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Classicism and Romanticism: an Introduction

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Classicism and Romanticism: an Introduction 1 Subject: ENGLISH Class: B.A. Part 1 English Hons., Paper-1, Group B Topic: Romanticism and Classicism-An Introduction Lecture No: 94 By: Prof. Sunita Sinha Head, Department of English Women’s College Samastipur L.N.M.U., Darbhanga Email: [email protected] Website: www.sunitasinha.com Mob No: 9934917117 “ROMANTICISM AND CLASSICISM-AN INTRODUCTION” Classicism and Romanticism: An Introduction Classicism and Romanticism are artistic movements that have influenced the literature, visual art, music, and architecture of the Western world over many centuries. There are two distinctive tendencies in the history of literature—Classic and Romantic. At some period in the history of Literature one tendency dominates, 2 and then it is followed by the predominance of the other tendency, and in this manner they appear alternately, one following the other. Classicism and Romanticism are artistic movements that have influenced the literature, visual art, music, and architecture of the Western world over many centuries. With its origins in the ancient Greek and Roman societies, Classicism defines beauty as that which demonstrates balance and order. Romanticism developed in the 18th century — partially as a reaction against the ideals of Classicism — and expresses beauty through imagination and powerful emotions. Although the characteristics of these movements are frequently at odds, both schools of thought continued to influence Western art into the 21st century. The name "Classical" was given to the Greeks and Romans retroactively by Renaissance writers. Artists and thinkers of the Renaissance, which literally means "rebirth," saw themselves as the heirs of that world following the Middle Ages. Its ideals continued to exert strong influence into the Age of Enlightenment in the 17th and 18th centuries. 3 In literature, Classicism values traditional forms and structures. According to legend, the Roman poet Virgil left orders for his masterpiece The Aeneid to be burned at his death, because a few of its lines were still metrically imperfect. This rather extreme example demonstrates the importance placed on excellence in formal execution. Such attention to detail can also be seen in the work of the Italian poet Dante Alighieri, whose Divine Comedy contains over 14,000 lines written in a strict rhyming pattern known as terza rima. Other characteristics of the movement include balance, order, and emotional restraint. Romanticism may be a somewhat confusing term, since modern English speakers tend to associate the word "romance" with a particular variety of love. As an artistic movement, however, it celebrates all strong emotions, not just feelings of love. In addition to emotion, Romantic artists valued the search for beauty and meaning in all aspects of life. They saw imagination, rather than reason, as the route to truth. The treatment of emotion is one of the primary ways in which Classicism and Romanticism differ. The Romantics placed a higher value on the expression of strong emotion than on 4 technical perfection. Classicists did not shy away from describing emotionally charged scenes, but typically did so in a more distant manner. Romantics, however, were more likely to indulge in effusive emotional statements, as John Keats did in "Ode on a Grecian Urn": "More love! More happy, happy love!" Furthermore, these movements have different attitudes toward the grotesque. William Shakespeare, writing before the onset of Romanticism, occasionally used deformed characters in his plays, such as Caliban in The Tempest; they are used primarily for comedic effect or as a foil to the physical perfections of another character. Romantics, however, celebrated the grotesque and the outcast through the form of a Byronic hero, named after the English poet Lord Byron. One well-known example of this character type is Edward Rochester, the love interest in Charlotte Brontë's novel Jane Eyre, who reaches spiritual perfection only after undergoing physical deformation. In the history of English literature, the Elizabethan period may be called the first Romantic period, dominated by Marlowe, Shakespeare, Spenser and others. It was followed by the Classical period in the eighteenth century whose important literary figures were Dryden, Pope, Addison, Swift and Dr. Johnson. 5 The later part of the eighteenth century and the early part of the nineteenth century, whose prominent poets were Wordsworth, Coleridge, Scott, Byron, Shelley, Keats, was dominated by the romantic tendency, and hence it is called the Romantic period. During the Victorian period in English the romantic tendency continued to dominate literature, but the twentieth century literature shows signs of the Classical tendency. DIFFERENCES: 1. Classicism stressed on reason. Romanticism on imagination. 2. Classicism follow the three unities of time, place and action. Romanticism only follows the unity of action, but does not follow the unities of time, place. 3. Classicism uses strict, rigid and logical diction and theme. Romanticism uses simple diction of common men from their everyday life. 4. Classicists thought of the world as having a rigid and stern structure, the romanticists thought of the world as a place to express their ideas and believes. 6 5. Classicism was based on the idea that nature and human nature could be understood by reason and thought. Classicist believed that nature was, a self-contained machine, like a watch, whose laws of operation could be rationally understood. Romanticists viewed nature as mysterious and ever changing. Romantic writes believed that nature is an ever changing living organism, whose laws we will never fully understand. 6. Classicists thought that it was literature's function to show the everyday values of humanity and the laws of human existence. Their idea was that classicism upheld tradition, often to the point of resisting change, because tradition seemed a reliable testing ground for those laws. As for the Romantics, they wrote about how man has no boundaries and endless possibilities. The Romantics stressed the human potential for social progress and spiritual growth. **** By: Prof. Sunita Sinha Head, Department of English, Women’s College Samastipur L.N.M.U., Darbhanga Email: [email protected] Website: www.sunitasinha.com Mob No:9934917117 .
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