Romantism as a Reaction to the Enlightenment The roots of the Romantic Movement Individualism of the Renaissance Urging to revive Christianity Praise for arts of the Medieval Ages Nationalism Intellectual foundation was provided by Enlightenment writers Jean-Jacques Rousseau Promoted reformism, but opposed most of the other ideals of the Enlightenment Conviction that society and material prosperity corrupted humans Distinguished the stages of human maturation and urged that children be raised with maximum individual freedom Romantics believed that this kind of absolute freedom would lead to a natural society Immanuel Kant Sought to accept rationalism of the Enlightenment and preserve belief in human freedom, immortality, and God Believed that the mind perceives the world based on its own categories Thought all humans possess an innate sense of moral duty Kant's philosophy constituted a refutation of the Enlightenment, according to the Romantics Literature of the Romantics English Romantics Believed poetry was enhanced by following the creative impulses of the mind Samuel Taylor Coleridge believed that an artist's imagination was God at work and that the imagination was a repetition in the mind of the ternal act of creation Poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Treats the subject, a sailor cursed for killing an animal, as a crime against nature and God Raises issues of guilt, punishment, and redemptive possibilities of humility and penance At the end, the mariner discovers unity and beauty and repends, and the curse is lifted William Wordsworth asserted childhood as the bright period of creative imagination and held a theory of the soul's preexistence in a celestial state prior to creation Ode on Intimations of Immortality illustrated loss of poetic vision Wordsworth feared that he had lost his connection to nature and that he may never get it back Viewed childlike vision and spiritual reality as necessities to the process of maturation Lord Byron was the most rebellious among the English Romantics Most of his English colleagues distrusted him because of his views On the Continent, he was praised as the personification of the new mentality of the French Revolution He rejected tradition and promoted personal liberty Childe Harold's Pilgrimage showed a melancholy hero Don Juan was full of humor, acknowledging nature's cruelty and beauty, and admired urban life German Romantics Featured at least one novel per German Romantic Realistic descriptions were avoided Ludwig Tieck William Lovell was the first German Romantic novel Contrasts the young Lovell, full of love and imagination, against people who live only by reason and become unbelieving and egoistical Lovell becomes ruined by mixtures of philospohy, materialism, and skepticism Lovell is a victim of naive love Friedrich Schlegel Lucinde Attacked contemporary prejudices against women Revealed the ability of Romantics to involve themselves in contemporary social issues Lucinde was depicted as the perfect friend, companion, and lover, of the hero The novel shocked morals of the time by its sexual content and comparison of Lucinde as equal to the male hero Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was probably the greatest German Romatic On the one hand, Goethe championed Romantism, but on the other, he condemned some of its tendencies The Sorrows of Young Werther Hero falls in love with Lotte, who is the wife of another man Letters explore their relationship with sentimentalism Werther and Lotte part ways eventually, but depressed Werther commits suicide Faust Part I Shows the story of Faust's pact with the devil, in which he exchanges his soul for knowledge supremacy over other humans Faust seduces young Gretchen, who dies and goes to heaven, and Faust realizes he must live on Part II Faust goes on a series of adventures filled with the supernatural At the end, he dedicates his life to improving humankind - He feels it is a goal that will allow him to overcome the restless ambition that made him sell his soul The pact is broken and Faust dies, but makes it into heaven Nationalism was an integral part of the Romantic literature as well Polish Romantics constantly wrote for liberation of their homeland from foreign oppression (Austria, Prussia, and Russia) and constantly urged for armed uprisings Napoleonic Wars fed the nationalism - the pro-Napoleonic Grand Duchy of Warsaw, as well as the November Insurrection of 1830, were both supported by Romantics Religion and Romantism Romantics appealed to inner emotions of humankind as the foundation of religion New Religious shifts as a result of Romantism England - Birth of Methodism Revolt against Church of England and deism John Wesley led the Methodist movement At Oxford, he organized the Holy Club as a religious group In 1735, he arrived as a missionary in Georgia, in the American Colonies During the crossing of the ocean, German Moravians on the ship impressed him with their strung faith and confidence He concluded they knew more about the meaning of the justification by faith Upon his return to England in 1738, he worshipped with Moravians, and by 1739, he went through an experience in which he was "converted" Preached in the countryside of western England and converted many humble people By the late 1700s, the Methodist church had been formed as a separate church Missionaries were sent to America, where great success and influence was achieved Tenets of Methodism Stressed inward, heartfelt religion Stressed possibility of Christian perfection True Christians were immune to sin, evil thoughts, and "evil tempers" Emphasized the role of entusiastic emotional experience Many people were attracted by Methodism because of tiredness of deism Religious revivals since then would involve emotion The Continent - Revivals in Catholicism and Lutheranism Catholic Revival After the French Revolution's atheism, French Catholics denounced the atheistic policies of the several shortlived regimes in that period Anticlericalism of the Enlightenment was denounced Viscount Francois and Rene de Chateaubriand - The Genius of Christianity Called the Bible of Romanticism Essence of religion is passion Foundation of faith in church was the emotion that the church's teachings inspired Lutheran Revival Friedrich Schleiermacher - Speeches on Religion to its Cultured Despisers Response to Lutheran orthodoxy and Enlightenment rationalism, both of which were "cultured despisers" of real, heartfelt religion Religion was not supposed to be a dogma or system of ethics; it was an intuition of dependence on an infinite reality Religious institutions did not express that intuition directly