HUMAN 120, Fall, 2014
Prof. De Grassi & Dr. Harnett
Week 11 (Thursday) Class Notes, page 1
Thursday, November 6, 2014
Announcements:
 Exam 4 (Romantic Era Art and Literature) is next time: Tuesday,
November 11, 2014.
 The Art Term Paper assignment is posted in the HUMAN 120 page under
HUMAN 120 Course Materials.
More Romantic Poetry.
William Wordsworth: Index at
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/william-wordsworth#about
o “Character of the Happy Warrior”
o “A Complaint”
o “The Tables Turned”
o “Influence of Natural Objects”
o “Surprised by Joy”
o “Mutability”
o Alfred, Lord Tennyson (Victorian Era poet):
http://allpoetry.com/Alfred-Lord-Tennyson
o “Flower in the Crannied Wall,”
o “The Charge of the Light Brigade,”
o “Vivien’s Song” http://www.bartleby.com/42/633.html
Art Term Paper Information.
Elements of Romanticism.
Review of Romantic Art and Literature for Exam 4:
Some Elements of Romanticism (after French Revolution until about 1850
or so. Note that some aspects of Romanticism persist both before and after this
time.):
 The child and innocence are exalted over the adult and experience
 Nature is a source of inspiration and the truth, as opposed to the
cluttered and corrupt influences of the city
 Poetry defined as “the spontaneous overflow of powerful
emotions…recollected in tranquility” (Wordsworth, “Preface to
Lyrical Ballads,” par. 6, 26; see
http://www.bartleby.com/39/36.html)
 Emotion is a source of inspiration, providing for experiences far
greater than those focusing on logic and reason in the
Enlightenment in the 18th century (Romanticism as a reaction vs.
The Age of Reason, even though Romantics shared more with the
philosophes of the Enlightenment than they cared to admit, such as
their appreciation of revolution).
 Exaltation of the Commonplace, and also a taste for the exotic, a
product of expansion and colonization
 Frequent featuring of the strange and the supernatural
HUMAN 120, Fall, 2014
Prof. De Grassi & Dr. Harnett
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Week 11 (Thursday) Class Notes, page 2
Poets saw themselves as prophets in a time of crisis
Individual humans seen as inherently good and with enormous
potential, but also easily corrupted by society; non-conformity
valued; individualism as well as shared purpose, social justice, and
cooperation highly valued, as in the case of revolution vs. tyranny
Uncertainty but a move toward optimism about the future, an air of
change and revolution; competing ideas
Strengthening sense of nationalism
Deepening understanding of human thinking and psychology (late
Romantic Era)
Art:
Examples of Romantic Art:
 Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684-1721)
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/watteau/
 Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825)
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/david/
 Théodore Géricault (1791-1824), The Raft of the Medusa
http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/g/gericaul/1/105geric.html or
http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~janzb/courses/phi2010/gericaultraft.htm
o Also see it on the Louvre’s website:
http://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/raft-medusa
 Eugène Delacroix (April 26, 1798-August 13, 1863)
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/delacroix/
Illustrations of Faust—Discuss the interpretations of the story they
emphasize.
Also, what elements of Romanticism are evident in the illustrations?
 An Etching of Faust by Rembrandt (c. 1650) at
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rembrandt,_Faust.jpg
o http://mysteriouswritings.com/the-mysterious-light-ofrembrandts-faust/ [with commentary]
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Illustrations by Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863, foremost French
Romantic painter) at http://www.allart.org/neoclasscism/goethe1.html
Painting: Wilhelm Koller, Austrian artist born 1829 - died 1884: Faust and
Mephistopheles Waiting for Gretchen at the Cathedral Door
http://artmight.com/Artists/Koller-Wilhelm/Koller-Wilhelm-FaustAnd-Memphistopheles-Waiting-For-Gretchen-At-The-CathedralDoor-194475p.html
1. Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840), Wanderer Above the Sea of
Fog, 1818 http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/his/CoreArt/art/rom_fri_wand.html
Also see http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/friedrich/
American Romanticism in Art
HUMAN 120, Fall, 2014
Prof. De Grassi & Dr. Harnett
Week 11 (Thursday) Class Notes, page 3
2. Albert Bierstadt and Thomas Cole:
http://www.class.uidaho.edu/engl_258/Lecture%20Notes/ame
rican_romanticism_in_art.htm
The Hudson River School:
http://www.history.vt.edu/Barrow/Hist3144/readings/hudsonriver/i
ndex.html
 The Pre Raphaelite Brotherhood: Extensive links at
http://www.dlc.fi/~hurmari/preraph.htm
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Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882, in the Victorian Era) poetry
and paintings. Respond to the items below each link:
o
“Aspecta Medusa (for a Drawing)”
o
“The Blessed Damozel” See note below the poem: DGR said he meant
the poem to be a sequel to Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven”—instead of portraying
the “grief of the lover on earth,” Rossetti’s poem describes “the yearning of the
loved one in heaven.” DGR wrote the poem in 1847 at the age of 19; the painting
was completed much later, on commission, in 1875-1878. See
http://www.rossettiarchive.org/docs/s244.rap.html
“Mary's Girlhood (for a Picture)” [compare to the paired painting;
there are two sonnets] See
http://www.rossettiarchive.org/docs/s40.rap.html
Write Notes and Discuss Various Analytical Points of View of the
Poems and Paintings for Each Pair:
