HUMNANITIES 244 – Comparative Literature Assignment

Refer to the complete Fact Sheet on the Romantic Period. Using the 1st of 12 important factors and 14 tenets of Romanticism, write an analysis of 2 poems from your text, pp.  239 to 278. Demonstrate the Romantic principles as reflected in these poems and point how they differ from Neoclassical literary pieces:

Important factors

1. The term Romanticism originally had a literary meaning.
2. Repercussions of French and American Revolution were being felt in Europe and America. Napoleon Bonaparte)
3. European economy in shambles; monarchs overthrown; individual countries sought political and economic identities.
4. War; Revolutions (France (1830); U.S. Civil War (1860’s)
5. Industrialism saw advent of blue collar worker (unionism; capitalism)
6. Population of large cities (London and Paris) quadrupled.
7. Socialism Ideals – Karl Marx and Engels; Materialism and Atheism
8. Philosophers – Schopenhauer; Nietzsche
9. Scientific Investigation (the atom; Charles Darwin)
10. History of great interest; anthropologists explored remains of ancient cultures.
11. Revolutions in the world’s transportation and communication systems.
12. Nationalism and Internationalism – patriotism; folklore, culture.

Tenets of Romanticism   (More of an attitude than a term to be defined)

1. An escape from actuality
2. Truth includes more than mere facts
3. Accepts intuitive illumination
4. Restores wonder
5. Emphasizes strangeness (of the past or the future)
6. Advocates the radical – looks to extremes
7. Interest in the subjective rather than objective
8. Opposed to realism and classicism
9. Love of nature, especially wilder moods
10. Emphasis upon emotion, not intellect
11. Championship of democracy
12. Exaltation of the humble
13. Independence and nationalism
14. The Noble Savage (Example – the Indian in Ame4rica; the African)

Consider these specific questions:

1. What is the primary subject of the piece?
2. What is the tone of the piece?
3. Is the piece suggestive of a World War? Which?
4. How is the piece unique?
5. Summarize the poem in your own words.
6. Is this piece similar to any other work studies this semester? Which ones? How so?