As Prof. Herford so brilliantly put it: "romanticism is an amazing development of creative sensitivity." As a result, it reflects a perspective on life and the world, as well as a manner of approaching life and the world through enhanced sensibility and heightened imagination. It imbues the banal with "the radiance that has never been seen on water or land" (that is, to make the natural supernatural or to make the supernatural appear as natural). Romanticism is defined by a delicate sense of mystery and a love of beauty, both of which infuse the Romantic writers' whole writing - poetry and prose. Countless times, the physical world spoke to them in a new way, inspiring them to create wonderful works of art. "The glory of the lake and its fountains, the charm of childhood, and the dignity of youth, the wonder of the fairy, the mystery of the Gothic Church, the glow of Attic marble" - all these streams of poets' inspiration and artist's joy began to flow throughout England (as in Germany and France). It should be remembered that this romantic and liberal attitude pervaded Western Europe and found its most magnificent manifestation in the French Revolution.
The emphasis on emotion and individualism, idealization of nature, skepticism of science and industrialization, and exaltation of the past with a strong predilection for the mediaeval rather than the classical were all hallmarks of Romanticism. It was partly a reaction to the Industrial Revolution, the Age of Enlightenment's social and political norms, and the scientific rationality of nature, all of which were aspects of modernity. It was most strongly represented in the visual arts, music, and literature, but it also had a significant impact on history, education, and chess.
The movement stressed extreme emotion as an actual source of aesthetic experience, putting a new emphasis on emotions like fear, horror, and terror, as well as awe — particularly awe felt when confronted with new aesthetic categories like the sublime and natural beauty. It elevated not only folk art and historical customs to noble status, but also spontaneity as a desirable trait. In opposition to the Enlightenment's Rationalism and Classicism, Romanticism restored medievalism and authentically mediaeval elements of art and narrative in a bid to circumvent population increase, early urban sprawl, and industrialism.
The Lyrical Ballads of William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge launched Romanticism in English literature in the 1790s. The English Romantic movement's manifesto was Wordsworth's "Preface" to the second edition (1800) of Lyrical Ballads, in which he described poetry as "the spontaneous outburst of great sensations." William Blake was the movement's third most important poet during its early stages in England. In Germany, the initial phase of the Romantic movement was defined by content and literary style advances, as well as a preoccupation with the mystical, subconscious, and supernatural.
Poetry is, of course, the Romantic era's crowning achievement. Romantic prose, on the other hand, is no less beautiful. It was also a great age for English prose, but Romanticism, like any literary movement, had its limitations. Prof. Herford has made the argument that "The romantic poets lacked a vision of man, except in broad and simple terms such as patriot, peasant, visionary, and child. Except for a few areas where the spirit of liberation had placed a burning finger, they had no grasp of the past." This constraint was largely overcome in prose (as by Scott, Lamb, etc.). The tone of humanity is effectively struck in the poetry of Browning in the succeeding century, where Romantic poetry is short in human interest.
By the 1820s Romanticism had broadened to embrace the literatures of almost all of Europe. In this later, second, phase, the movement was less universal in approach and concentrated more on exploring each nation’s historical and cultural inheritance and on examining the passions and struggles of exceptional individuals. A brief survey of Romantic or Romantic-influenced writers would have to include Thomas De Quincey, William Hazlitt, and Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë in England; Victor Hugo, Alfred de Vigny, Alphonse de Lamartine, Alfred de Musset, Stendhal, Prosper Mérimée, Alexandre Dumas, and Théophile Gautier in France; Alessandro Manzoni and Giacomo Leopardi in Italy; Aleksandr Pushkin and Mikhail Lermontov in Russia; José de Espronceda and Ángel de Saavedra in Spain; Adam Mickiewicz in Poland; and almost all of the important writers in pre-Civil War America.
'Pan Tadeusz' 1834
Here I share with you the link to the audiobook read by Jerzy Radziwilowicz including Frederick Chopin music: Pan Tadeusz.
What is the best way for me to include romance into my work?
Now I know much more about what is romanticism. As I can see romanticism have a number of elements dedicated to this time. To create my romantic story I should consider those elements and how to implement them to my story. Strong senses and emotions, element of mystery, exaltation of the past, the love of beauty and the glory of the nature. That gives me clear idea what I should include in my writing. I can imagine how my characters will look like, their ideas and emotions. Also now I know how the scenery should look like. A breeze of spring and the singing of birds come firstly to my mind. Now I will use my imagination to create a beautiful story about woman and man who would give everything for love.
Sources:
https://www.britannica.com/art/Romanticism
https://www.englishliterature.info/2021/04/romanticism-in-english-literature.html
Czesław Miłosz, The history of Polish literature. IV. Romanticism, p. 228. Google Books. University of California Press, 1983. ISBN 0-520-04477-0. Retrieved October 7, 2011.
Very good research - I am now looking forward to really seeing your writing and your own work...
ReplyDelete