The Age Of Reason Essay -- Romanticism Essays

The eighteenth coke saw unprecedented growth of publications and the liberal arts in Europe and America. Britain during this cadence period excessively enjoyed drawn-out periods of civil peace that stood in sharp contrast to the bloody and prolonged civil and international conflicts that lasted throughout the 17th century. Furthermore, as the rising mettle classes increasingly sought both education and leisure entertainment, the marketplace for exquisite production swelled dramatically. One of the most critical elements of the 18th century was the increasing availability of printed material, both for readers and authors. The period was markedly more primarily educated than the centuries before. Education was less confined to the upper classes than it had been in centuries, and consequently contributions to science, philosophy, economics, and literature came from all parts of the newly United Kingdom. It was the archetypical time when literacy and a library were all that s tood between a person and education.The first half of the century has often been aptly described as the advance of Reason, the Augustan Age and the Neo-classical Age. The very description of this period as Augustan throws light on the prosperity and growth of this period, drawing a hold parallel to the affluent era of Latin literature during the reign of Augustus and in the process, claiming a similar Golden Age of English literature and arts. It was an sequence of reason in that it was an age that accepted clear, rational methods as ace to tradition.The period saw the development and growth of a new berth towards life and more importantly towards the role of nature around us. Rationalism, as an ideology, gained immensity and influenced literary whole works to a large extent. Rationalism as a philosophical doctrine, asserts that reason and factual analysis, rather than faith, dogma or religious teaching should determine the truth. Such a philosophy provided constancy and ord er to the society and was hence considered as a welcoming alternate from the chaos that Europe had recently experienced. The Age of Reason, hence, emphasized on the importance to perceive life in a scientific and detached manner. It jilted emotion or fashionable belief and stressed on a more rational, logical and scientific attitude towards life. The discoveries of Isaac Newton, the rationalism of Rn Descartes, the skepticism of Pierre Bay... ...ight be taken to include the rise of individualism, as seen by the cult of the artistic genius that was a prominent lark in the Romantic worship of Shakespeare and in the poetry of Wordsworth, to take altogether two examples a new emphasis on common diction and the depiction of apparently everyday experiences and experimentation with new, non-classical artistic forms.Romanticism also strongly valued the past. Old forms were valued, ruins were sentimentalized as iconic of the action of nature on the works of man, and mythic and legenda ry material which would previously suck been seen as low culture became a common basis for works of high art and literature.Romanticism played an essential role in the national awakening of many Central European peoples lacking their receive national states, particularly in Poland, which had recently lost its independence. Revival of quaint myths, customs and traditions by Romanticist poets and painters helped to distinguish their indigenous cultures from those of the dominant nations (Russians, Germans, Austrians, Turks, etc.). Patriotism, innovation and armed struggle for independence also became popular themes in the arts of this period.