Poetics Review : Poetics Review Unit 1
Romanticism, Romantic Era and the Influences of Various Romantic Authors : Romanticism, Romantic Era and the Influences of Various Romantic Authors How would we define Romanticism?
Broadly speaking, Romanticism was a movement in all the arts (literature, music, painting, etc.) which emphasized pleasure in the natural world, fascination with the legends and cultures of the past and with supernatural beings, creativity, imagination, exploration of human emotions, activity (striving), and even rebellion. Dates to mark the Romantic Era and the twelve Romantic Authors:
Slide 3 : Romantic Era 1785-1837: We use these dates because the last great English Neoclassicist (Samuel Johnson) died in 1785, and by the end of 1837, all but three of the twelve Romantic authors were dead. Also in 1837, Queen Victoria ascended the throne, thus marking the beginning of the Victorian era in literature. Johann Sebastian Bach Ludwig van Beethoven Johannes Brahms Some Famous Composers of the Romantic Era
Slide 4 : Definition of a mode:
A mode is an overall attitude, purpose, or mood that we find in works of literature. It can apply to a variety of forms and types of content.
Think in terms of breadth or capacity: a mode can be applied to more works of literature than a genre can, because a mode is a mood, purpose, or attitude that can appear in poems, plays, or stories, whereas a genre is a particular kind of poem, play, or story.
Can there be more than one mode in any given literary work?
Yes. Though some are mutually exclusive, still in many cases we can find more than one mode blended together in a given literary work. When this occurs, however, one mode will often be more dominant than others.
What is the sentimental mode, and how did it enter European literature?
The sentimental mode in literature emphasizes strong emotion and emotional sensitivity. It has a mood of heightened and intense (even overwhelming or unbelievable) feeling.
The sentimental mode grew out of a movement called Sentimentalism, which was born in England in the mid-1700’s. It arose partly in reaction to the seemingly unemotional literature of the Enlightenment, and partly as a result of several sensationally popular novels that emphasized human feelings.
Slide 5 : What is the Gothic mode and how did it enter European literature?
The Gothic mode is a mode that plays on emotional extremes and emotional sensitivity with a main purpose of engaging the audience’s attention through fear and suspense.
Its mood is one of horror, conveyed through such elements as perverted villains, ghosts, insanity, and (or) sinister, ancient, and foreign settings.
It is a mode that underlines the ghost stories which became popular in this era.
The Gothic mode grew out of Sentimentalism of the mid-1700’s. By the 1790’s, it had become the fashion to explore extremes of terror through this mode.
Slide 6 : What, generally speaking, were some Romantic beliefs about reality (beliefs about God, man, and the world around us), and what were Romantic values?
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