The Age of ‘isms--
Romanticism
The objectives for this slide show are:
• You will be able to identify some of the traits of Romanticism in poetry, art, and society.
• You will understand the relationship of nature and the romantics
• You will learn how romanticism inspired nationalism in Germany and other countries.
Romanticism was an ism that was not
political. It was a
theory or movement in literature
and arts.
Mood and emotions
were part of the
Romantic movement…
Romanticism glorified the
mystic, medieval past.
Old ruins and gothic buildings were the scene of romantic
paintings and poems.
Romantic music was emotional--
Beethoven and Berlioz were Romantic musicians.
A Romantic hero defined the
age…handsome, young and
daring. A man willing to live fast
and die for a cause.
The Romantics viewed with horrors the
industrialization of Britain—
when the country was
“devoured” by factories and
heaps of waste…
In poetry, the Romantic poets, Shelly, Bryon, Keats and
Coleridge wrote about nature.
Shelley and
Bryon both
moved to
Italy.Shelley drowned off the
coast…
Bryon died assisting in the cause of Greek independence…
Caspar David Friedrich captured eerie landscapes…
Romantic paintings sometimes dealt with exotic, Eastern
topics….
..and naked slave girls….
The Arctic expeditions captured the romantic fancy of authors…
The great Romantic novel—Frankenstein—even ends in
the arctic.
Romantics were not clinical classicists, but emotional and
intuitive.
The Romantic movement found a home in Germany…German nationalism, or
Volkgeist, celebrated the accomplishments of early Germans…this helped to re-enforce
a feeling of German Nationalism.
The brothers Grimm
gathered folk tales that
forged German identity.
Over time, Romanticism merged with Nationalism…
And most of these “nationalists” were young men, students,
searching for a better world and wanting to make a difference.
Delacroix’s painting, “Liberty Leading the People” focused on the revolution of 1830—when
barricades were built throughout Paris to protest the government’s
policies.
Gericault’s painting, Raft of the Medusa, depicted a group of
passengers who were left on a raft by the crew of a sinking ship. This Romantic painting was meant to depict the government deserting
the needs of the people.
Are you a Romantic?
• Do you meet at student cafes discussing current conditions?
• Do you write poetry about nature?• Are you fond of Gothic
architecture?• Do you contemplate what impact
you will have on the age?
The objectives for this slide show were:
• You were able to identify some of the traits of Romanticism in poetry, art, and society.
• You understand the relationship of nature and the romantics
• You learned how romanticism inspired nationalism in Germany and other countries.