Art, as we know, is extremely multifaceted. Huge number genres and directions allows each author to to the greatest extent realize your creativity, and gives the reader the opportunity to choose exactly the style that he likes.
One of the most popular and, without a doubt, beautiful art movements is romanticism. This trend became widespread at the end of the 18th century, covering European and American culture, but later reaching Russia. The main ideas of romanticism are the desire for freedom, perfection and renewal, as well as the proclamation of the right of human independence. This trend, oddly enough, has spread widely in absolutely all major forms of art (painting, literature, music) and has become truly widespread. Therefore, we should consider in more detail what romanticism is, and also mention its most famous figures, both foreign and domestic.
Romanticism in literature
In this area of art, a similar style originally appeared in Western Europe, after bourgeois revolution in France in 1789. The main idea of the romantic writers was the denial of reality, dreams of a better time and a call to fight for a change in values in society. As a rule, the main character is a rebel who acts alone and seeker of truth, which, in turn, made him defenseless and confused in front of the outside world, which is why the works of romantic authors are often saturated with tragedy.
If we compare this direction, for example, with classicism, then the era of romanticism was distinguished by complete freedom of action - writers did not hesitate to use the most different genres, mixing them together and creating a unique style, which was based one way or another on the lyrical principle. The current events of the works were filled with extraordinary, sometimes even fantastic events, in which the inner world characters, their experiences and dreams.
Romanticism as a genre of painting
Fine art also came under the influence of romanticism, and its movement here was based on the ideas famous writers and philosophers. Painting as such was completely transformed with the advent of this movement; new, completely unusual images began to appear in it. The themes of Romanticism addressed the unknown, including distant exotic lands, mystical visions and dreams, and even the dark depths of the human consciousness. In their work, artists largely relied on the heritage of ancient civilizations and eras (the Middle Ages, Ancient East etc.).
The direction of this trend in Tsarist Russia was also different. If European authors touched on anti-bourgeois themes, then Russian masters wrote on the topic of anti-feudalism.
The craving for mysticism was much less pronounced than among Western representatives. Domestic figures they had a different idea of what romanticism was, which in their work can be seen in the form of partial rationalism.
These factors became fundamental in the process of the emergence of new trends in art on the territory of Russia, and thanks to them the world cultural heritage knows Russian romanticism exactly like this.
By the end of the 18th century, classicism and sentimentalism no longer existed as integral movements. In the depths of classicism and sentimentalism, which had become obsolete, a new direction began to emerge, which was later called pre-romanticism .
Pre-Romanticism is a pan-European phenomenon in literature at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. At the beginning of the 19th century, pre-romanticism was most clearly manifested in the works of poets and prose writers, who united in 1801 in “ Free Society lovers of Russian literature, sciences and arts,” which included I.P. Pnin, A.Kh. Vostokov, V.V. Popugaev, A.F. Merzlyakov, K.N. Batyushkov, V.A. and N.A. Radishchev, N.I. Gnedich. Russian pre-romanticism was formed under the influence of the ideas of the French enlighteners Rousseau, Herder and Montesquieu.
Between pre-romanticism and romanticism proper there are two significant differences, and both of them are related to the character of the hero. If the romantic hero was, as a rule, a rebel, torn by contradictions, then the hero of pre-romanticism, experiencing a conflict with the outside world, does not fight against circumstances. The hero of romanticism is a controversial personality, the hero of pre-romanticism is the personality is suffering and lonely, but holistic and harmonious.
Alexey Fedorovich Merzlyakov
The most prominent figure of pre-Romanticism was Alexey Fedorovich Merzlyakov(1778 – 1830), professor at Moscow University, translator, teacher of Vyazemsky, Tyutchev and Lermontov. The leading genre in Merzlyakov’s lyrics was Russian song- a poem close in poetics to folk songs. The poet’s world is full of special beauty: his poems often contain such images as the red sun, the bright moon, scarlet roses, noisy springs, green gardens, clean rivers. The hero of Merzlyakov’s poetry is a lonely young man suffering without the love and understanding of his loved ones. The heroine of Merzlyakova’s poetry is a beautiful maiden, beautiful by nature and likened to birds and animals. TO the best works Merzlyakov’s works include “Among the Flat Valley”, “Not a Curly Lipochka”, “Nightingale”, “Waiting”. The subjective-personal element predominates in his works, and in this sense Merzlyakov is the predecessor of the poet A.V. Koltsova.
Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky
Actually romanticism began to take shape in Russia in the second decade of the 19th century - initially in the work of V.A. Zhukovsky and K.N. Batyushkova. Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky(1783 – 1852) is considered the founder of Russian romanticism. His poetic worldview was formed under the influence of the works of Derzhavin and Karamzin, as well as under the influence of German romantic lyrics. The main motive of Zhukovsky’s poetry is evil fate weighing on a person's life. Zhukovsky worked in the genres of ballad, elegy, poem, fairy tale, and romantic story.
In his elegies, Zhukovsky for the first time showed the human soul filled with suffering. His elegies are philosophical character. Main idea - the idea of the transience and mystery of life(“Sea”, “Evening”, “ Rural cemetery»).
Romanticism reached its peak in the works of E.A. Baratynsky, D.V. Venevitinov, Decembrist poets and early A.S. Pushkin. The decline of Russian romanticism is associated with the work of M.Yu. Lermontov and F.I. Tyutcheva.
Characteristics romanticism as an artistic method.
1. The general trend of romanticism - rejection of the surrounding world, its denial. For a romantic hero, there are two worlds: the real world, but imperfect, and the dream world, the ideal world. These worlds in the hero’s mind are tragically separated.
2. A romantic hero is rebel hero. His struggle to realize his dream ends either in the collapse of the dream or in the death of the hero.
3. The hero of a romantic work is outside of socio-historical connections. His character, as a rule, was formed on its own, and not under the influence of the era or historical circumstances.
5. Romantic hero lives and acts in exceptional, often extreme circumstances– in a situation of lack of freedom, war, dangerous travel, in an exotic country, etc.
6. Romantic poetry is characterized by the use images-symbols. For example, among poets of the philosophical movement, a rose is a symbol of quickly fading beauty, a stone is a symbol of eternity and immobility; Among the poets of the civil-heroic movement, a dagger or a sword are symbols of the struggle for freedom, and the names of tyrant fighters contain a hint of the need to fight the unlimited power of the monarch (for example, Brutus, the murderer of Julius Caesar, was considered by the Decembrist poets as a positive historical figure).
7. Romanticism subjective in its essence. The works of romantics are confessional in nature.
Konstantin Nikolaevich Batyushkov
In Russian romanticism there are 4 movements:
A) philosophical
(Batyushkov, Baratynsky, Venevitinov, Tyutchev),
b) civic-heroic
(Ryleev, Kuchelbecker, Vyazemsky, Odoevsky),
V) elegiac
(Zhukovsky),
G) Lermontov's
.
The first two movements - philosophical and civic-heroic - opposed each other, as they pursued opposite goals. The second two - elegiac and Lermontov - represented special models of romanticism.
Kondraty Fedorovich Ryleev
The work of poets belonging to the philosophical movement was based on the ideas of English and German romanticism. They believed that romantic poetry should focus only on eternal themes love, death, art, nature. Everything vain and momentary was considered as a topic unworthy of the poet’s pen.
In this regard, they opposed the poets of the civic-heroic movement, who considered it their sacred duty to turn to poetry social problems, to awaken and cultivate patriotic feelings in the reader, to encourage him to fight autocracy and social injustice. The Decembrist poets considered any deviations from civil themes to be unacceptable for true romantics.
You will find out who the representatives of romanticism in literature were by reading this article.
Representatives of romanticism in literature
Romanticism is ideological and artistic direction, which originated in the American and European culture late 18th century - early XIX century, as a reaction to the aesthetics of classicism. Romanticism first developed in the 1790s in German poetry and philosophy, and later spread to France, England and other countries.
Basic ideas of romanticism– recognition of the values of spiritual and creative life, the right to freedom and independence. In literature, heroes have a rebellious, strong character, and the plots are characterized by intense passions.
The main representatives of romanticism in Russian literature of the 19th century
Russian romanticism combined the human personality, enclosed in a beautiful and mysterious world harmony, high feelings and beauty. Representatives of this romanticism in their works depicted real world and the main character, filled with experiences and thoughts.
- Representatives of English Romanticism
The works are distinguished by gloomy Gothic, religious content, elements of the culture of the working class, national folklore and peasant class. The peculiarity of English romanticism is that the authors describe in detail travel, journeys to distant lands, as well as their exploration. The most famous authors and works: “Childe Harold’s Travels”, “Manfred” and “Oriental Poems”, “Ivanhoe”.
