Romanticism is an ideological and artistic movement in the culture of the late 18th - 1st half of the 19th century centuries Romanticism arose as a response to the disillusionment that reigned in Europe with the ideals of the Great Patriotic War. french revolution 1789-1794, Enlightenment and bourgeois values. So what is romanticism, and what are its characteristics?
Main features of romanticism
In contrast to classicism, which asserted the inviolability of state foundations and service to public interests, the new direction expressed the desire for personal freedom and independence from society. Romanticism brought a lot of new things to all areas of artistic activity.
Works of a lyrical nature made it possible to reflect human emotions. Becomes a new hero strong personality experiencing a discrepancy between internal aspirations and the demands of society. Nature also acts as an independent character. Her image (often with elements of mysticism) helps convey the human condition.
Appeal to national history, folk epics became the basis of a new topic. Works appear that highlight the heroic past, depicting heroes sacrificing their lives for high goals. Legends and traditions allowed us to escape from everyday life into the world of fantasy and symbols.
Romanticism in literature
Romanticism arose in Germany, in the literary and philosophical circles of the “Jena School” (the Schlegel brothers and others). Prominent representatives of the direction are F. Schelling, the brothers Grimm, Hoffmann, G. Heine.
In England, new ideas were adopted by W. Scott, J. Keats, Shelley, and W. Blake. The most prominent representative of romanticism was J. Byron. His work had a great influence on the spread of the movement, including in Russia. The popularity of his “Childe Harold’s Travels” led to the emergence of the phenomenon of “Byronism” (Pechorin in “A Hero of Our Time” by M. Lermontov).
French romantics - Chateaubriand, V. Hugo, P. Merimee, George Sand, Polish - A. Mickiewicz, American - F. Cooper, G. Longfellow and others.
Russian romantic writers
In Russia, romanticism developed after the Patriotic War of 1812 due to Alexander I’s refusal to liberalize public life, the beginning of the reaction, consigning to oblivion the merits to the patronymic of a whole galaxy of heroes. This was the impetus for the appearance of works depicting strong characters, violent passions, conflicts. During this significant period for Russian culture, literature appeared using new artistic media. So what is romanticism in literature? This is the greatest development of such genres as ballad, elegy, lyric-epic poem, historical novel.
The features of romanticism are manifested in the works of V. Zhukovsky and are developed by Baratynsky, Ryleev, Kuchelbecker, Pushkin (“Eugene Onegin”), and Tyutchev. And the works of Lermontov, the “Russian Byron,” are considered the pinnacle of Russian romanticism.
Romanticism in music and painting
What is romanticism in music? This is a reflection of the world of emotional experiences, the desire for ideals through fabulous and historical images. Hence the development of such genres as symphonic poem, opera, ballet, and the song genre (ballad, romance).
Leading romantic composers - F. Mendelssohn, G. Berlioz, R. Schumann, F. Chopin, J. Brahms, A. Dvorak, R. Wagner, etc. In Russia - M. Glinka, A. Dargomyzhsky, M. Balakirev, A. Borodin, M. Mussorgsky, N. Rimsky-Korsakov, P. Tchaikovsky, S. Rachmaninov. In music, romanticism lasted until the beginning of the twentieth century.
Romantic painting is characterized by dynamic composition, a sense of movement, and rich color. In France it is Gericault, Delacroix, David; in Germany – Runge, Koch, Biedermeier style. In England - Turner, Constable, the Pre-Raphaelites Rossetti, Morris, Burne-Jones. In Russian painting - K. Bryullov, O. Kiprensky, Aivazovsky.
From this article you learned what romanticism is, the definition of this concept and its main features.
Romanticism as literary direction originated in Europe at the end of the 18th century. One of the main reasons for this was the fact that this era was a time of great upheaval both in Russia and throughout Europe. In 1789, the Great French Revolution occurred, which only ended completely in 1814. It consisted of a number of significant events, which ultimately led to a whole literary revolution, as the human mentality changed.
