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| The Lady of Shalot by John William Waterhouse |
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Romanticism
or the Romantic Period was a literary, artistic and intellectual movement which
originated in Europe in the late 18th century. It was a back lash
against Industrialism and the rise of Empirical science.
The
Romantic Movement possessed an idealized vision of the Medieval Period. The
Middle Ages could be seen as the defining element of the Romantic character.
Romantics such as Keats, Coleridge and Novalis looked back to the Middle Ages
as the last great age for two reasons. The first being that it could be seen as
the last great Christian period, with England and the rest of western Europe
untiled under one Church collectively known as Christendom. This gives the
impression of not only a united world but also a younger, more pure, noble and
idyllic place.
The
second reason was that the medieval period could also be seen as having a
strong element of superstition and magic. Even though Christianity blanketed
the land as the age progressed, tiny pockets of paganism and old magic were believed
to linger. It was believed that the forests and the wild woods were savage,
evil places which were inhabited with fairies, sprites and demons. And
therefore, these wild places should be avoided at all costs. The supernatural fascinated
and influenced the Romantic poets and the Middle Ages were seen as being filled
with magic and other worldly beings.
The
Romantics were repelled by the ideals of the Enlightenment, such as the rise of
Empirical science and that we are no more than the sum of our experiences. For
the Romantics, inspiration and intuition were more important than experience.
So while the Enlightenment wished to reduce everything to physical matter, dismiss
innate ideas and find logical, scientific explanations for all things; the
Romantics countered this with a return to the beauty of nature, inspiration,
intuition, exploring the unseen forces (the supernatural), bliss and dreams. The
medieval period was seen as the age where all these qualities could be
explored. It lent itself to the idealized writing of the Romantics. Certain
aspects, particularly from medieval England and France aided this rose coloured
view of the age that was handed down through time. These would have to
include chivalry, courtly love, the
wandering troubadour and the Arthurian and Parzival myths. With such high and
noble ideals, it was easy to see how heroic deeds, honour, handsome knights,
faith, romantic love, damsels in distress and lofty castles could overshadow
and conceal the reality of hard lives dogged with loss, violence and disease.
Examples
of this can be seen in Coleridge’s Christabel and Keat’s The Eve of St. Agnes.
Both used the backdrop of the Middle Ages for their respective poems.
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| The Eve of St. Agnes by Holman Hunt |
Nicóle xx
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