Concetti Chiave
- The rise of Romanticism at the end of the 18th century was influenced by major events like the American, Industrial, and French Revolutions, leading to a new introspective and individualistic era.
- Romanticism is characterized by introspection, nostalgia, and emotionalism, varying significantly between countries and individual artists, reflecting personal thoughts and sensibilities.
- Imagination gained prominence during this period, seen as an exclusive faculty of artists allowing them to perceive beyond reality, while fantasy was accessible to everyone as a reimagination of known elements.
- Childhood was idealized as a pure state, untainted by societal norms, with Rousseau's experiment highlighting the corrupting influence of society compared to the innocence of nature.
- Exoticism in Romanticism involved using imagination to depict distant, unknown places, emphasizing creativity over direct experience.
The Rise of Romanticism
At the end of the 18th century, precisely in the last thirty years of this century, there was the rise of a new sensibility, known as ROMANTICISM.
The development of this new age was influenced by great events and great revolutions:
The American Revolution (July 4, 1776) that determined the freedom of the American colonies from England (the Declaration of Independence).
The Industrial Revolution that reshaped the economic, social and political background of Britain.
The French Revolution (July 14, 1789 storming of the bastille), because french people believed in values like freedom, brotherhood and equality, when this revolution failed, bringing to a dictatorship led by Robespierre, there was a sort of disillusionment between people, that brought man to be more introspective, and consequently individual, searching freedom inside himself.
Characteristics of Romanticism
The main features of this period became introspection, nostalgia and emotionalism.
Romantic Movement, was different from country to country and in the countries from artist to artist, because everyone has personal thoughts, a personal sensibility.
In this period, there was the rediscovery of the art and popular traditions of the Middle Age that manifested itself in the so-called “Gothic vogue”, which was in interest in what was wild, irrational, supernatural and horrific.
The concept of nature changed too, in fact nature was considered as an expression of God, because in this period there was the spreading of a new religion, pantheism that considers God in nature.
Imagination and Fantasy
Another important feature of this period, whose gained a key role, was imagination, that is a faculty that belongs only to the artists (poets, musicians, painters) and it lets them to see beyond the reality.
We must make an important difference between imagination and fantasy, because while imagination belongs only to the artists, fantasy, instead, belongs to everyone and it is the realaboration about something that we already know.
Childhood and Society
The childhood was considered the best season of the human life, because children as ignorants as peasants were incontamineted by the society, so they express their emotions, thoughts and feelings without considering social conventions, that is, without fear to be judged by the others, in fact according to this concept, cultured people were considered unhappy because they think too.
Jean Jacques Rousseau, made an experiment, that is, he adopted a child who he called Emilio, he made him to grow up in captivity, that is, in contact with nature, when Emilio grew up and adult became, he sent him to live in strictly contact with the society, so making it, Rousseau realized that when Emilio lived in contact with nature he was good, but when he moved to the city he became bad, so the philosopher stated that the society is an evil force.
Exoticism and Imagination
he exotism was the description of far away places of which we have not any experience, using only the imagination.
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