Concetti Chiave
- The Romantic Age spans from 1760 to 1837, a period marked by significant revolutions, including the American and French Revolutions.
- Key revolutionary ideals included "no taxation without representation" in America and "freedom, equality, and brotherhood" in France.
- The Industrial Revolution led to increased production but also caused unemployment and poor living conditions in overcrowded cities like London.
- Women’s roles varied by class; upper-class women were educated but did not work, while lower-class women worked long hours in industries for low wages.
- The Romantic Movement emphasized individualism, imagination, and emotions, contrasting with the rationality and harmony of the classicist period.
Indice
Revolutions during the 18th century
Scholars tend to generally extend the Romantic movement from 1760 to 1837.It was maybe developed because the last 4 decades of the 18th century are also defined the age of Revolution so tensions were strong and literature needed to be a place where a refuge from adversities could be found and where new ideas were spread, values were intensified, patriotism was taught.
The first revolution that chronologically brake out was the American Revolution.
It was caused because of the colonies rebelled against the mother country (England) since the heavy taxation had become unbearable. In fact, their motto was “no taxation without representation” .
It’s famous the episode known as Boston Tea Party when the colonist threw a cargo of tea into the water.
The American colonies gained the independence on 4th July 1776 when The Declaration of Indipendence written by Thomas Jefferson was signed in the Pennsylvania State House, in Filadelfia.
The French revolution started in 1789, precisely on 14th of July, when Bastille prison was besieged and destroyed.
the ideals which inspired the revolution were “freedom, equality and brotherhood”, although “the Reign of Terror” from September 1793 from August 1794 was characterized by violence, guillotines, absolutism perpetrated by Robespierre.
French revolution, then, resulted in the affirmation of the figure of Napoleon, who will be relevant in the 19th century.
Industrial and social revolutions
The industrial revolution was more pacific in term of military forces involved but it was so important that shaped permanently the society, the economy and people’s way of living.As a matter of fact, the machinery substituted workers with an increase in production but unemployment and dissatisfaction as well as long working hours and no guarantees among workers arose their fury.
London was overcrowded because a lot of farmers left the countryside to move to the city where industries developed, but their living conditions were horrible.
Linked to machinery, there was the Luddite Movement driving from a worker , Ned Ludd who destroyed machinery and was killed for this.
Political and social environment during the Romantic era
From a political point of view, the king during these years was George III.
The king surrounded himself appointed of loyal supporters.
He appointed as Prime Minister William Pitt, who worked in his favour.
In France, General Napoleon Bonaparte proclaimed himself Emperor, but he was definitely defeated in the battle of Waterloo by the Duke of Wellington on 18th of June 1815.
The position of women was different according to the social class: the upper classes woman didn’t work and received an education; the poor classes woman were employed in industries and forced to work up to 18 hours a day and they were ill-paid.
The Romantic movement
The adjective “Romantic” derives from Romance and it refers to languages that were inherited from Latin, even though a sense of erudition was not the main focus of this movement. In fact, it was alluded to a work of fantasy and imagination.In the classicist period qualities like rationality, equilibrium and harmony prevailed, now we have a great importance to individualism, to emotions and feelings.
The forerunner of the Romantic Movement were the German poets belonging to Sturm und Drong.
The new values for the romantic poets were: individualism, imagination and subjective interpretation of reality. They stated that all individual were free and equal.
Domande da interrogazione
- Quali furono le principali rivoluzioni durante l'età romantica?
- Quali furono le conseguenze della Rivoluzione Industriale?
- Quali erano i nuovi valori del movimento romantico?
Le principali rivoluzioni furono la Rivoluzione Americana e la Rivoluzione Francese. La Rivoluzione Americana portò all'indipendenza delle colonie il 4 luglio 1776, mentre la Rivoluzione Francese del 1789 fu ispirata dagli ideali di libertà, uguaglianza e fratellanza.
La Rivoluzione Industriale portò alla sostituzione dei lavoratori con macchinari, aumentando la produzione ma causando disoccupazione e insoddisfazione tra i lavoratori. Londra divenne sovraffollata poiché molti contadini si trasferirono in città, dove le condizioni di vita erano pessime.
I nuovi valori del movimento romantico includevano l'individualismo, l'immaginazione e l'interpretazione soggettiva della realtà. I poeti romantici affermavano che tutti gli individui erano liberi e uguali, in contrasto con le qualità di razionalità ed equilibrio del periodo classicista.
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