A comparison of Enlightenment and Romanticism Thought

• The Enlightenment, (Liberalism or Neo-Classicism) was an outgrowth of the ideas of the philosophes

• Advocated for reason, logic and common sense

• Stressed order, harmony and emotional restraint

• Romanticism, (Conservatism and Idealism) was a reaction to the philosophes

• It emphasized feelings, imagination, emotions and inuition

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

“I know the feelings of my heart, and I know men. I am not made like any of those I have seen. I venture to believe that I am not made like any of those who are in existence. If I am not better, at least I am different.” Confessions, 1781

Eccentricity is okay

on nature and the natural world...

• The universe is giant mechanical clock with all parts working harmoniously and simultaneously

• Man's passions are not good and must be subordinated to social rules

• Deism – saw God as “the Great Planner” who assembled the Universe, wound it up and leaves it alone.

• Criticized “mechanism” -fitting all people into a mechanical framework diminished their unique individuality

• Machines are “soul-less” -without souls/spirit

• Nature is “The Sublime” -lofty, noble & majestic

• Pantheism-the presence of God in nature

on scientific rationalism...

• use the scientific method to discover and understand the natural world and Man.

• “the scientific method crushes emotions, feelings and impedes creativity.”

… Lord Byron

William Blake

• “The Reasoning Power of Man is an incrustation (scab) over my immortal spirit.”

on Christianity...

• rejected Christianity and all religions for their reliance on faith and superstition…

• “miracles” defy reason and logic

• viewed God as a spiritual force that inspired people and enriched life.

on the Middle Ages ...

• “The Dark Ages” a period of decay and ignorance in which superstition and fanaticism reigned

• Medieval institutions and traditions stopped human progress

• “An Age of Faith” - a time of deep religious faith that nurtured social harmony

on the concept of history...

• it provided examples of human folly in the past and helped people prepare for a better future.

• “each historical period is unique to a given time, place and people with its own soul…zeitgeist.”

Georg W.F. Hegel

on imagination ...

• it distorts reason and ignores common sense

• the imagination of the individual should determine the content and shape of man’s creations and self-expression

William Wordsworth

• “…imagination and feelings, not mathematics and logic, yield the highest truth.”

• “I am certain of nothing but of the holiness of my heart’s affections and the truth of imagination.”

John Keats

on human feelings...

• feelings are an obstacle to clear thinking and hide the truth.

• feelings are the avenue to truth-spontaneous human emotions reveal the inner self.

The approach to literature

• rules and formulas were introduced for the perfect play, poem or piece of music 26 rules for tragedy

25 rules for comedy

24 rules for epic poetry

• Express yourself, listen to your inner voice.

• you can’t learn to write poetry from a textbook

Victor Hugo, 1802-1885

• “Freedom in our art!... Let us take a hammer to the theories, to the rules and the formulas ….”

• American Romanticists-Edgar Allen Poe

Walt Whitman

James Fenimore Cooper

Nathaniel Hawthorne

on folk and cultural traditions...

• the philosophes ridiculed and dismissed folk traditions as peasant superstitions which stood in the way of human progress

• Romanticists viewed native languages, songs and legends as the unique creations of a people and their deepest expressions of national feelings.

• folk traditions were the spiritual force of a people’s identity and creativity.

on works of art...

• to attempt to portray, as accurately as possible, the subject and it’s surrounding environment.

• Greek and Roman subjects

• Used as propaganda, to teach or inform

• Paintings are not mere imitations of nature but authentic and spontaneous expressions of the artist's feelings, intuition, fantasies and dreams

> calm grandeur> noble simplicity> realistic detail

>contrived, stage-like and stiff – frozen in time> figures are solid but immobile

The Death of Socrates

Achilles receives the ambassadors of Agamemnon

• Napoleon crossing the St. Bernard Pass

• Napoleon Crossing the Alps

Hamlet at the gravesite of Yurick

Tintern Abbey (A Gothic ruin in Wales)

Raft of the Medusa, 1819, Gericault

Boat in a Maelstrom

Saturday Afternoon, Constable

Monticello, Jefferson 1784

Nuschwanstein Castle, Ludwig II, 1864

Any Questions?

a self-quiz…

The Oath of the Horatii

• Zeus and Thetis

Liberty Leading the People, Delacroix 1830

Town On A River, Schinkel 1815

Palace de Pena, Portugal

• Palacio de Pena

The Sabine Women, David

Vergil Reading to Augustus, Ingres

A Mountain Stream

The Boatmaker, Constable

U.S. Capitol

Any Questions?