Classic and Romantic

Introduction to Classicism and Romanticism

The French Revolution, the industrial revolution and the Romantic movement in literature from a landmark in the cultural progress of the western world. When we think of the classical and the romantic schools of poetry, we go on the wrong track of thinking one to be superior to the other.

Contrasts between Classical and Romantic Literature

On the one side we have the poise and grandeur of the antique while on the other band we have the seething frothing currents of modern thought. In literature on the one hand we have Corneille, Racine, Pope, Johnson, while on the other hand we have Wordsworth, Coleridge, Lessing, Goethe and others.

Rousseau's Challenge to Society and the Old Order

Rousseau, the early pioneer of Romanticism, challenged society, not literature. He writes in a new style but his chief protest is against the Society, government religion, in short, the old order of things. In the middle ages Europe was dominated by the Catholic Church which discouraged free thinking. So a period came when innovation and enterprise were pitted against the old order—the Catholic Church, Kings, aristocracy etc.

Impact of the Industrial Revolution on Literature

The Industrial Revolution wiped out cottage industries, bad roads and brought in large scale industries, good roads, railways etc. The world was shaken from its static lethargy to a new dynamic movement of rapid changes.

Classical and Neo-Classical Traditions

One of the manifestations of the changes was the outburst of romantic activity in literature. Sir Philip Sidney hesitantly tried to defend poetry; the Elizabethan dramatists refused to obey Aristotle's principles of writing a tragedy.

A counter movement came up with the writings of Racine, Boileau, Pope and others. Thus the classical spirit was advised to curb the exuberance of the Renaissance writers and later on it was used to crush them. "The neo-classicists had their way."

(1) Distinctions Between Classicism and Neo-Classicism

We should be very much wrong if we imagine that the ancient classics and neo-classicism are one and the same thing. Homer, Aeschylus, Euripides are as well respected by the neo-classical writers as they are by the romantic writers. But the neo-classicists derived from the classics the dead rules without caring for the spirit of the classics.

So it was a mockery of beauty and travesty of classicism. Walter Pater calls it a misleading interpretation of the classics. "The charm of what is classical......is that of the well-known tale, to which we can nevertheless, listen over and over again because it is told so well" The classic has a quality never to displease us.

(2) External Beauty vs. Romantic Innovation

The classic has the external beauty, proportion, symmetry. The romantic character in art adds strangeness to beauty.

(3) Faults and Defects in Romanticism

In the hands of meaner romantic variations or perversions. So the real artists the classic as well as the romantic. But such defects are exaggerated differences between classicism and romanticism is between objective expression and self-expression.

(4) Classicism and Romanticism: Beauty and Expression

The Greeks emphasized the beauty of outward form—symmetry, order, proportion and reserve. This is classicism. The romantic emphasizes the spirit behind the outward form and reserves the right to experiment and express in the form of new innovations. In other words, the classic stresses 'this worldliness' of beauty whereas the romantic brings out the other-worldliness of beauty. The classic thus pursues man while the romantic pursues the soul of man.

(5) Characteristics of Classicism vs. Romanticism

The classic stands for a mean, repose, tradition, fitness, propriety, restraint, conservatism, authority etc. The romantic stands for extremity, adventure, novelty, excitement, energy, spirituality, progress, liberty, experiments.

(6) Appreciating Classics with a Romantic Spirit

To appreciate the beauties of classicism, a cultured well-read mind is pre-supposed. But the Renaissance writers were not so well equipped in learning and so their unbridled experiments had some crudeness. As time went on these writers became mature in knowledge and like Jonson stressed the need of restraint and rules this eventually led to the dominance by the grammarians.

(7) Ideal Integration of Classicism and Romanticism

In fact, a grown-up age should study the classics in the romantic spirit. It should care for the beauties of the body and the soul. A harmonious blending of the classic and the romantic would be ideal for art.

Winckelmann's Pursuit of Greek Culture

Johann Joachim Winckelmann devoted life in the pursuit of Greek culture. Greek painting and Greek sculpture, in a romantic spirit. In his Essay on Grace he says, "There is but one way for the moderns to become great, and perhaps unparalleled I mean, by imitating the Ancients." These words sound full of so-called classicism but Winckelmann stressed.

Winckelmann's Emphasis on Beauty and Form

(i) sanity, comeliness and

(ii) sheer love of beauty.

He studies sculpture and stresses how every limb and curve tends to the beauty of the outward form.

Distinction Between Authentic and Decadent Greek Models

He distinguishes between the earlier authentic Greek models and later decadent Greek models. His search was for "the form of real beauty."

The Role of Art in Expressing Inner Meaning

He emphasizes form in art, like others. But that form should be objectified through an external visible medium. Physical beauty is all right but it should be translated in terms of emotions.

Winckelmann's Romantic Approach to Greek Art

Sculpture, painting or a poem is an outward thing which must convey an inner meaning. Art is in the last analysis spirit revealed as form in a particular medium.

Different Methods of Treatment in Various Media

Difference in media must naturally have different methods of treatment to arouse a beautiful emotion.

Winckelmann's Romantic Influence on Classicism

He is after the true character of the soul of a thing. And here he talks the language of a romanticist.

Winckelmann's Legacy

Winckelmann assessed the work of the ancients in the light of new romanticism. He rescued classicism from the hands of the pedants and "restored the Greek spirit to the Greek body." He looks for the harmony of the mind as revealed in form because the body and the spirit are inalienable.