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Romanticism (AP European History)

I. The Romantic Movement
A. New and important intellectual movement
B. Romanticism contains various manifestations and was a
reaction against much enlightened thought
C. Writers and artist saw the imagination
D. Urged Christianity revival
E. They liked art, literature, and architecture
F. Folklore, fairy tales, etc.

II. Romantic Questioning of the Supremacy of Reason

A. Roots in individualism of Renaissance
B. German poetry of the Sturm and Drang movement
C. Rejected influence of French rationalism
D. Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Immanuel Kant
E. Raised questions about whether rationalism so dear to the
philosophes was sufficient to explain human nature

III. Rousseau and Education

A. Rousseau opposed many of Enlightenment’s other facets
B. Conviction that society and material prosperity had corrupted
human nature
C. Influenced Romantic writers
D. Set forth views
E. Lead a good and happy life
F. Emile (1762)
G. He stressed difference between children and adults
H. Distinguishes stages of human maturation and believes that
children should be raised with freedom
I. Allowed to grow freely
J. Parent would keep away what was manifestly harmful
K. Different spheres of activity of men and women
L. Believed adults should allow child’s sentiments
M. Concept of human development vindicated the rights of
nature over artificial society
N. Romantics began value the uniqueness of each individual
O. Humankind, nature and society interrelated

IV. Kant and Reason

A. The Critique of Pure Reason (1781)
B. The Critique of Practical Reason (1788)
C. Sought to accept rationalism of the enlightenment and to still
preserve a belief in human freedom, immortality and the
existence of God
D. Argued for subjective character of human knowledge
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E. Human minds don’t simply reflect the world like a passive

mirror
F. Mind imposes world f sensory experiences
G. Human mind perceives world as it does because of its own
mental categories
H. Sphere of reality was accessible to pure reason to be limited
I. Beyond the phenomenal world was a master, there was a
noumenal world
J. World would be a sphere of moral and atheistic reality known
by practical reason and conscience
K. Categorical imperative- all human beings posses an innate
sense of moral duty or awareness
L. Inconvertible proof of humankind’s natural freedom
M. Kant postulated existence of God, eternal life and future
rewards and punishment
N. Kantian philosophy refuted narrow rationality of the
enlightenment
O. Romantics believed human mind had the power to penetrate
beyond the limits of largely passive human understanding as
set by Hobbes, Locke and Hume

V. Romantic Literature
A. Word romantic appeared in English and French literature
B. writers used word to describe literature they considered
unreal, sentimental
C. Thomas Warton associated Romantic literature with medieval
romances
D. In Germany, Johann Gottfried Herder used terms Romantic
and Gothic interchangeably
E. Term came to be applied to all literature
F. As an alternative, August Wilhelm von Schlegel praised the
Romantic Literature
G. Dante, Shakespeare, Boccaccio, etc.
H. Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature

VI. The English Romantic Writers

A. Believed poetry was enhanced freely following the creative
impulses of the mind
B. Directly opposed Lockean psychology, which regarded mind
as passive receptor and poetry as exercise of wit
C. Samuel Taylor Coleridge
D. Artist’s imagination was God at work in the mind
E. Poetry could not be considered idle play
F. Highest of human acts
G. Coleridge was master of Gothic poems of the supernatural
H. “Rime of the Ancient Mariner”
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I. Sailor cursed for killing an albatross

J. Treats subject as crime against nature and God
K. Mariner discovers unity and beauty
L. William Wordsworth was Coleridge’s closet friend
M. Together published Lyrical Ballads (1798)
N. As a manifesto of a new poetry
O. “Ode on Intimations of Immortality”
P. A part to console Coleridge
Q. Nature which he had worshipped, no longer spoke freely to
him and he feared it might never speak to him again
R. Had lost what he believed all human being lose in the
necessary process of maturation
S. Childhood was a bright period of creative imagination
T. Held theory of soul’s preexistence in a celestial state before
its creation
U. The Prelude (1850)
V. Long autobiographical account of the growth of the poet’s
mind

VI. Lord Byron

A. True rebel among Romantic poets
B. He had a little sympathy for their views of the imagination
C. Outside England, regarded as embodiment of the new person
the French Revolution created
D. Ejected old traditions
E. Personal liberty
F. Childs Harold’s Pilgrimage (1812)
G. Created a brooding, melancholy Romantic hero
H. Don Juan (1819)
I. Ribald humor, acknowledged nature’s cruelty as well as is
beauty

VII. The German Romantic Writers

A. All major German Romantics wrote at least one novel
B. Novels were highly sentimental
C. Characters were treated as symbols of larger truth of life
D. Purely realistic description was avoided
E. First German romantic novel was Ludwig
F. Contrasts young Lovell, whose life is built on love and
imagination
G. In the end is destroyed by a mix of philosophy, materialism,
and skepticism
H. Fredrich Schlegel
I. Wrote progressive early Romantic novel, Lucinde that
attacked prejudices against women as capable of being little
more than lovers and domestics
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J. Depicted Lucinde as perfect friend

K. Work shocked contemporary morals by discussing sexual
activity and Lucinde as equal to the male hero
L. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
M. Defies easy classification
N. Fits into Romantic mold
O. The Sorrows of Young Werther
P. Hero falls in love with Lotte, who is married to another man
Q. Werther takes his own life
R. Fasut, long dramatic poem
S. Makes pact with devil
T. Faust seduces young woman named Gretchen and she dies
and received into heaven
U. New knowledge breaks pact and he dies and is received by
angels

VIII. Romantic Art

A. stood largely on reaction to that of the 18h century
B. Middle ages represented social stability amd religious
reverence that was disappearing from their own era
C. John Constable was politically conservative and landscape
painter
D. Salisbury Cathedral from the meadows
E. Portrayed stable world political turmoil or industrial
development challenged dominance of the church
F. Trees withstood storm
G. Constable saw church and British constitution as intimately
related
H. Religious institutions were barriers to political radicalism
I. Liberal reformers is devil relation
J. Idealize rural life because they believed it was connected to
the medieval past and was opposed to increasingly urban,
industrialized commercial society
K. Neo-Gothic revival in architecture
L. Medieval cathedrals were restored in era
M. New churches were designed
N. Castle of Neuschwanstein on a mountain in southern Germany
by King Ludwig II of Bavaria
O. Interior was never complete

IX. Nature and Sublime

A. Sought to portray nature in all of its majestic power
B. Artists of the era were drawn toward the mysterious an unruly
side of nature
C. Their works often sought o portray what they and others
termed the sublime
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D. Amused strong emotions such as fear, dread and awe

E. Raise questions about whether and how much we control our
lives
F. Painters often raveled to remote areas
G. Romantics saw nature was a set of infinite forces that
overwhelmed the smallness of human kind
H. Caspar David Friedrich
I. The Polar Sea
J. Plight of a ship trapped and crushed b the force of a vast polar
ice field
K. Painted also numerous scenes