- Representatives of Romanticism in Germany
The development of German romanticism in literature was influenced by philosophy, which promoted freedom and individualism of the individual. The works are filled with reflections on the existence of man, his soul. They are also distinguished by mythological and fairy-tale motifs. The most famous authors and works: fairy tales, short stories and novels, fairy tales, works.
- Representatives of American Romanticism
IN American literature Romanticism developed much later than in Europe. Literary works are divided into 2 types - eastern (supporters of plantation) and abolitionist (those who support the rights of slaves and their emancipation). They're crowded acute feelings struggle for independence, equality and freedom. Representatives of American romanticism - (“The Fall of the House of Usher”, (“Ligeia”), Washington Irving (“The Phantom Bridegroom”, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”), Nathaniel Hawthorne (“The House of the Seven Gables”, “The Scarlet Letter”), Fenimore Cooper ("The Last of the Mohicans"), Harriet Beecher Stowe ("Uncle Tom's Cabin"), ("The Legend of Hiawatha"), Herman Melville ("Typee", "Moby Dick") and (poetry collection "Leaves of Grass") .
We hope that from this article you learned everything about the most prominent representatives of the movement of romanticism in literature.
- an amazing writer who could easily create a lyrical landscape, depicting to us not an objective image of nature, but the romantic mood of the soul. Zhukovsky is a representative of romanticism. For his works, his unsurpassed poetry, he chose the world of the soul, the world of human feelings, thereby making a great contribution to the development of Russian literature.
Romanticism of Zhukovsky
Zhukovsky is considered the founder of Russian romanticism. Even during his lifetime he was called the father of romanticism and for good reason. This direction in the writer’s work is visible to the naked eye. Zhukovsky in his works developed a sensitivity that originated in sentimentalism. We see romanticism in the poet’s lyrics, where each work depicts feelings, and even more. The works reveal the human soul. As Belinsky said, thanks to the romantic elements that Zhukovsky used in his works, poetry in Russian literature became spiritual and more accessible to people and society. The writer gave Russian poetry the opportunity to develop in a new direction.
Features of Zhukovsky's romanticism
What is the peculiarity of Zhukovsky’s romanticism? Romanticism is presented to us as fleeting, slightly perceptible, and maybe even elusive, experiences. Zhukovsky's poetry is short stories the soul of the author, the image of his thoughts, dreams, which were reflected and found their life in poems, ballads, elegies. The writer showed us the inner world that a person is filled with, personifying spiritual dreams and experiences. At the same time, in order to describe the feelings that fill a person’s heart, to describe feelings that have no size or shape, the author resorts to comparing feelings with nature.
Zhukovsky's merit as a romantic poet is that he showed not only his inner world, but also discovered the means of depicting the human soul in general, giving the opportunity to develop romanticism to other writers, such as Blok and others.
Romanticism - literary direction, which appeared in Western Europe at the end of the 18th century. Romanticism, as a literary movement, involves the creation of an exceptional hero and exceptional circumstances. Such trends in literature were formed as a result of the collapse of all the ideas of the Enlightenment period due to the crisis in Europe, which arose as a result of the unfulfilled hopes of the Great French Revolution.
Romanticism as a literary movement
In Russia, romanticism as a literary movement first appeared after Patriotic War 1812 After a stunning victory over the French, many progressive minds were waiting for changes in state structure. Alexander I's refusal to lobby for liberal policies gave rise not only to the Decembrist uprising, but also to changes in public consciousness and literary preferences.
Russian romanticism is a conflict between the individual and reality, society and dreams, desires. But dream and desire are subjective concepts, therefore romanticism, as one of the most freedom-loving literary movements, had two main trends:
- conservative;
- revolutionary.
The personality of the era of romanticism is endowed strong character, passionate zeal for everything new and unrealizable. New man tries to live ahead of those around him in order to accelerate his knowledge of the world by leaps and bounds.
Russian romanticism
Revolutionaries of Romanticism half of the 19th century V. direct “their face” to the future, strive to embody the ideas of struggle, equality and universal happiness of people. A prominent representative of revolutionary romanticism was K.F. Ryleev, in whose works the image was formed strong man. His human hero is zealously ready to defend the fiery ideas of patriotism and the desire for freedom of his fatherland. Ryleev was obsessed with the idea of “equality and free thinking.” It was these motives that became the fundamental tendencies of his poetry, which is clearly visible in the thought “The Death of Ermak.”