Prerequisites for the emergence of romanticism
Firstly, the French revolution was based on the ideas of the Enlightenment; the slogan Freedom, equality and fraternity was put forward! A person began to be valued as an individual, and not just as a member of society and a servant of the state, people believed that they themselves could control their own destiny. Secondly, many people who were apologists of classicism realized that the real course of history is sometimes beyond the control of reason - main value classicism, too many unexpected turns arose there. Also, in accordance with the new slogan, people began to understand that the structure of the world they were accustomed to could actually be hostile for a particular person and could interfere with his personal freedom.
Features and traits of romanticism
Thus, there is a need for a new, relevant direction in the literature. It became romanticism main conflict which is a conflict between the individual and society. The romantic hero is strong, bright, independent and rebellious, but usually finds himself alone, because the surrounding society is unable to understand and accept him. He is one against everyone, he is always in a state of struggle. But this hero, despite his inconsistency with the world around him, is not negative.
Romantic writers do not set out to derive some kind of morality from their work, to determine where it is good and where it is bad. They describe reality very subjectively, their focus is on the rich inner world of the hero, which explains his actions.
The following features of romanticism can be distinguished:
- 1) Autobiography of the writer in the main character,
- 2) Attention inner world hero,
- 3) The personality of the main character contains many mysteries and secrets,
- 4) The hero is very bright, but at the same time, no one manages to understand him completely
Manifestations of Romanticism in Literature
The most striking manifestations of romanticism in literature were in two European countries, in England and Germany. German romanticism is usually called mystical; it describes the behavior of a hero defeated by society; the main writer here was Schiller. English romanticism was most actively used by Byron; this is freedom-loving romanticism, preaching the idea of the struggle of an misunderstood hero.
For Russia, such an impetus for the emergence of romanticism was Patriotic War 1812, when Russian soldiers went to Europe and saw with their own eyes the life of foreigners (for many this came as a shock), as well as the Decembrist uprising in 1825, which excited all Russian minds. However, this factor was rather final, since even before 1825 many writers followed the traditions of romanticism - for example, Pushkin in his Southern poems (this was created in 1820-24).
V. Zhukovsky and K. Batyushkov became apologists of romanticism in Russia, back in 1801 - 1815. This is the time of the dawn of romanticism in Russia and in the world. You may also be interested in learning about the topics and
The formation of the culture of romanticism. Aesthetics of Romanticism
Romanticism is an artistic movement in spiritual and artistic culture, which arose in Europe at the endXVIII– beginningXIXcenturies Romanticism was embodied in literature: Byron, Hugo, Hoffmann, Poe; music: Chopin, Wagner; in painting, in theatrical activities, in landscape gardening art. Under the term "romanticism" in XIX century, modern art was understood, which replaced classicism. The socio-historical cause of the emergence of romanticism was the events of the Great French Revolution. History during this period turned out to be beyond the control of reason. The new world order, disappointment in the ideals of the revolution formed the basis for the emergence of romanticism. On the other hand, the revolution involved the entire people in the creative process and was reflected in its own way in the soul of each person. The involvement of man in the movement of time, the co-creation of man and history was significant for the romantics. The main merit of the Great French Revolution, which became one of the prerequisites for the emergence of romanticism, is that it brought to the fore the problem of unlimited individual freedom and its creative possibilities. Perception of personality as a creative substance.
The romantic type of consciousness is open to dialogue - it requires an interlocutor and an accomplice in lonely walks, communication with nature, with one’s own nature. It is synthetic, because this artistic consciousness is nourished by various sources of design and enrichment, development. Romantics need dynamics; the process is important to them, not its completion. Hence the interest in fragments, in genre experiments. Romantics see the author as central to the literary process. Romanticism is associated with the liberation of words from pre-prepared and defined forms, filling them with many meanings. The word becomes an object - a mediator in bringing together the truth of life and the truth of literature. XIXcentury is a cultural and historical era that reflected profound changes in the history of society and ideas about human nature, stimulated by the Great French Revolution. This is an age exclusively aimed at the development of human individuality. Humanistic aspirations of writers XIXcenturies relied on the great achievements of the Enlightenment, the discoveries of the romantics, the greatest achievements natural sciences, without which it is impossible to imagine new art. XIXThe century is filled with incredible energy and an unpredictable play of circumstances that a person has to face in conditions of social instability, in conditions of active redistribution of spheres of spiritual activity and the increasing social significance of art, especially literature.
