ideology on the Brink of Modernity
The basic ideas
behind Romanticism are universal. Even in the Post-modern world we live in
today, Romantic ideals are present and persistent in pushing forward. What kind
of a world would we live in today if we weren’t constantly changing and
evolving? The notions of the gothic and the sublime are evident throughout
literature and the influence of the Romantic era remains prominent.
For example, the notion of the sublime can be found in many
literary texts, particularly in Hermann Hesse’s
Siddhartha, commonly described as the
greatest book about Buddhism not having been written by a Buddhist. In his
novel, Hesse details the path toward enlightenment—toward the sublime. Not only
is it a tale about the journey, but one about the awesomeness that precedes it.
It is about becoming one with nature and understanding the natural order of
things. Much like Taoism, life is like a river flowing effortlessly through
time—transcending time. Another text I might add here is
The Tao of Pooh and the Te of Piglet,
by Benjamin Hoff. It’s not exactly
in the great canon of literature, but it is Romantic none-the less. It was my
first experience with Eastern philosophy and I fell in love. The novel explains
Taoism by relating it to Pooh Bear and all his friends—a little cheesy, but
useful. It’s all about transcendence and reaching the sublime as defined by
Eastern philosophers.
Emerson, too, wrote about the sublime. As I mentioned in my
previous essay, “The Over-Soul” is a perfect example of the sublime. It is a
text written almost entirely about what it feels like to live in that constant
state of awe. The almost overwhelming knowledge that we are all part of
something greater and something great shines through us is sublime. The same is
true in Edwards’ Personal Narrative.
In fact, I believe that just as Edwards anticipated the Romantic era, Emerson
did so for the Modern era. Both men were ahead of their time and yet they
defined it.
I mentioned in the last essay that Edwards’ sermon reminded
me of James Joyce’s A Portrait of the
Artist as a Young Man. Father Arnall also uses the gothic in order to
frighten his congregation into repentance. He gives a more than horrific,
detailed account of the torments of hell. His use of the gothic is terrifying
and effective. Stephen repents and leaves the retreat a changed man. Again, we
see the transcendence.
It is clear that Romantic ideals survived the era. I would
give a more current example, but I have been a student of literature for some
time now and it seems there is just no time for any of that reading for pleasure
business. However, I am quite sure that those ideals have not gone away. In
fact, they are probably growing
strong again.