Conservatives of romanticism drew the plots of their masterpieces mainly from the past, as they took literary basis giving, epic direction or they were consigned to oblivion in the afterlife. Such images carried the reader into the land of imagination, dreams and reverie. A prominent representative of conservative romanticism was V.A. Zhukovsky. The basis of his works was sentimentalism, where sensuality took precedence over reason, and the hero knew how to empathize and sensitively respond to what was happening around him. His first work was the elegy “Rural Cemetery”, which was filled landscape descriptions and philosophical reasoning.
Romantic in literary works great attention devotes himself to the stormy elements and philosophical discussions about human existence. Where circumstances do not influence the evolution of character, and spiritual culture gave rise to a special, new type person in life.
The great representatives of romanticism were: E.A. Baratynsky, V.A. Zhukovsky, K.F. Ryleev, F.I. Tyutchev, V.K. Kuchelbecker, V.F. Odoevsky, I.I. Kozlov.
Romanticism as a literary movement. Main features and features.
Romanticism is one of the most significant literary movements of the 19th century.
Romanticism is not just a literary movement, but also a certain worldview, a system of views on the world. It was formed in opposition to the ideology of the Enlightenment, which reigned throughout the 18th century, in repulsion from it.
All researchers agree that the most important event who played a role in the emergence of Romanticism was the Great french revolution, which began on July 14, 1789, when angry people stormed the main royal prison, the Bastille, as a result of which France became first a constitutional monarchy and then a republic. The revolution has become the most important stage formation of modern republican, democratic Europe. Subsequently, it became a symbol of the struggle for freedom, equality, justice, and improvement of the people’s lives.
However, the attitude towards the Revolution was far from clear. Many thinking and creative people they soon became disillusioned with it, since its results were revolutionary terror, civil war, the war of revolutionary France with almost all of Europe. And the society that arose in France after the Revolution was very far from ideal: the people still lived in poverty. And since the Revolution was a direct result of the philosophical and socio-political ideas of the Enlightenment, disappointment also affected the Enlightenment itself. It was from this complex combination of fascination and disillusionment with the Revolution and Enlightenment that Romanticism was born. The Romantics retained faith in the main ideals of the Enlightenment and the Revolution - freedom, equality, social justice, etc.
But they were disappointed in the possibility of their real implementation. There was an acute feeling of a gap between the ideal and life. Therefore, romantics are characterized by two opposing tendencies: 1. reckless, naive enthusiasm, optimistic faith in the victory of lofty ideals; 2. absolute, gloomy disappointment in everything, in life in general. These are two sides of the same coin: absolute disappointment in life is the result of absolute faith in ideals.
Another important point regarding the attitude of the romantics to the Enlightenment: the ideology of the Enlightenment itself at the beginning of the 19th century began to be perceived as outdated, boring, and not living up to expectations. After all, development proceeds on the principle of repulsion from the previous one. Before Romanticism there was the Enlightenment, and Romanticism started from it.
So, what exactly was the impact of the repulsion of Romanticism from the Enlightenment?
In the 18th century, during the Enlightenment, the cult of Reason reigned - rationalism - the idea that reason is the main quality of a person, with the help of reason, logic, science, a person is able to correctly understand, know the world and himself, and change both for the better.
1. The most important feature of romanticism was irrationalism(anti-rationalism) - the idea that life is much more complex than it seems to the human mind; life cannot be explained rationally or logically. It is unpredictable, incomprehensible, contradictory, in short, irrational. And the most irrational, mysterious part of life is human soul. A person is very often controlled not by a bright mind, but by dark, uncontrolled, sometimes destructive passions. The most opposite aspirations, feelings, and thoughts can illogically coexist in the soul. The romantics paid serious attention and began to describe strange, irrational states of human consciousness: madness, sleep, obsession with some kind of passion, states of passion, illness, etc. Romanticism is characterized by mockery of science, scientists, and logic.
2. Romantics, following the sentimentalists, highlighted feelings, emotions, defy logic. Emotionality- the most important human quality from the point of view of Romanticism. A romantic is someone who acts contrary to reason and petty calculations; romance is driven by emotions.
