Romanticism Vs Enlightenment

Since the introduction of cuneiform in acient Mesopotamia, writing has been used to spread information, document events, and to keep a history of important events within civilazations. However, text has also served the purpose of entertaining the imaginations of the masses with artistic compositions such as elaborate stories, thoughtful poems, and wimsical plays. The Romantic literary period of American literature is an example of a time in which innovation and originality aided in producing great literary works, which then inspired equally superior works in other areas of the arts. By comparing and contrasting literary works of the Romantic era and the period before known as the Enlightenment, one will be able recognize the differences in …show more content…
During the Enlightenment, or Age of Reason, thinkers in Britain and in France began to challenge the authority of monarchy, and began to embrace and spread the newfangled idea that the state of humanity could be “improved thorugh rational change” (histoy.com). This new way of finding answers through inquiry and reason led to the production various works of literature and inventions, as well as the enactment of laws and the catalyzation of wars and revolutions. For example, since one enlightenement ideal was that of the importance of self-actualization, the American and French revolutions were inspired by such ideals because the citizens believed they had the right to happiness and freedom. However, these wars marked both the peak and decline of Enlightenent ideals aamong the public, and eventually led to a new period in American history that is considered as the Romantic period. Though the romantic period was, according to some, a counterculter against the enlightenment and related ideals of calm, harmony, restraint, and the rationalisation of nature and desire, the era of Romanticism was the result of the changing structure of life in 19th century America, and society’s respons to …show more content…
In music, composers such as Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Frederich Chopin, and Robert Schuman begain to attempt to capture the wide range and intensity of human emotions in their musical selections through the use of varied dynamics and the production of short, yet expressive piano pieces (ipl.org). Though there was “a disjunction between the concept of romanticism in music and in the other arts “ due to the disparity in the way the concept spread and progressed among writers and visual artists versus musicians and composers, within the area of visual arts, artists experimented with contrasting colors and shades of light, and linearity in order to depict figures who were “bizarre, pathetic, or extravagantly heroic , which was a deviation from the historical and mythological themes that were the center of early art periods (newworldenctlopedia.org) (britannica.com). Both in art and music the themes of emotional expression and fantasy inspired musicans and artists to create new compositions and