An inexperienced person in literature, talking about this era, reduces its significance to such a familiar romance that, it should be noted, is fundamentally wrong. The assumption that the aesthetics of this time period is reduced to a cult of love will be similar. In fact, any work of literature, painting or cinema basically has this wonderful bright feeling in the variety of its manifestations, but this is far from the only fundamental sign.
This article will attempt to determine what are the main features of the aesthetics of romanticism. To do this, we turn to the historical and cultural memory of mankind, its heritage in the field of art.
Time frame
Before determining the main features of romanticism, you should understand when it was the main direction in art. The aesthetics characteristic of this period arose as a result of a reaction to strictly normalized classicism. If we talk about the time frame, the style of romanticism arose and established itself in the second half of the 18th century. Like other areas, the one we are considering began to take shape in Europe, namely in Germany, from where it spread to England, France, Italy and, finally, America. After the aesthetics of romanticism was finally formed, the direction spread almost throughout the world.
Regulatory Protest
As mentioned earlier, representatives of romanticism wrote their works to disagree with the aesthetics of classicism, to which art was subjected at that time.
The thing is that throughout the previous era (from a cultural point of view) in the world there was a distinct tendency to normalize, to reduce to a sample. With regard to the genre system, extremely strict canons acted, and the content of the works was determined solely by the problem of choosing between heart and duty. This kind of framework significantly limited both creativity and problems. Moreover, the society of this period made a significant leap forward, which required global changes in the aesthetic system and formed the distinctive features of romanticism.
Mankind suddenly realized its fragility, defenselessness before the universe and instantly responded to this discovery with a completely new, revolutionary work. The main feature of romanticism consists in this very protest of the way, normativity and the complete suppression of the personality of a writer, poet, artist or composer.
Attitude towards authorship
If in the Renaissance the author was put on a pedestal and elevated to the status of a creator, then classicism did not recognize this. The lyrics were mercilessly pushed into the background and gave way to epic and dramatic works. The main feature of romanticism is that this era can be safely called individually-author. The lyrics return to literature, to music - feeling, expression, and to painting - dynamics, emotion, a certain nerve.
In addition, the theme of works of art has changed dramatically, but this should be said a little later.
Philosophical Foundation
Like any phenomenon in world culture, romanticism was based on certain views in philosophy. In Germany, from where the direction spread across the globe, the works of Gottlieb Fichte and Immanuel Kant were made such a foundation . At the head of the main teachings of this period was the problem of the creative possibilities of the mind. Despite the fact that the above-mentioned works formed the basis of aesthetics, a polemic was constantly being waged with them, thanks to which romantic art opened up more and more opportunities.
Previously leading concepts of Benedict Spinoza, John Locke and Rene Descartes almost immediately faded into the background and were harshly criticized. The all-consuming rationalism and the deification of man as a creature of rational steel became unacceptable for the developing direction and gave way to the chanting of a human being.
Such a successful German direction was noticed by Coleridge, thanks to which the style of romanticism penetrated into England and further into France.
Manifestations of art
Of course, changes in the philosophical concept could not but entail changes directly in the work. Works of art began to acquire a completely new character: new genres entered the stage in literature, preference was given to new stylistic figures.
The main feature of romanticism in painting began to manifest itself in the form of a change in the theme of work. Artists began to attract the theme of the mysterious, unknown, that which is hidden behind the horizon. On the canvases, night landscapes began to appear more and more often. A constant attribute of romantic painting was the motive of the road, travel. As a rule, much less attention is paid to the first plan of paintings of this era than to the second, which leads to infinity.
The music of romanticism has regained expression, emotional anguish. Moreover, the composition of the works has become more blurry, and the genre borders are ghostly.
For almost all types of arts, a rejection of the strict division into high, medium and low genres, which was paid the greatest attention to in the era of classicism, was passed.
Romanticism Literature
Speaking about this direction in art, the greatest attention should be paid, perhaps, to literature, since it was in it that the traditional aesthetics of romanticism manifested itself most fully and diversely.
It has been repeatedly said that this direction is characterized by a certain desire for obscurity, gaining oneself in a completely different hypostasis, the search for freedom from conventions and everyday life. If you look at the most famous, canonical, literary works, this feature can be easily found.
Desire for the unknown
The signs of romanticism in literature are manifested in several aspects. First of all, the constant confrontation of true creators, free, lofty natures and the so-called philistines should be emphasized.
The art of this period extols creativity, puts it above any other realities of life. This determines the classic hero of the works of the era of romanticism. This is always a person in conflict with the rest of the world, alien to him, striving to break out of the tenacious clutches of everyday gray and limited life.
The confrontation of two worlds
The main feature of romanticism in literature is also determined by the presence of an obligatory mystical, mysterious element, a secondary plan of reality. In terms of philological terminology, this component of aesthetics can be called bi-peace. A romantic hero is always characterized by some escapism. The magical and the ordinary coexist on the pages of literary works at the same time, being in permanent conflict with each other.
Recognizable place and time
The characteristic features of romanticism in literature also appear in the so-called local color. The authors of this period very actively turned to folklore, the study of history, culture, which was reflected in literary work. Cities, streets, era are always obvious, tangible in the literature of this period.
It is noteworthy that the authors often resorted to describing the events of past eras, rather than to the present. Almost always in the works one feels a certain time distance between the writing of the work and the events set forth in it. Even completely fictional storylines often resonate with reality, plunge into it.
How is this reflected in Russian literature
Of course, romantic aesthetics could not get around susceptible Russian literature. Writers and poets eagerly picked up the European phenomenon and adapted it to their reality. If you take a close look at Russian literature that existed within this timeframe, you will notice that the main features of Russian romanticism were reflected, first of all, in his desire for magical, mystical, and sometimes even demonic. If in the works of European authors this moment was only present as one of the components, in Russian literature it became an absolute dominant.
Unlike English or German literature, Russian, although it absorbed the characteristic features of romanticism, paid more attention to lyrical works: ballads, poems, poems, rather than short novels and works. Poetry became for this period a defining variety of creativity.
The features of Russian romanticism have much in common with European, however, they differ significantly from it, which is due to the historical situation of this period of time.
Representatives in the literature
Of course, you should start with the German romantics, since it was they who gave the world this literary direction. Of course, first of all, these are the brothers Schlegel and Novalis, the first to declare themselves representatives of the new art. The main feature of romanticism - the desire to escape from reality - appeared in their works early and quite powerfully. One of the main representatives of this direction are, of course, considered Heinrich Heine and Johann Wolfgang Goethe.
In England, the main representatives of romanticism are George Gordon Byron, William Blake and Robert Burns. Among the French authors of this direction, Victor Hugo, Chateaubriand, Adelbert Musset cannot be omitted.
The Russian representatives of romanticism are, first of all, Zhukovsky, Batyushkov, Odoevtsev. Some works of Pushkin perfectly fit into the framework of this aesthetics (Ruslan and Lyudmila is considered by many researchers to be an exclusively romantic work).
One of the canonical examples of romantic poetry is considered Lermontov's poem "Sail".