1

RomanticismDr. Joel Peckham

2

11 Principles a deepened appreciation of the sublime beauties of nature,

particularly of it’s wild, rural, uncivilized aspect;   a general exaltation of emotion over reason, the senses

over intellect, intuition over science, subjectivity over objectivity;

  a turning in upon the self and a heightened examination of

human personality and its moods and mental potentialities; focus on the internal rather than external;

  a preoccupation with the genius, the hero, and the

exceptional figure in general, and a focus on his passions and inner struggles;

 

3

Principles Cont. a new view of the artist as a supremely individual creator,

whose creative spirit is more important than strict adherence to formal rules and traditional procedures;

  an emphasis upon imagination as a gateway to

transcendent experience and spiritual truth;   an interest in human rights, unrestrained liberty, and

freedom.   an interest in expressive artistic forms and even

formlessness; rejection of more rigid formalism, hellenism.  

4

Principles Cont. an obsessive interest in folk culture, national and

ethnic cultural origins, and the medieval era;   a tendency toward sentimentality and a growing

appreciation for the feminine, the emotional, the passionate

  a predilection for the exotic, the remote, the

mysterious, the weird, the occult, the grotesque, the monstrous, the diseased, the gothic and even the satanic

5

Principle #1

a deepened appreciation of the beauties of nature, particularly of it’s wild, rural, uncivilized aspect;

6

Thomas Cole, Kaaterskill falls

7

George Gordon, Lord Byron

I live not in myself, but I become Portion of that around me; and to me High mountains are a feeling, but the hum Of human cities torture: I can see Nothing to loathe in nature, save to be A link reluctant in a fleshly chain, Class'd among creatures, when the soul can flee, And with the sky--the peak--the heaving plain Of ocean, or the stars, mingle--and not in vain.

– ---Child Harold’s Pilgrimage

8

Principle #2 a general exaltation of emotion over

reason, the senses over intellect, intuition over science, subjectivity over objectivity;

9

Goethe

"What you don't feel, you will not grasp by art, Unless it wells out of your soul And with sheer pleasure takes control, Compelling every listener's heart. But sit - and sit, and patch and knead, Cook a ragout, reheat your hashes, Blow at the sparks and try to breed A fire out of piles of ashes! Children and apes may think it great, If that should titillate your gum, But from heart to heart you will never create. If from your heart it does not come.“

10

Principle #3

a turning in upon the self and a heightened examination of human personality and its moods and mental potentialities;

11

Novalis

We dream of traveling through the universe - but is not the universe within ourselves? The depths of our spirit are unknown to us - the mysterious way leads inwards. Eternity with its worlds - the past and future - is in ourselves or nowhere.

12

Principle #4 a preoccupation with the genius, the hero,

and the exceptional figure in general, and a focus on his passions and inner struggles;

13

14

George Gordon, Lord Byron

But soon he knew himself the most unfit Of men to herd with Man; with whom he held Little in common; untaught to submit His thoughts to others, though his soul was quell'd In youth by his own thoughts; still uncompell'd, He would not yield dominion of his mind To spirits against whom his own rebell'd; Proud though in desolation; which could find A life within itself, to breathe without mankind.

– From “Child Harold’s Pilgrimage”

15

Principle #5

a new view of the artist as a supremely individual creator, whose creative spirit is more important than strict adherence to formal rules and traditional procedures;

16

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Poets are the hierophants of an unapprehended inspiration, the mirrors of the gigantic shadows which futurity casts upon the present, the words which express what they understand not, the trumpets which sing to battle and feel not what they inspire: the influence which is moved not, but moves. Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the World.

• From “A Defense of Poetry”

17

Walt Whitman 1819-1892

Stop this day and night with me and you shallpossess the origin of all poems,

You shall possess the good of the earth and sun, (there are millions of suns left)

--from “Song of Myself”

18

Principle #6

an emphasis upon imagination as a gateway to transcendent experience and spiritual truth;

19

Immanuel Kant If we wish to discern whether anything is

beautiful or not, we do not refer the representation of it to the object by means of understanding with a view to cognition, but by means of the imagination

– From Critique of Judgement

20

Principle #7an interest in human rights,

unrestrained liberty, and freedom.

21

Delecroix—Liberty Leading the people

22

Turner (1775-1851) The Slave Ship

23

Francisco De Goya(1746-1828)The Shootings of May 3, 1808

24

Principle #8

an interest in expressive artistic forms and even formlessness; rejection of more rigid formalism, hellenism.

25

Principle #9 an obsessive interest in folk culture, national and

ethnic cultural origins, and the medieval era

26

Stephen Foster

27

Richard Wagner

28

Principle #10 a tendency toward sentimentality and a growing

appreciation for the feminine, the emotional, the passionate

29

Beethoven

30

Alphonse De Lemartine 1790-1869

“Then let us love, let us love! And the fleeting hoursLet us hasten to enjoy.We have no port, time itself has no shore;It glides by and we pass away.

Jealous time, will these moments of such intoxicationLove flooding us with overwhelming blissFly past us with the same speedAs dark and painful days?

--From, “The Lake”

31

32

Principle #11 a predilection for the exotic, the remote, the

mysterious, the weird, the occult, the grotesque, the monstrous, the diseased, the gothic and even the satanic

33

Fuseli--Nightmare

34

35

36

37

38

Principle #11 a predilection for the exotic, the remote, the

mysterious, the weird, the occult, the grotesque, the monstrous, the diseased, the gothic and even the satanic