An examination of Romanticism.
Rationalism and Puritanism are both equally influential on romanticism, as both laid certain values on the newer philosophy. Puritanism was a faith based approach to life, structured on a very strictly interpreted version of Christian scriptures. It placed a strong influence on the supernatural, which is something rationalism would never do. Rationalism, on the other hand, was a thought based approach to life, structured on science and the belief that science had an enormous sway over everyday activity. The Age of Reason, which spread the ideas of Rationalism, also unknowingly spawned the beginnings of Romanticism. The other contributor to the birth of Romanticism was the colonial Puritan age. At the time of the Puritans colonization of the new world, they instilled their beliefs in a higher power and the supernatural’s existence in everyday life into their community.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “The Cross of Snow” shows a very important quality in Romanticism, more specifically Dark Romanticism, and that is the destruction in nature. Although many see this work as a poem of romanticism, it is dark romanticism because there is no healing quality in nature, and it actually causes him pain, as it says in line 12 “Such is the cross I wear upon my breast. These eighteen years, through all the changing scenes and seasons, changeless since the day she died.”. The evil of nature is a major factor in dark romanticism, and this poem shows it plainly.
William Cullen Bryant’s “Thanatopsis” is another excellent example of Romanticism, because it shows the beauty in nature, even in death. The poem states “meadows green: and poured round all, are but the solemn decorations of all of the great tomb of man.” This shows that nature will comfort and beautify man even after he dies, and he will be welcomed by the dead kings and rulers, and lie in the most beautiful tomb forever. The beauty in nature is not the only idea shown in the poem, there is also the idea that death is natural, and, by definition, beautiful.
One final example of Romanticism is Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment,” which is an example, much like “The Cross of Snow,” of Dark Romanticism. In the story, Dr. Heidegger makes his old friends young again, and, although Dr. Heidegger demands they “you should draw up a few general rules for your guidance, in passing a second time through the peril of youths,” they revert to their old, evil ways, and grow old soon after. It is an example of Dark Romanticism because the nature of humanity is shown in a poor light, showing the relapse of evil behaviors, covering almost all the seven deathly sins, from greed to lust.
Romanticism has been a huge influence on writing, from the beginning of the movement to modern day. From its beginning, coming from Puritanism and Rationalism, to the transition to Dark Romanticism, Romanticism has affected all writings in one form or another.
