Romanticism: Key Themes, Poets, and Literary Works
Key Characteristics of Romanticism
Romanticism emphasized introspection, psychology, and melancholy, alongside a feeling of eternal discontent and the search for identity. A key characteristic was the ability to affect, giving importance to the concept of the sublime, and exploring themes of death, feelings, unattainable beauty, and nature.
Social Concerns in Romantic Poetry
Romanticism questioned societal norms, showing interest in and concern for outcasts such as tramps, beggars, obsessive characters,
Read MoreNature’s Role in American Literature: Transcendentalism vs. Naturalism
Nature’s Role in American Literature
In The Scarlet Letter, Nature stands in clear opposition to Puritan society. This opposition is symbolically manifested by the Prison Door and the Rosebush. The Prison, a place where criminals are punished for their sins, represents Puritan society. Prisoners, however, see a beautiful rosebush before entering the prison. The beauty of the rosebush is a reminder that Nature is sympathetic towards those people punished by Puritan society. This is even more clearly
Read MoreAesthetic Contrasts: Greek, Christian, and Romantic Views on Beauty
Aesthetic Differences: Greek, Christian, and Romantic Perspectives
Greek Aesthetic: Objective Harmony
For the Greeks, beauty was an objective property of reality, inherent in the harmony of natural forms. This harmony, according to Aristotle, was based on precise outlines and mathematical proportions, creating a graceful symmetry that imbued objects with fineness and lightness. This transcendental beauty was a property of any existing object.
Christian Aesthetic: Divine Creation
Christianity viewed
Read MoreHispano-American Modernism: Origins, Traits, and Influence
Hispano-American Modernism
Emerged as a subversive force in Latin America and an expression of resistance to the commercialism of the bourgeois cultural revolution.
After the independence wars of the nineteenth century, some Latin American countries achieved political stability, resulting in economic prosperity. Contacts with Europe, particularly France, increased through imports of luxury items by the moneyed classes. French lifestyles and thought were seen as “modern” and implied a rejection of
Read MoreBritish Literature 1900-Present: Eras and Movements
The Edwardian Era: Hope and Apprehension (1900-1914)
The dawn of the 20th century brought a mixture of great optimism and underlying unease, as humanity approached a new millennium. Many anticipated an era of unprecedented progress. H.G. Wells captured this sentiment, tempered with caution, in his utopian works like Anticipations of the Reaction of Mechanical and Scientific Progress upon Human Life and Thought (1901) and A Modern Utopia (1905). These writings reflected a widespread belief that science
Read MoreSpanish Theater: Drama Evolution Before 1936
Drama Before 1936
Two main fronts in the theater prior to 1936 are:
The Theater That Wins
This stands out with:
- Bourgeois comedy: Characterized by recreating environments of the bourgeoisie and aristocracy with people of good taste, cultivated, ironic, and refined dialogue with ease and brilliance. Jacinto Benavente is the most representative, and his masterpiece, “Special Interests,” has moments of irony and drama in verse.
- Post-romantic character with modernist elements: Associated with a stale ideological