Romanticism, as a movement of art and literature during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, was a reaction against the excessive rationalism of the Enlightenment era. It stressed strong emotion as the underlining source of aesthetic experience. Romanticism provided an escape from the rigidity of the Enlightenment period and its overemphasis on reason and disregard for emotion; a trait inherent and fundamental to human life. Likewise, the lasting appeal of emotion in contrast to the brevity of intellect and reason reinforces Romanticism as a strongly emotional aesthetic force. The notions of corrupt civil society, the sublime, freedom, and the conflict between man and the natural world render nature as a pivotal influence on the facet of
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“Thus thou, Ravine of Arve—dark, deep Ravine—thou many-colour’d, many voiced vale” provides the physical characteristics of the Ravine by stating that it has many colours and voices. The assonance of long vowel sounds ‘dark, deep’ slows down the pace of the reader obliging them to ruminate the power of nature. Likewise, “where Power in likeness of the Arve comes down/From the ice-gulfs that gird his secret throne” implies that ‘Power’, through personification, is surrounding the ‘secret throne’ and in order to comprehend it, the human subjects need to use the power of the mind. This illustrates the effect of the sublime. Immanuel Kant said that the sublime “elevates the strength of our soul above its usual level” and tests us against “the apparent all-powerfulness of nature.” This signifies that the persona cannot challenge nature unless it is in safety as nature is dangerous and omnipotent. “When I gaze on thee/I seem as in a trance sublime fantasy” the personal pronoun conveys an intimate connection that the persona has with the mountain. This is related to subjectivity as the persona delves into a ‘trance’ when confronted by the majestic splendour of the mountain. In regards to Edmund Burke, he believed that there is a distinction between “the beautiful” and “the sublime”. The sublime triggers the primitive but overwhelming …show more content…
In William Blake’s London, freedom is absent as urban life is an incarceration within society. “I wander thro’ each charter’d street/Marks of weakness, marks of woe” indicates the degraded value of an average man. The repetition of ‘marks’ typifies a social class structure as the streets are ‘charter’d’. The tone throughout this poem is of hatred towards the Industrial Revolutions that deprived the masses of their freedom. Thomas Paine believed that authority structures were diminishing the equal rights of man. He wanted to defeat hierarchies and “expose the fraud and imposition of monarchy.” This quote can well be attributed to the soft nature of man to stand against the authority. “In every cry/The mind-forg’d manacles I hear” is a metaphor for the spiritual imprisonment of mankind and therefore of the failures of the governments to provide for their society. The enslaved citizens are wearing ‘manacles’ that are ‘mind-forg’d’ is in accordance to Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s quote that “man was born free; and everywhere he is in chains”. This connotes that although ‘man is born free’, the moving away from traditions to modern culture traps the citizens and causes freedom to diminish. Freedom is a fundamental aspect explored during the Romantic Era. The lack of freedom in London emphasises the importance of expressive and artistic freedom to
“Thus thou, Ravine of Arve—dark, deep Ravine—thou many-colour’d, many voiced vale” provides the physical characteristics of the Ravine by stating that it has many colours and voices. The assonance of long vowel sounds ‘dark, deep’ slows down the pace of the reader obliging them to ruminate the power of nature. Likewise, “where Power in likeness of the Arve comes down/From the ice-gulfs that gird his secret throne” implies that ‘Power’, through personification, is surrounding the ‘secret throne’ and in order to comprehend it, the human subjects need to use the power of the mind. This illustrates the effect of the sublime. Immanuel Kant said that the sublime “elevates the strength of our soul above its usual level” and tests us against “the apparent all-powerfulness of nature.” This signifies that the persona cannot challenge nature unless it is in safety as nature is dangerous and omnipotent. “When I gaze on thee/I seem as in a trance sublime fantasy” the personal pronoun conveys an intimate connection that the persona has with the mountain. This is related to subjectivity as the persona delves into a ‘trance’ when confronted by the majestic splendour of the mountain. In regards to Edmund Burke, he believed that there is a distinction between “the beautiful” and “the sublime”. The sublime triggers the primitive but overwhelming …show more content…
In William Blake’s London, freedom is absent as urban life is an incarceration within society. “I wander thro’ each charter’d street/Marks of weakness, marks of woe” indicates the degraded value of an average man. The repetition of ‘marks’ typifies a social class structure as the streets are ‘charter’d’. The tone throughout this poem is of hatred towards the Industrial Revolutions that deprived the masses of their freedom. Thomas Paine believed that authority structures were diminishing the equal rights of man. He wanted to defeat hierarchies and “expose the fraud and imposition of monarchy.” This quote can well be attributed to the soft nature of man to stand against the authority. “In every cry/The mind-forg’d manacles I hear” is a metaphor for the spiritual imprisonment of mankind and therefore of the failures of the governments to provide for their society. The enslaved citizens are wearing ‘manacles’ that are ‘mind-forg’d’ is in accordance to Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s quote that “man was born free; and everywhere he is in chains”. This connotes that although ‘man is born free’, the moving away from traditions to modern culture traps the citizens and causes freedom to diminish. Freedom is a fundamental aspect explored during the Romantic Era. The lack of freedom in London emphasises the importance of expressive and artistic freedom to