The Enlightenment Era, And The Romantic Era

“The Protestant Reformation was the 16th-century religious, political, intellectual and cultural upheaval that splintered Catholic Europe, setting in place the structures and beliefs that have defined the continent in today's modern era.”(History.com/2009) Many historians have argued that the beinging of the reformation goes back to 1517 when Martin Luther wrote 95 Theses. Its ending can be placed anywhere from the 1583-1648, right around the time of the Treaty of Westphalia. The key ideas of the Reformation were to purify the church and a belief that the Bible, not tradition, should be the sole source of spiritual authority. However, Luther and multiple other men contributed on a large scale that widely affected the Reformation. “Martin Luther who was a monk and professor in Germany when he composed his 95 Theses, in which he protested the popes sale of indugences were corrupting church members faith”(Biography.com/2013). With the aid of the printing

The Age of Enlightenment was arguably one of the most defining eras in history regarding the transition of cultures from pre-modern traditions to current modern thought and philosophy. The Enlightenment came about through many intellectuals’ desires to separate from centuries old political and social traditions, such as absolutism and divine right. The movement advocated the use of reason rather than focusing on religion and began to break away from the bonds of religious tyranny, as well as long-standing notions of sovereignty. The Enlightenment age was the means for these intellectuals to publish their philosophies and theories, which in turn initiated revolution in political and social practices throughout Europe and consequently the entire

“The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where one ends and the other begins”(Poe, par. 3). Edgar Allan Poe, as well as many other writers throughout history, have questioned the ideological standards of society. A noteworthy debate that has surfaced time and time again through varying time periods is the dispute of logical and rational intelligence versus the impassioned emotion of one’s inner-self. These two conflicting philosophies divided and defined the different characteristics of literature during the Enlightenment era and the Romantic era. In order to understand why various authors such as Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and John Locke wrote in their differing styles, it is important to understand the historical context that inspired these authors. Although these approaches in style were exceedingly different, remarkable works of literature emerged from both time periods. While the various writers of the Enlightenment era had a more historical motivation for writing, the writers during the Romantic era composed an overall more amusing anthology of literary works.

The Enlightenment was an intellectual movement during the 17th and 18th century when the philosophers and scientists started examining the world through human intellect and reason. It is a new way of thinking which allowed human improvement. Generally, the enlightenment thinkers thought without prejudice. This cultural movement led to many new developments, ideas, and inventions in science, art, politics and philosophy. Reason guides human affairs. Science over religion, belief in freedom, liberty, and progress that it will get better. The new attitudes are optimistic, seek practical improvement, and it focused more on liberty. The Enlightenment affected the way people understood the role of government. It changed they way they think about

From 1500 CE to 1780 CE material life changed greatly for merchants, rulers and others from the upper and middle classes involved in global trade. With the expansion of global commerce traders acquired newfound wealth they supported arts, architecture, scientific research, and other principles of the Renaissance and Enlightenment eras. Furthermore, the principles of the Renaissance and Enlightenment eras held less gender bias than prior religious principles. Women used this to their advantage for advancements in equality through literary works, were unable to make much progress. Additionally, the poor and lower classes did not benefit from any of this as they remained illiterate, undernourished, and often subjected to brutal treatment by

During the 18th and 19th centuries, antisemitism made its mark on Europe. Many people had prejudices against Jews and Judaism. However, there were also people striving for an Enlightened environment. A lot of ideas were generated on this topic and several viewpoints emerged. Papers and and books were written laying out these viewpoints, including the texts of Richard Wagner and Christian Wilhelm von Dohm. Wagner’s work, Judaism in Music, shows his strong opinions on the Enlightenment process and what he thinks should occur. Dohm’s paper, On the Civic Improvement of the Jews, illustrates the ideas that he believes will be most beneficial. These two authors, Wagner and Dohm, both had specific thoughts on how and if the ideas of this Enlightenment process should be carried out.