Romanticism abstracted from the world of reality and created its own, in which there were other laws, other feelings, words, other desires and concepts. The romantic strives to escape everyday life and returns to it, discovering the unusual, always carrying with him the eternally alluring image of endless striving for the ideal. Interest in the individual consciousness of the artist and the development of his capabilities is combined with the universal inability of many romantic heroes to consider themselves as full members of an organized society. social society. They are often presented as lonely figures, alienated from a materialistic, selfish and hypocritical world. Sometimes they are outlawed or fight for their own happiness in the most unusual, often illegal ways (robbers, corsairs, infidels).
The free independent thinking of romantics is realized in an endless chain of self-discoveries. Self-awareness and self-knowledge become both the task and the goal of art.
Romanticism as a cultural phenomenon is tied to the era, although it can leave some of its constants as a legacy to future generations appearance personalities, her psychological characteristics: interesting pallor, a penchant for lonely walks, love for a beautiful landscape and detachment from the ordinary, longing for unrealistic ideals and an irretrievably lost past, melancholy and high moral sense, sensitivity to the suffering of others.
Basic principles of the poetics of romanticism.
1. The artist does not strive to recreate life, but to recreate it in accordance with his ideals.
2. Romantic dual worlds are interpreted in the artist’s mind as a discord between ideal and reality, what should be and what is. The basis of dual worlds is rejection of reality. The dual worlds of the romantics are very close to the dialogue with nature, the universe, a silent dialogue, often carried out in the imagination, but always with physical movement or its imitation. The rapprochement of the world of human feelings with the world of nature helped romantic hero to feel part of a larger universe, to feel free and significant. A romantic is always a traveler, he is a citizen of the world, for whom the entire planet is the center of thought, mystery, and the process of creation.
3. The word in romanticism represents a line of demarcation between the world of creative imagination and the real world; it warns of the possible invasion of reality and the suspension of the flight of fantasy. The word, created by the creative energy and enthusiasm of the author, conveys his warmth and energy to the reader, inviting him to empathy and joint action.
4. Concept of personality: man is a small universe. The hero is always an exceptional person who has looked into the abyss of his own consciousness.
5. The basis of modern personality is passion. From here stems the romantics' exploration of human passions, an understanding of human individuality, which led to the discovery of the subjective person.
6. Artists reject all normativity in art.
7. Nationality: each nation creates its own special world image, which is determined by culture and habits. The Romantics addressed issues of national typology of cultures.
8. Romantics often turned to myths: antiquity, the Middle Ages, folklore. In addition, they create their own myths. The symbolism, metaphors, and emblems of romantic artistic consciousness are simple and natural at first glance, but they are complete secret meaning, they are multi-valued, for example, romantic images of a rose, a nightingale, wind and clouds. They can take on a different meaning if placed in a different context: it is the foreign context that helps romantic work live according to the laws of a living being.
9. The romantic vision is designed to mix genres, but in a different way than in previous eras. The nature of their manifestation in the culture as a whole is changing. Such are odes and ballads, essays and novels. Mixing genres, both poetic and prosaic, is important in emancipating consciousness and freeing it from conventions, from mandatory normative techniques and rules. Romantics created new literary genres: historical novel, fantasy story.
10. It is far from accidental that the idea of a synthesis of arts appears in romanticism. On the one hand, this was how the specific task of ensuring maximum liveliness and naturalness of the artistic impression and the completeness of the reflection of life was solved. On the other hand, it served a global purpose: art developed as a collection of different types, genres, schools, just as society seemed to be a collection of isolated individuals. The synthesis of arts is a prototype of overcoming the fragmentation of the human “I”, the fragmentation of human society.