3. Most enlighteners were materialists, many romantics (but not all) were idealists and mystics. Idealists are those who believe that, in addition to the material world, there is some ideal, spiritual world, which consists of ideas, thoughts and which is much more important, paramount than the material world. Mystics are not just those who believe in the existence of another world - mystical, otherworldly, supernatural, etc., they are those who believe that representatives of another world are able to penetrate into the real world, that in general a connection is possible between worlds, communication. Romantics willingly let mysticism into their works, describing witches, sorcerers and other representatives evil spirits. IN romantic works very often there are hints of a mystical explanation for the strange events that occur.
(Sometimes the concepts “mystical” and “irrational” are identified and used as synonyms, which is not entirely correct. Often they actually coincide, especially among the romantics, but still, in general, these concepts mean different things. Everything mystical is usually irrational, but not everything the irrational is mystical).
4. Many romantics have mystical fatalism- belief in Fate, Predestination. Human life is controlled by certain mystical (mostly dark) forces. Therefore, in some romantic works there are many mysterious predictions, strange hints that always come true. Heroes sometimes perform actions as if not themselves, but someone pushes them, as if some outside force is infused into them, which leads them to the fulfillment of their Destiny. Many works of the romantics are imbued with a sense of the inevitability of Fate.
5. Dual world - most important feature romanticism, generated by a bitter feeling of the gap between ideal and reality.
Romantics divided the world into two parts: the real world and the ideal world.
The real world is an ordinary, everyday, uninteresting, extremely imperfect world, a world in which ordinary people, philistines, feel comfortable. Philistines are people who do not have deep spiritual interests, their ideal is material well-being, their own personal comfort and peace.
The most characteristic feature of a typical romantic is dislike for the philistines, for ordinary people, to the majority, to the crowd, contempt for real life, isolation from it, not fitting into it.
And the second world is the world romantic ideal, a romantic dream, where everything is beautiful, bright, where everything is as a romantic dreams, this world does not exist in reality, but it should be. Romantic Getaway- this is an escape from reality into the world of the ideal, into nature, art, into your inner world. Madness and suicide are also options for romantic escape. Most suicides have a significant element of romanticism in their character.
7. Romantics do not like everything ordinary and strive for everything unusual, atypical, original, exceptional, exotic. A romantic hero is always unlike the majority, he is different. This is the main quality of a romantic hero. He is not included in the surrounding reality, is unadapted to it, he is always a loner.
The main romantic conflict is the confrontation between a lonely romantic hero and ordinary people.
The love for the unusual also applies to the choice of plot events for the work - they are always exceptional, unusual. Romantics also love exotic settings: distant hot countries, sea, mountains, and sometimes fabulous imaginary countries. For the same reason, romantics are interested in the distant historical past, especially the Middle Ages, which the enlighteners really disliked as the most unenlightened, unreasonable time. But the romantics believed that the Middle Ages were the time of the birth of romanticism, romantic love and romantic poetry, the first romantic heroes- these are knights serving their beautiful ladies and writing poetry.
In romanticism (especially poetry) the motif of flight, separation from ordinary life and the desire for something unusual and beautiful.
8. Basic romantic values.
Main value for romantics is Love. Love is highest manifestation human personality, the highest happiness, the most complete disclosure of all the abilities of the soul. This is the main goal and meaning of life. Love connects a person with other worlds; in love all the deepest, most important secrets of existence are revealed. Romantics are characterized by the idea of lovers as two halves, of the non-accidentality of the meeting, of the mystical destiny of this particular man for this particular woman. Also the idea that true love It can only be once in a lifetime that it appears instantly at first sight. The idea of the need to remain faithful even after the death of a beloved. At the same time, Shakespeare gave the ideal embodiment of romantic love in the tragedy “Romeo and Juliet”.
The second romantic value is Art. It contains the highest Truth and supreme beauty, which the artist (in in a broad sense words) descend at the moment of inspiration from other worlds. The artist is an ideal romantic person, endowed with the highest gift, with the help of his art, to spiritualize people, to make them better, purer. The highest form of art is Music, it is the least material, the most uncertain, free and irrational, music is addressed directly to the heart, to the feelings. The image of the Musician is very common in romanticism.
The third most important value of romanticism is Nature and her beauty. The Romantics sought to spiritualize nature, to endow it with a living soul, a special mysterious mystical life.
The secret of nature will be revealed not through the cold mind of a scientist, but only through the feeling of its beauty and soul.
The fourth romantic value is Freedom, internal spiritual, creative freedom, first of all, free flight of the soul. But so does socio-political freedom. Freedom is a romantic value because it is possible only in the ideal, but not in reality.
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