1. Explain the main message or meaning of the poem.
2. Give a representative quotation in the poem that suggests what the poem
is all about—a quote that stands out to you in some way.
3. How is the poem Romantic? Explain as precisely as possible.
4. How well does the painting or illustration represent what the poem is all
about? Point out specific features of the poem and explain how they show
up in the painting or not.
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Links to Paintings by Rossetti:
http://www.victorianweb.org/painting/dgr/paintings/index.html
Rossetti Archive Index to Pictures:
http://www.rossettiarchive.org/racs/pictures.rac.html
Also: http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/rossetti/
More artists and paintings of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood:
William Holman Hunt (1827-1910)
http://www.artchive.com/artchive/H/hunt.html#images
Sir John Everett Millais (1829-1896)
http://www.artchive.com/artchive/M/millais.html#images
Literature:
HUMAN 120, Fall, 2014
Prof. De Grassi & Dr. Harnett
Week 11 (Thursday) Class Notes, page 4
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, Faust (selections/excerpt) begin at
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14591/14591-h/14591-h.htm Read: these
selected scenes:
“Prelude at the Theatre”
“The Prologue in Heaven”
I. “Night”
III-IV. “In the Study”
VI. “Witches’ Kitchen”
XVI. “Martha’s Garden”
XX. “Cathedral”
XXV. “Dungeon”
William Blake (1757-1827), illuminated books: Songs of Innocence and of
Experience--start at http://www.gailgastfield.com/Blake.html
Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (selections) at
http://www.gailgastfield.com/mhh/mhh.html:
1. “The Argument”
2. “The Voice of the Devil”
3. “A Memorable Fancy”—skip down to Plates 12 & 13, Dinner with the
Prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel
4. other “Memorable Fancies” –select one
5. “A Song of Liberty”
English Romantic Poetry.
William Wordsworth: Index at
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/william-wordsworth#about
o “Character of the Happy Warrior”
o “A Complaint”
o “The Tables Turned”
o “Influence of Natural Objects”
o “Surprised by Joy”
o “Mutability”
o Alfred, Lord Tennyson (Victorian Era poet):
http://allpoetry.com/Alfred-Lord-Tennyson
o “Flower in the Crannied Wall,”
o “The Charge of the Light Brigade,”
o “Vivien’s Song” http://www.bartleby.com/42/633.html
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Edgar Allan Poe: “MS Found in a Bottle” at
http://www.eapoe.org/works/tales/msfndg.htm
Herman Melville, “Bartleby, The Scrivener” at
http://www.bartleby.com/129/.
Practice Exam Items: Write responses to each item that are clear and precise.
Art:
1. Describe the works of art that we select: settings, scenes, medium,
techniques, effects
HUMAN 120, Fall, 2014
Prof. De Grassi & Dr. Harnett
Week 11 (Thursday) Class Notes, page 5
2. Show which aspects of Romanticism, as we have investigated it, are
apparent in each painting.
Literature:
1. Interpret meanings of the work: explain a main theme and support your
interpretation with examples from the work. Cite it.
2. Show how the author expresses ideas literally and figuratively, pointing
out literary devices used such as metaphor, personification, rhymes, word
choices, and other effects of sound and sense. Select, quote, and cite
examples.
3. Explain what makes the work distinctly characteristic of Romanticism,
giving examples to support your analysis. Cite all examples.
For Next Time: Review and prepare for Exam 4. The reading for the exam will
be provided.