How Does Enlightenment Influence Early Modern Literature?

As Virgil stated so many years ago, history is a cyclical phenomenon. The experiences of one age tend to be repeated in future generations. Knowing that, we should not be surprised to find the seeds of modern styles and philosophies sprouting in earlier ages.

History has had a tremendous effect on everything we believe, know, and love in today’s society, and this will continue on forever. The past has a way of manifesting a long lasting effect on society, beliefs, culture, music, and many other important aspects of life. Two time periods that exemplify this are the Enlightenment and the Romantic Period. The Romantic period is the Hegelian antithesis to the ideals of the Enlightenment in a number of ways, and both have managed to equally impact the world. The Enlightenment took place from 1685 to about 1815, and is referred to as the “Age of Reason”. The Enlightenment is known for its intellectual and scientific progress. The Romantic Period took place just as the Enlightenment ended, and then diminished around 1850. This time period is well known for the transformation of poetry, ballet, paintings, music, and all other forms of the arts.

The Enlightenment time influenced French thinkers. Many French thinkers wanted to change the world using philosophy. Philosophy is reasoning. They showed and used philosophy many different ways. Most ways they used it was by writing, teaching, and journaling. Ideas of philosophy spread across the world

In contrast to the certainties of the Enlightenment and fed the growth of popular nationalism — was the intellectual and artistic movement named Romanticism. Artists inspired by romanticism abandoned the emphasis on reason associated with well­-known Enlightenment philosophes like Voltaire or Montesquieu. Instead Romantics supported instead emotional exuberance, unrestrained imagination, and spontaneity in both art and personal life. Preoccupied with emotional excess, romantic works explored the awesome power of love and desire and of hatred, guilt, and despair. One of the first Romantic poets, William Blake protested the loss of the bucolic countryside to the pollution of new industry, as well, as describing the hardships of the poor people.

The Romantic Period was a unique period. Unlike many major philosophical and ideological periods, this movement both complemented and contrasted its predecessor, The Enlightenment. In terms of similarities, Romanticism shared a healthy skepticism of many deeply rooted structures within society such as religion and the distribution of wealth. However, the Romantic Period can be seen as an opposing response to the Enlightenment. Whereas the Enlightenment was based upon reason, the ideals of Romanticism were entrenched in emotion and imagination. The emphasis on a more abstract way of thinking spurned a turn towards nature as a source of inspiration as it was seen as a purer state of bring. Additionally, this turn towards the outdoors was prompted by industrialization and mass urbanization, movements that were unfolding during the same period. Some of the major figures to come out of this era were Edgar Allan Poe, H.G. Wells, Charles Darwin, John Keats, and William Blake.

Both the Romantics, who loved nature, and the Enlightenment thinkers, who valued rational thought and moderation, believed their movements would help humanity thrive. In William Wordsworth's

(Galitz) Romanticism largely rejected the logic and calculation of the Enlightenment in favor of emotion and intuition. Romanticism also embraced freedom as well as the idea of the sublime – feelings of awe mixed with

Romanticism is the belief that poetry is an imitation of life and that feelings and emotion were more reliable than a scientific thought. During the Romanticism, society in this period focused a lot on nature and imagination because romanticism had and has no definable standards. The Romantic Period also had a big interest in finding the truth in everything, especially in unique individuals. Due to the way they saw the world they valued every individual thing, and the size or color had no matter to them. “Faust,” by Goethe is a non-fiction story written in the Romantic period, this story is a good example of this particular period because it really truly reflects what the characteristics of this romantic period of time were all about.

