Romanticism in Europe was born under the historical conditions that people were disappointed in the "kingdom of reason" in the Enlightenment, disillusioned with the slogan of "freedom, equality and fraternity" in the bourgeois revolution and dissatisfied with the capitalist social order. The reality at that time, as Engels pointed out: "Compared with the gorgeous promises of enlightenment scholars, the social system and political system established by' rational victory' is actually an extremely disappointing cartoon." The writers at that time were dissatisfied with the reality and tried to find ways to solve social contradictions. However, due to the different class positions and political attitudes held by writers, romanticism is divided into two opposing schools, namely positive romanticism and negative romanticism. The former is a progressive trend, which makes people look forward, while the latter is a reactionary countercurrent, which makes people look back. This difference is essentially two completely different reactions to the French Revolution and the Enlightenment.
Active romantic writers dare to face up to reality, criticize the darkness of society, aim at feudal aristocrats, oppose the remnants of feudal factors in capitalist society, and expose all kinds of evil phenomena caused by the bourgeoisie itself, so they are full of passion for resistance and struggle, hope for the future, yearn for a new and better life, and some are in favor of utopian socialism. Representative writers include Byron and Shelley in Britain, Hugo and george sand in France, Heine in Germany, Higgins in Russia yesterday (early), Mitzi Kevic in Poland and petofi in Hungary. Their life practice and artistic practice were all related to the bourgeois democratic revolutionary thought at that time and the national liberation movements of various countries, and most writers were active participants in these national liberation movements.
Negative romantics are not. They can't face up to the sharp contradictions in social reality and adopt a passive evasive attitude. Their thoughts are related to the ideology of the overthrown feudal aristocracy. Starting from the movement against bourgeois single life, they opposed the status quo, nostalgic for the past, beautified the patriarchal clan system in the Middle Ages, and fantasized about seeking spiritual comfort and sustenance from the ancient feudal society. The emergence of negative romanticism is actually a literary reflection of the thoughts and feelings of the declining feudal nobles. Representative writers are German brothers Rajgl, namely, Ashe Rajgl and Fausch Rajgl, French Novalis, chateaubriand, Lamadine Winnie, Russian zhukovsky, English Wordsworth, Coleridge, Southey, and so on.
The rise and fall of romanticism is determined by the characteristics of historical conditions in various countries. As a formed literary trend of thought, it first appeared in Germany. At that time, negative romanticism prevailed and positive romanticism developed slowly due to the rampant influence of German Yong Ke nobles and the weakness of the bourgeoisie. After Heine entered the literary world, positive romanticism rose in Germany.
The romantic trend of thought in France, like the waves of the sea, is magnificent, spectacular and violent. Its emergence and development can not be separated from the restoration of feudal nobles and the repeated struggles of the bourgeoisie. Romanticism first rushed out from the obstacles set by classicism, and won in one fell swoop after a close combat. Then, in the rambling inner corner, positive romantics organized a broad United front including critical realists and defeated negative romantics. 1Before the 1920s, negative romanticism was king. From the late 20s to the early 1930s, due to the political victory of the bourgeoisie, positive romanticism suddenly rose and gained a dominant position.
In Russia, romanticism developed relatively late. It was not until 19 century that it became a genre. Among them, positive romanticism is closely related to the Russian The Decemberists Movement, which played a significant progressive role in the aristocratic revolution. Representative writers are early Pushkin and Reiliyev.
The most complete, standardized and successful romantic trend of thought is Britain. Compared with other countries, the romantic movement in Britain has the following characteristics; First of all, English romanticism did not form a large-scale literary movement, but appeared in the form of the free activities of a few writers. Secondly, British romanticism has a long history, like a small river, which is as long as 150 years. As early as the end of18th century, there were signs of romanticism in the poems of william blake (1757- 1827) and robert burns, a peasant poet (1759- 1796), and in the19th century, Until the late19th century, when Queen Victoria (reigned 1837- 190 1) was in power, romantic feathers could still be seen in the poems of Tennyson, robert browning and his wife elizabeth barrett browning. Third, English romanticism is clearly divided into two opposing factions. Negative romanticism came onto the literary stage before positive romanticism. Wordsworth, Coleridge and Southey are the main generations, while Byron, Shelley and Keats are the opposite.
The philosophical basis of romanticism is the popular German classical philosophy and utopian socialism deeply influenced by the Enlightenment. It emphasizes subjectivity, genius and inspiration; Emphasize the freedom and liberation of human nature.
In artistic creation, romanticism emphasizes the artist's subjective creativity, showing interest in history and concern for major events in social reality. In addition, while remembering the history, it shows the yearning for the exotic atmosphere of the East.
Romanticism and classicism are completely opposite in artistic expression. It opposes pure rationality and abstract expression, and emphasizes concrete and distinctive description and emotional transmission. Oppose typology and generalization, advocate individuality, and describe the character characteristics and mental state of characters; Oppose the use of ancient art rules to bind artistic creation, advocate free and unrestrained subjective description, so that artists' feelings can be fully conveyed in their creation; Oppose rigid sculpture and over-emphasis on sketch as the main means of expression, try to emphasize the saturated tone of strong contrast between light and color, shape artistic images with turbulent composition, unrestrained and smooth brushwork, and sometimes metaphor or symbol, so as to express the artist's social and aesthetic ideals.