ROMANTICISM

WHEN & WHERE?

WHAT IS IT?

Mid/Late18th century in Western Europe

A new way of thinking and feeling but was never unified as a movement

VOCABULARY

(1) movement from "society follows religion" to "society follows men's rules"

period between French Revolution (1789) and the coronation of Queen Victoria (1837)

The word "Romantic" was adopted in the late 18th century

(2) dal verbo "to arise": sorgere

ideas created by a sense of dissatisfaction (3) with the ideals of the Enlightenment, with the society that produced them and with civilization as a corruptive agent

(3) insoddisfazione, malcontento

VALUED

IMAGINATION

NATURE

LOVE

For Romantics love isn't easy, it is often troubled

(4) dolori

(5) non ce la faceva più

They put passion and spontaneity before anything else but they are killed by their own feelings

At the end of the love story written by Goethe, "Sorrows(4) of Young Werther", because of his feelings about a married lady, the protagonist kills himself: he can't take it anymore (5)

A symbol of the power of nature, for the Romantics, are, for example, the Niagara Falls

For Romantics, Nature is a religious experience, a spiritual fulfilment(6) in wide(7), open spaces

(6) appagamento

(7) ampio, vasto

It creates a feeling of awe(8)

It reminds man of his real importance and place in the world

It allows relief(10) from city life

Romantics are overwhelmed(9) by nature

Source of inspiration and sensation

A counter part for the spiritual corruption of modern society

THE FAR-AWAY

THE PAST

Revival of the Middle-Ages

(9) sopraffatto

(8) timore reverenziale: paura,timore ma con ammirazione

(12) mancante di qualcosa

(11) desiderio

(10) sollievo

Opposed to reason

The Romantic looks at the irrational aspects of reality

Interested in the humble and ignorant

THE INDIVIDUAL

One that doesn't conform to the strict rules of society

The subjective and irrational part of human nature

The rebel, the outcast

passion, spontaneity & feelings

Is considered as opposed to institutionalised practices of thought

Is seen as a substitute for traditional religion

a vehicle for self-consciousness: Nature allows people to discover what they truly are

A provocation to a state of imagination and division

CHILD

Playfulness and lack (12) of practicality

For Romantics, the child is the symbol of the "uncorrupted " by civilisation

Centre of everything

Represents freedom, spontaneity, innocence, sweetness & irrationality

He's the image of creativity & imagination

FLANEUR (13)

Word adopted by Baudelaire in 1863

someone who is not busy and spends his time experiencing life

In UK is used the word "stroller" (13)

He represents someone who doesn't follow society's rules, so he's uncorrupted

A pure creative genius

He isn't somebody that must be educated, on the contrary, he must be copied

The same principle applies to the savage

EXOTICISM

a kind of attraction for the exotic, the savage

An example was the French impressionist Gauguin

He moved to Thaiti (in the Pacific Ocean(14)) because he wanted to find a more real, savage and uncivilised environment

(13) "camminatore"; negli USA significa anche "passeggino"

(14) "Pacific" si usa solo con "Ocean"

Neo-Gothic architecture: Pugin defended the Medieval-style

Copies the forms of Gothic

Romantics feel a mix of fascination and fear for the unknown / the mysterious

MPORTANT POETS

This conception starts with the "Emile" by Rousseau

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

He wanted to write poetry but he wasn't receiving any recognition and his parents wanted him to become a lawyer

He preferred to die rather than following the rules, so in 1770 he killed himself

EMBLEM OF THE DOOMED ARTIST

someone who will have a terrible ending

Sensitive artist who is rejected by our cruel word

Secularised version of a Christ-like figure

Enthusiasm for the democratic ideals of the French revolution

Pantheistic view of nature

He saw nature everywhere

for him Nature has the powers of God

Man is inside the Nature

Man can't be separated from Nature

Wordsworth wasn't interested in Nature's beauty but in the feelings he felt when he experienced it

It recalled a time before the country became obsessed by money, industralisation and technology

He detested industrialisation

he encouraged the idea of people to go to Lake District

He was the first to have the idea of natural parks to save the beauty of that place from industrialisation

Like Goethe's protagonist in The Sorrows of Young Werther

Ruins are a testimony of the past, better than the present

Regularity of the forms

Revisitation of medieval stories and legends

Every capital and spire is identical (unlike Gothic, when they were all different, respecting the asymmetry of nature)