Romanticism Free Response

To what extent did Romanticism challenge Enlightenment views of human beings and the natural world and how did this challenge illustrate changes between the Enlightenment and Romantic views of the relationship between God and the individual?

During the 19^th century in Europe, the world was going through dramatic changes. It was heading into the era of the Romantics. During this time people were moving away from the conventional ideas of music and art and exploring more of the natural world and what they thought about it. They took God out of the equation and focused more on themselves and the natural world itself. Romanticism changed Enlightenment views dramatically and because of this, destroyed the relationship between God and the individual.

There were many famous people during the time of the Romantics. One famous Romantic was Percy Shelly. After getting away from the Enlightenment and God, Shelly focused on his love of poems and writing. He was an atheist and had no problem not believing in God. His works accurately described his feelings. During his time at Oxford, Shelly published a pamphlet expressing his views on atheism. Subsequently he was expelled from the university because he failed to take back what he had said and burn the pamphlets. Lord Byron was another famous person of the Romantics. He was seen as the first celebrity. Byron would get letters from women expressing their wants of him. During the Enlightenment, men had one wife and rarely got divorced because it was against the Catholic ideology. However, during the Romantics it was not uncommon for many people to have several wives during their life. At one point a wife and child were left because the man did not want to be with them anymore. He wanted to explore his talent as a writer and so went away with another woman. During the time of Romanticism Catholic views were not held in high esteem as before. Men had several wives, people were expressively atheist, and women threw themselves at men.

Much of the art work done after the Enlightenment complimented the views on Romanticism. Famous artists took their work to the next level and improved on the work of those before them. Now instead of boring dreary colors, paintings were vibrant with lots of color and action. Instead of just one person, there were several colorful and active people in paintings. These paintings, like the one with the ship at sea during the sunset summarized the period of Romanticism. This was a step toward exploring nature and getting away from religious people and biblical paintings. More people were interested in what was happening around them instead of the Bible. The great patrons were no longer directly from the clergy and did not commission religious paintings.

Music was also big during the Romantics. Great musicians like Beethoven composed such great compositions that nothing could be compared to them even to this day. They spoke directly to a person’s soul and how they felt. He composed music without lyrics and was able to touch people through his harmonies and just the sound produced that made people shiver. Some people say that the eyes are a pathway to the soul but the ears are as well. For those who listen to Beethoven know just how great his music is compared to all the rest. This music did not destroy the relationship with God, but it did not build it up either. It allowed people to express the natural feelings they felt and let their emotions out.

Moving from the Enlightenment to Romanticism challenged the views many people had of the natural world and in essence destroyed their relationship with God. They no longer created paintings for religious purposes, composed music, and several people became atheist. It was during this time that people’s true feelings were embraced and expressed through works of art such as poems, music, and paintings. In these various ways, people forgot about God and went their own way and discovered the natural world. This lead the way for an even greater tolerance of religious views and even atheism. People gradually forgot about Catholic ideas and started to venerate people and other objects. As seen by Lord Byron, he became the first celebrity and many women wanted him. Because of the move to Romanticism, the relationship between God and the individual gradually deteriorated throughout Europe.