Romanticism FRQ

To what extent did Romanticism challenge Enlightenment views of human beings and the natural world and how did this challenge illustrate changes between the Enlightenment and Romantic views of the relationship between God and the individual?


People living in the Enlightenment period, also known as the Age of Reason, wanted to find answers to everything.  There was an increase in scientific knowledge and there were more scientific developments.  For example, there was an increase in the understanding of the human body and how it worked.  The human person became thought of as a machine and not a soul.  People of the Enlightenment wanted to know how things worked, instead of appreciating the beauty of the world.  During the Enlightenment religion was still very important, but during Romanticism there was a loss of belief. Romanticism challenged the Enlightenment views of explanation and reasoning by advocating individuality, creativity, and delving into the unknown, especially through all types of art, but most importantly through poetry.  


The Enlightenment period was all about being technical.  In music, poetry, writing, science, etc, there was a technique or style that was almost like a set of guidelines for the people to follow.  There was a great lack of creativity and imagination.   Romanticism was the complete opposite of this.  During the Romantic period people focused more on the emotional aspect of things.  People broke out of the boundaries of the Enlightenment period and started to think for themselves.  Paintings were no longer done on oil canvases, only portraying very stiff looking people, but were water-colored and full of movement.  Music also became more emotional, with composers such as Beethoven, Brahms, and Chopin, writing music that was flowing and caused people to really feel something.  Poetry was the most important way that Romanticism challenged Enlightenment views.  Poets, such as Lord Byron and Keats expressed what was they really felt in their hearts, instead of something like a sonnet that all men had been expected to be able to write.  


Lord Byron was considered a sex-symbol to the people of the Romantic time period.  His poetry revealed passion and mysteriousness, that it made people curious.  Lord Byron did not have a connection with God, unlike many Enlightenment people.  He felt that God did not exist and that when people died that was the end of them.  Because of his feelings on God, he decided that it was best to live life to the fullest.  He had a wife, but he also had many female admirers who had been inspired and entranced by his poetry.  He was unfaithful to his wife and he only cared about himself, but he did not see that as a problem because he did not believe in the morals that God and the Bible taught.  


Keats delved into the unknown, especially with death.  He had experienced death for the first time when he was eight-years-old and his father died.  He then experienced death again when his brother and mother also died a few years later.  His traumatic experiences with death haunted him for his whole life.  What happens after death was unknown, and it still is today.  This fascinated Keats and also scared him.  Keats wrote poetry about death, questioning what comes next.  Keats also wrote poetry about nature.  He was fascinated by how beautiful the world was and what sort of higher being could have created such beauty.  


Lord Byron's passionate poetry and Keats poetry about nature and death challenged the Enlightenment views of reasoning and explanation.  Byron and Keats were in touch with their emotional side.  They explored the mysteries of love, passion, life, and death, the opposite of the scientific ways of the Enlightenment.