It was during the period of romanticism that a deep breakthrough occurred in artistic consciousness, due to the victory of individuality and the desire for synthesis. various fields spiritual activity, emerging international specialization of mental intellectual work.
Romanticism contrasted the utilitarianism and materiality of the emerging bourgeois society with a break with everyday reality, a retreat into the world of dreams and fantasies, and an idealization of the past. Romanticism is a world in which melancholy, irrationality, and eccentricity reign. Its traces appeared in European consciousness as early asXVIIcentury, but were regarded by doctors as a sign of mental disorder. But romanticism is opposed to rationalism, not humanism. On the contrary, he creates a new humanism, proposing to consider man in all his manifestations.
Romanticism is a movement in art and literature that arose at the end of the 18th century in Germany and spread throughout Europe and America.
Signs of romanticism:
Emphasized attention to human personality, individuality, the inner world of a person.
A depiction of an exceptional character in exceptional circumstances, a strong, rebellious personality, irreconcilable with the world. This person is not only free-spirited, but also special and unusual. Most often he is a loner who is not understood by most other people.
The cult of feelings, nature and the natural state of man. Denial of rationalism, the cult of reason and orderliness.
The existence of “two worlds”: the world of the ideal, dreams and the world of reality. There is an irreparable discrepancy between them. This leads romantic artists into a mood of despair and hopelessness, “world sorrow.”
Appeal to folk stories, folklore, interest in the historical past, search for historical consciousness. Active interest in the national, popular. Raising national consciousness, focusing on identity among creative circles European peoples.
Detailed descriptions of exotic nature, stormy elements, as well as images of “natural” people, “not spoiled” by civilization, are becoming popular in literature and painting.
Romanticism completely abandoned the use of stories about antiquity, popular in the era of classicism. It led to the emergence and approval of new literary genres - song ballads based on folklore, lyrical song, romances, historical novels.
Outstanding representatives of romanticism in literature: George Gordon Byron, Victor Hugo, William Blake, Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann, Walter Scott, Heinrich Heine, Friedrich Schiller, George Sand, Mikhail Lermontov, Alexander Pushkin, Adam Mickiewicz.
A message about romanticism will tell you about the ideological and artistic direction of the late 18th – early 19th centuries.
"Romanticism" message in brief
What is romanticism?
Romanticism is ideological and artistic direction, which originated in the American and European culture late 18th century - early XIX century, as a reaction to the aesthetics of classicism. Romanticism first developed in the 1790s in German poetry and philosophy, and later spread to France, England and other countries.
Features of Romanticism
In the art of romanticism, new criteria were increased attention to the unique, individual traits human, freedom of expression, sincerity, relaxedness and naturalness. Representatives of the new movement rejected practicality and rationalism, glorifying inspiration and emotional expression.
Young people especially succumbed to the influence of romanticism, because they had the opportunity to read and study a lot. Young people were inspired by the ideas of self-improvement and individual development, the idealization of personal freedom, which were combined with the rejection of rationalism. The painting “Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog” became a symbol of the embodiment of new romantic ideas in Europe.
In the painting of romanticism, volumetric spatiality, dynamic composition, chiaroscuro and rich color prevailed. Among the romantic artists are Géricault, Turner, Delacroix, Martin and Fuseli. Favorite motifs are ancient ruins and landscapes.
In literature, the romantics turned to the mysterious, mysterious, and terrible: fairy tales and folk beliefs. Among the new emerging literary movements there was Sturm und Drang (Germany), primitivism (France). The Gothic novel, ballads and old romances were especially popular.
The main features of romanticism in literature:
- Complete creative freedom
- Variety of genres
- Personal, lyrical beginning of the works
- Unusual and fantastic events
- Moving heroes into acute situations
- The character of the main characters was bright
- Very often the book took place in distant countries with outlandish conditions.
In philosophy, the brothers Novalis and Schlegel, Coleridge declared themselves romantics. They “preached” the transcendental philosophy of Fichte and Kant, based on the creative possibilities of the mind. Philosophical new ideas spread widely to France and England and influenced the further development of American transcendentalism.
