The Romantic PeriodDecember 2, 2013

•What do we mean when we call a person a “romantic”?

•What are some romantic tales you have enjoyed reading or seeing?

To analyze literary elements in Romantic works

To apply effective strategies when reading

OBJECTIVE

The Anglo Saxon & Middle Ages Period? Mirrored the lifestyles and values of the people in these periods, beginning with the

great epic hero, Beowulf.

The stories of Sir Gawain and King Arthur exemplify the medieval notion of nobility.The selections we read dealt with the efforts and characteristics of epic heros.

WHERE WE WERE

Frankenstein – Gothic Science FictionThe story has elements of the Gothic novel and also the Romantic movement. It is also considered to be one of the earliest examples of Science Fiction.

What are the elements in the story of each?

WHERE WE WERE

1798-1832

Romanticism saw a shift from faith in reason to faith in the senses, feelings, and imagination; a shift from interest in

urban society to an interest in the rural and natural; a shift from public, impersonal poetry to subjective poetry;

and from concern with the scientific and mundane to interest in the mysterious and infinite. Mainly they cared

about the individual, intuition, and imagination.

Romantic literature tends to emphasize a love of nature, a respect for primitivism, and a valuing of the common,

"natural" man; Romantics idealize country life and believe that many of the ills of society are a result of

urbanization.

WHERE WE ARE GOING…

Romantics were interested in the Medieval past, the supernatural, the mystical, the “gothic,” and the exotic.

Romantics were attracted to rebellion and revolution, especially concerned with human rights, individualism, freedom from oppression.

There was emphasis on introspection, psychology, melancholy, and sadness. The art often dealt with death, transience and mankind’s feelings about these things. The artists were extremely individualistic creators whose creative spirits were more important than strict adherence to formal rules and traditional procedures.

WHERE WE ARE GOING…

We will look at some selections which praise the wisdom to be gained from an emotional response to everyday life and natural settings.

Other selections will reveal the lessons to be learned form those who venture into forbidden and unnatural realms.

INTRODUCTION

William Blake is a Romantic poet Mary Wollstonecraft is considered to be

the founder of the women’s rights movement.

William Wordsworth is a Romantic poet.George Gordon, Lord Byron – “Mad,

Bad, and Dangerous to Know” John Keats was a Romantic poet

focused on his own mortality.

WHO YOU’LL MEET

The rationalistic view of urban life was replaced by the Romantic view

Rationalists saw cities as a place to find success and self-realization

Romantics saw the city as a place of moral corruption, poverty, and death

BEFORE AND AFTER

The Romantic journey is to the countryside

The Romantics associated the country with independence, moral

clarity, and purity

The Romantics saw the country as idyllic and as an escape

INTRODUCTION

Romanticism: valuing feeling and intuition over reason

Romanticism: viewing life as we would like it to be, rather than how it really is Romanticism began in Germany and

influenced literature, music, and art Romanticism is a reaction against

Rationalism

THE ROMANTIC SENSIBILITY

WHAT IT LOOKED LIKE

“Marriage license”

Tall and proud

Making photographs

NOW, IT LOOKS LIKE…

Capturing a mood, feeling, or a moment. Note that the painter is no longer trying to make a photograph, but rather suggest the image.

The development of slums and poverty due to the Industrial

Revolution turned people from Rationalism

Romantics believed that imagination, emotion, spontaneity,

feelings, and nature were more important than rational thought

THE ROMANTIC SENSIBILITY

values feelings over intuition values the power of the imagination seeks the beauty of unspoiled nature values youthful innocence values individual freedom values the lessons of the past finds beauty in exotic locales, the

supernatural, and in the imagination values poetry as the highest

expression of the imagination values myth, legend, and folk culture

CHARACTERISTICS OF ROMANTICISM

Romantic writing looked for comforting or exotic settings from the past This was found in the supernatural, in nature, and/or in folk legends Romantics believed in contemplating, or becoming one with the natural world

The Gothic novel emerged from Romanticism

ROMANTIC ESCAPISM

Romanticism also used lyrical poetry as a means to contemplate the beauty of nature

It focused on simple natural beauties

Its intent was to seek truth through a calm contemplation of a simple natural beauty

ROMANTIC ESCAPISM

Have you ever enjoyed a song, movie, or story that dealt with extremes of emotion? Perhaps it was a sad song about lost love, a suspenseful film of high adventure, or

an eerie, terrifying tale with unexplained events.

Write some down and then brainstorm for a minute reasons that stories involving

extremes of emotion are popular.

YOUR TURN

Small Group Discussion

Imagine you are having a hectic day. Suddenly you have the chance to sit by the sea, by a mountain, or in a forest for

an hour. How do you think that would make you feel? Why?