Concetti Chiave
- Romanticism emphasized imagination and emotional expression, redefining cultural perspectives and exploring new possibilities.
- The Romantic view celebrated the purity of childhood, valuing it as a state unspoiled by civilization.
- Individualism was highlighted, with a focus on the unique qualities of solitary individuals and the rejection of societal constraints.
- Romantics admired atypical and rebellious figures, seeing society as restricting natural, impulsive behavior.
- The concept of the 'Noble Savage' and a fascination with exoticism celebrated instinctive knowledge and distant, unfamiliar places.
Introduction to romanticism
Romanticism is a creative period where the cultural view of the world had to be readjusted.
In this period there’s was an intention to explore new possibilities of outlook, interest and behaviour.
There was further use of imagination, as a means of giving expression to emotional experience.
The limitless possibilities of the human mind were celebrated and several means (ways) were used to penetrate ‘subconscious’ levels.
There was serious concern about the experience and insights of childhood.
To a Romantic, a child was purer than an adult, because he was unspoilt by civilisation; so, childhood was a state to be admired and cultivated.
Individualism and society
There was new emphasis on the significance of the individual: man was seen in the solitary state, and stressed the special qualities of each individual’s mind.
They exalted the atypical, the outcast, the rebel, the hero.
Society was seen as an evil force; the current of though represented by Rousseau pointed out that the conventions of civilisation represented intolerable restrictions on the individual personality.
It followed that ‘natural’ behaviour, that is unrestrained and impulsive, is good, in contrast to the ‘rational’ behaviour, which is governed by rules and customs of society.
Noble savage and exoticism
The ‘Noble Savage’ concept is a Romantic one: the savage appears primitive, but he has an instinctive knowledge of himself and of the world, often superior to a civilised man.
Rousseau promoted the ‘Cult of the Exotic’, so of what is far away both in space and in time, what is picturesque, formidable, remote and unfamiliar.
The remotest parts of Europe and the Near East were seen as strange and unpredictable.
Domande da interrogazione
- What was the Romantic view on childhood and its significance?
In Romanticism, childhood was seen as a purer state than adulthood, unspoiled by civilization. Romantics admired and sought to cultivate this state, valuing the emotional experiences and insights of childhood.
Accedi a tutti gli appunti
Tutor AI: studia meglio e in meno tempo
