Romanticism

late 1700s ~ mid 1800s

BY J
 The period originated in Europe towards the end
of the 18th century, and peaked around 1800 to
Introduction 1850. It was embodied mostly in arts, music and
literature, but also impacted social and natural

to Romanticism
science.

Texts to represent the period:

When we two parted - Lord Byron
A birthday - Christina Rossetti
 01
.
Background
 Events that shaped
Romanticism

French Revolution Industrial Revolution

Age of Enlightenment. A focus on technological

To restructure society. development and resulted
in massive production and
mass urbanization
02.
Characteristic
s
Characteristic of Romanticism
Individualism Clandestine Literature

Self-publishing work that

An emphasis on the individual. sparked with political
legislation.

Suspicion of
Idealization of Nature
Science

An appreciation of beauty and An appreciation and desire to

the unexplainable. return to the past and faith.
 Literary
03. features
 Literary features of
1 RomanticismImagination 2
Feelings
Emphasised the importance of Feelings should come from
free expression of feelings from unconscious imagination, free
the artist. from “artificial rules” that could
“The artist's feeling is his law”. impact artistic inspiration.
(Caspar David Friedrich).

Originality 3 Nature 4
To ignore previous work ,
A distrust of the human world
emphasising “creation from
led to a strong connection and
nothingness”.
emphasis on nature, often the
Referred to as “romantic
“voice of the artist”.
originality”
When we two parted - Lord Byron
When we two parted
In silence and tears,
Half broken-hearted,
To sever for years,
Pale grew thy cheek and cold,
Colder thy kiss;
Truly that hour foretold
Sorrow to this!
The dew of the morning
Sunk chill on my brow;
It felt like the warning
Of what I feel now.
Thy vows are all broken,
And light is thy fame:
I hear thy name spoken
And share in its shame.
They name thee before me, Feelings
A knell to mine ear;
A shudder comes o’er me Imagination
Why wert thou so dear?
They know not I knew thee Originality
Who knew thee too well:
Nature
Long, long shall I rue thee
Too deeply to tell.
In secret we met:
In silence I grieve
That thy heart could forget,
Thy spirit deceive.
If I should meet thee
After long years,
How should I greet thee?
With silence and tears.
A birthday - Christina Rossetti
My heart is like a singing bird
Whose nest is in a water’d shoot;
My heart is like an apple-tree
Whose boughs are bent with thickset fruit;
My heart is like a rainbow shell
That paddles in a halcyon sea;
My heart is gladder than all these
Because my love is come to me.
Raise me a dais of silk and down;
Feelings
Hang it with vair and purple dyes;
Carve it in doves and pomegranates, Imagination
And peacocks with a hundred eyes;
Work it in gold and silver grapes, Originality
In leaves and silver fleurs-de-lys;
Nature
Because the birthday of my life
Is come, my love is come to me.
 04.
Conclusio
n
 A summary of Romanticism
Romanticism was in many ways a protest against the human technological
advancement.

Main features:
● A connection to nature, untouched and untainted by human hands.
● An expression of the individual, a reaction to a increasingly uniformal world.
● The desire to look back to the past in time of rapid change.

Why I selected Romanticism:

Romanticism can in many ways be seen as a setback in societal development, and a
common lesson, and someone think that we should look to the future, and not the past.
Yet, as in the past, the world is still changing at a rapid pace, I think Romanticism is a
great way to remind ourselves to slow down, appreciate nature and what is around us.
And I like the point that Romanticism has an expression of beauty and free spirit.
Thank you!
Sources
Darrin M. McMahon, "The Counter-Enlightenment and the Low-Life of Literature in Pre-Revolutionary France" Past and Present No.
159 (May 1998:77–112) p. 79 note 7.

Encyclopædia Britannica. "Romanticism. Retrieved 30 January 2008, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online". Britannica.com.
Archived from the original on 13 October 2005. Retrieved 2010-08-24.

Casey, Christopher (October 30, 2008). ""Grecian Grandeurs and the Rude Wasting of Old Time": Britain, the Elgin Marbles, and
Post-Revolutionary Hellenism". Foundations. Volume III, Number 1. Archived from the original on May 13, 2009. Retrieved 2014-05-14.

Waterhouse (1926), throughout; Smith (1924); Millen, Jessica Romantic Creativity and the Ideal of Originality: A Contextual Analysis,
in Cross-sections, The Bruce Hall Academic Journal – Volume VI, 2010 PDF; Forest Pyle, The Ideology of Imagination: Subject and
Society in the Discourse of Romanticism (Stanford University Press, 1995) p. 28.

Coleman, Jon T. (2020). Nature Shock: Getting Lost in America. Yale University Press. p. 214. ISBN 978-0-300-22714-7.

Barnes, Barbara A. (2006). Global Extremes: Spectacles of Wilderness Adventure, Endless Frontiers, and American Dreams. Santa
Cruz: University of California Press. p. 51.