The Age of the Enlightenment during the beginning of the 18th century was a revolution that vanquished the suffocating darkness of superstition that shrouded the Middle Ages. Revolutionary thinkers of the Enlightenment, such as Denis Diderot, René Descartes, John Locke, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, led western civilization out of the darkness of ignorance with a small flame generated by the power of scientific and intellectual reason. For a while, it seemed as though the reason and rationality of Enlightenment thinking would be the harbinger of peace. However, this idea of peace was merely a conjectured fantasy that disregarded the rising discontentment of a newly oppressed people. This is displayed through the perversion of the French Revolution into an irrational and passion driven bloodbath. Towards the end of the 18th century, people felt that the rigidity of scientific reason instilled by the Enlightenment was bleeding the spirit, morality, and especially the passion out of existence. The small flame of the Enlightenment was ignited into a raging fire of oppressed passion generated through the power individualistic thinking. Rather than focusing on a unified peace, revolutionaries, such as Thomas Paine, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Johann von Goethe and Jane Austen, of the late 18th and 19th century emphasized the passion of self-expression within the individual.

The ideas of the enlightenment during the eighteenth century was to promote reason, logic and freedom of thought over dogma, faith or religion, and especially the way government back then was running in Europe. It was revolutionary era because all the philosophers, and other smart thinkers at the time gathered their new opinion or ideas together to shift the way people, politicians or government, and religious figures thought about the rules of life in the universe.

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 period in both Europe and the Americas was going at fast pace following the public death of King Louis XIV. Everyday life changed in both Europe and the Americas, from the way people thought, carried, and the way they expressed themselves, especially through literature. A lot of quarreling occurred between the “ancients” and the “moderns”; the ancients believed that the new ideas would lead to social alienation and the lack of moral responsibility. Opposed to the moderns however, that believed in the new commitment to individuality, and upholding the importance of autonomy, broad education for women, and geographical exploration.

Americans in the Enlightenment period strongly connected themselves with the classical age in terms of how they approached their art. The Enlightenment period lasted for about 150 years, from approximately 1700 -1850. Throughout this time period many artists took inspiration from the classical age which occurred in ancient Greece and Rome hundreds of years before. We can see examples of this in buildings like The White house and Monticello in America, and Kedleston Hall in England. These three buildings, though located in very different parts of the world, all have a number of aestheticly similar attributes.

History is the story and knowledge of the past. There are individuals that are interested by history and wish to study it by learning more. It is very informative to know what has happened in the past for self-knowledge. An individual cannot be naïve to the past including but not limited to how literature came to. One can understand literature more when they understand the time period the author wrote during and the way they wrote. There are several time periods different authors have been through with each period having specific beliefs. Romanticism is the time period that interests me the most; it was a time during the eighteenth century and focused on nature along with the individual’s expression of imagination and emotion.

Life prior to the 1700s was bleak. Before the eighteenth century, any progress made in the scientific field was frowned upon. The government was still theocratic, and any notion brought before it that contradicted with what the elitists of society thought was true was proclaimed blasphemous. There were many men and women who had proceeded to discover new and incredible things that could benefit the world and its inhabitants greatly. Sadly, many of them will never be recognized due to their government’s reluctance to change. Around the beginning of the eighteenth century, however, there were drastic changes that were made. The era of enlightenment had begun, and all of the inventors and scientists that were keeping their experiments, theories,

Baroque style was adopted and used from roughly 1600 - 1750. Baroque artist broke from traditional styles and techniques largely as a result of the Protestant Reformation and its effects, including that of the Council of Trent, which greatly influenced Western art. Martin Luther sparked the Protestant Reformation in 1517 when he posted his 95 theses on the front door of Castle church. With the intent for an academic debate, Luther criticized the corruption and faults within the Catholic Church, including that of selling indulgences. However with the development of the printing press, his theses spread and led to the Protestant religion. Many people were exchanging their Catholic beliefs for Protestantism and that sent the Catholic Church into frenzy to stop the movement of people away from the traditional Catholicism to Protestant religion. In response to people abandoning their Catholic beliefs, the Catholic Church leaders met to reform the church by addressing and correcting the criticisms made by Martin Luther in his 95 theses. The church leader also sought to clearly define the Catholic Church’s convictions. The Church leader wanted to affirm their doctrines to the people through education by facilitating their understanding of faith, but this posed difficulty because most people were uneducated and illiterate. The church clergy decided art would easily convey the faith of the church because of the art is a visual concept that did not require a formal education. To do

Romanticism came to be in the 18th and 19th centuries which emphasized the imagination and emotions of romanticism. Many people viewed this type of literature as the quality or state of being impractical or unrealistic meaning romantic feelings or ideas. During this time many poets were encouraged to express their true colors and individual uniqueness. The Romantic Era expanded all throughout the world, and reached poets such as Keats, Byron, Shelley, and Wordsworth.