Toward the end of the eighteenth century, the Enlightenment thought of reason bit by bit offered path to another significant movement in art and thoughts, Romanticism. This movement reflected a big interest both in nature and in the ideas and feelings of the individual. From numerous points of view, romantic writers and thinkers responded against the beliefs of the Enlightenment. “The central message of the romantics was that the imagination and emotions of the individual should determine the form and content of an artistic creation” (Perry, Chase and Jacob). The visual and literary arts were deeply influenced by Romanticism; they trusted that all creative expression was an impression of the artist internal emotions and a painting should reflect

Nevertheless, Romanticism spread across the world and had a profound impact on every country it expanded to. Despite not knowing where exactly the movement began, or the exact year it began; historians do know that everything the Romantics did was retaliation against the way society was changing. Due to the Industrial Era and the Revolutionary Age, some people began to feel that civilization was becoming too urban. "The Romantics renounced the rationalism and order associated with the preceding Enlightenment era, stressing the importance of expressing authentic personal feelings. They had a real sense of responsibility to their fellow men: they felt it was their duty to use their poetry to inform and inspire others, and to change society." (Forward) These events, along with the Enlightenment which was a movement that drew attention to science and logical thought, drove the Romantics to let their anger out through various forms of art, whether it was through paintings, music, poetry, or novels. "The Romantics highlighted the healing power of the imagination, because they truly believed that it could enable people to transcend their troubles and their circumstances." (Forward) This was the spark that began

Published in 1775, Goethe’s literary work Faust exemplifies individualism, emotionalism, and nature in the protagonist’s gradual escape from extreme rationalism in his life, only to realize that emotion and nature culminate reason. Beginning in the late 17th century, Romanticism was connected with politics to portray people’s fears, aspirations, and emotions (Brians).

Romanticism brought about the ideals of intellectual thinking and advances in both literary and artistic ideals. Originating in Europe during the late 18th century, but peaking between the years of 1800 and 1850. Romantics often believed in exhibiting of nature and the overall goodness of humans although hindered by the municipal life of civilization. () Emphasizing the good of childhood, the importance of emotions inspired through deep thought and the savagery of the noble class. Many writers emphasized emotion and individualism along with the glorification of nature, while also focusing on the more classical side of things rather than medieval throughout their work. ()

During, the period of the eighteenth century to the nineteenth century the europeans held a strong belief in scientific proof. The belief in scientific proof is associated to the Age of Enlightenment. The Age of Enlightenment refers to a period in europe in which people thought their beliefs should depend on reason and scientific proof.The idea of the Enlightenment came upon on an idea of Enlightenment Philosophers. The Age of Enlightenment is referred to a “ set out by means of reason and direct observation to discover the fundamental laws governing nature, humanity, and society. The philosophies believed that such discoveries would free the world from tyranny, violence, and instability” (Davis et al.17). But, besides the age of enlightenment being important it influenced writers in that time period. During, the enlightenment close to the eighteenth century the ideas were more associated with reason and rationality and sociability. But, closer to the nineteenth century the authors demonstrate a change in their writing by demonstrating a change to romanticism. Romanticism deals with feeling, imagination, and individualism.One, text that demonstrates the idea of the enlightenment is a story written by Voltaire on a character named “ Candide”. The story deals with an optimist man who is guided by an unwise philosopher named “Pangloss”. The philosopher guides candide with his unrelevant theories in which are not relevant to the real world. The second text deals with a

The Enlightenment is thought to have ended with the French Revolution, which had a violent aspect that discounted it in the eyes of many. Also, Immanuel Kant, “who referred to Sapere aude! (Dare to know!) as the motto of the Enlightenment, ended up criticizing the Enlightenment confidence on the power of reason. Romanticism, with its emphasis upon imagination, spontaneity, and passion, emerged also as a reaction against the dry intellectualism of rationalists.”15

Contrary to the Enlightenment, an optimistic period that highlighted the importance of using reasoning and science to improve the world, Romantics felt as though it was creating a society of oppression and conformity. They believed that simply science and reasoning could not realize the connection between the natural world and humanity.1 The focus of Enlightenment poetry was human civilization, and because nature was viewed as unruly and uncontrollable, nature poetry during this period was used to enforce moral discipline.2 Unlike the Age of Reasoning, the Romantic Era strongly emphasized individuality, mans? unity with nature, unconformity, imagination, and the use of emotions. It repudiated authority and encouraged individual thought in various aspects of life. There was little conformity among Romantic poets. Their main concern was to ?change the