Enlightenment Vs. Romanticism;
or,
The Head Vs. The Heart
We are all familiar with the proverbial battle between and the heart, logic and emotion, science and art. Well, this struggle also epitomized the differences between the Enlightenment (or Neoclassical) Era and the Romantic Period. Now, I don't mean romantic period like the summer fling you might have had last year when you stayed out until ten o'clock ('those summer nights...") but rather capital "R" Romantic, designating the philosophy and time period, instead of an adjective you hope will apply to whomever you are crushing on.
Some of the differences between the schools are fairly obvious and can be related to variances in viewpoints today, as well. Following on the heels of the Renaissance, the rebirth of Western civilization after the Dark Ages, the Enlightenment valued science, logic, and reason as a means of conquering nature and progressing toward the more industrialized world we know today. Even the arts were concerned with intellectual, metaphysical subjects, rather than an outpouring of emotion. Architecture, engineering, and landscape design were heavily focused on symmetry, sharp angles, and neat patterns. In short, the Enlightenment wanted to overlay a grid on nature.
The Romantic movement, on the other hand, emerged as a sort of counter-culture to the ideals of the Enlightenment. In many ways, the Romantics were similar to the Beat generation of the 1950s and the hippies of the 1960s. Some the main concerns of the Romantics were the increasing pace of life, pollution, working conditions, and disconnect from nature resulting from the Industrial Revolution. And they expressed their discontent with the Enlightenment ideology primarily through poetry (although the pinnacle of Romantic literature is, arguably, a novel: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein). The Romantics were also big on the individual experience, as opposed to the collective, experiencing awe in nature, and (not surprisingly) emotion. Rather than a neat and tidy English garden, they preferred ruins and less-manicured "wild" nature in their back yards, reflecting their resistance to the notion of "taming" or controlling the natural world.
Source: The Language of Literature: British Literature. McDougal Littell, 2008.
Here are a few videos delineating some of these differences in a little more detail:
Some of the differences between the schools are fairly obvious and can be related to variances in viewpoints today, as well. Following on the heels of the Renaissance, the rebirth of Western civilization after the Dark Ages, the Enlightenment valued science, logic, and reason as a means of conquering nature and progressing toward the more industrialized world we know today. Even the arts were concerned with intellectual, metaphysical subjects, rather than an outpouring of emotion. Architecture, engineering, and landscape design were heavily focused on symmetry, sharp angles, and neat patterns. In short, the Enlightenment wanted to overlay a grid on nature.
The Romantic movement, on the other hand, emerged as a sort of counter-culture to the ideals of the Enlightenment. In many ways, the Romantics were similar to the Beat generation of the 1950s and the hippies of the 1960s. Some the main concerns of the Romantics were the increasing pace of life, pollution, working conditions, and disconnect from nature resulting from the Industrial Revolution. And they expressed their discontent with the Enlightenment ideology primarily through poetry (although the pinnacle of Romantic literature is, arguably, a novel: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein). The Romantics were also big on the individual experience, as opposed to the collective, experiencing awe in nature, and (not surprisingly) emotion. Rather than a neat and tidy English garden, they preferred ruins and less-manicured "wild" nature in their back yards, reflecting their resistance to the notion of "taming" or controlling the natural world.
Source: The Language of Literature: British Literature. McDougal Littell, 2008.
Here are a few videos delineating some of these differences in a little more detail:
Arcadia
Arcadia is a play set in a Derbyshire country estate in both 1809 and 1812, by Tom stoppard. This play compares and examines how order and disorder, past and present, and certainty and uncertainty. This play is a perfect example of romanticism vs. enlightenment, with it being a contrast between aspects of enlightenment such as order and romanticism such as disorder. Arcadia isn’t only a play, it is a geographical place and has a painting referring to it. The geographical area called Arcadia is named after the mythological place Arcadia. Which was a utopia that could be seen as an enlightenment heavy place, but this mythical place also has imperfections such as death which is more on the romantic side. The painting of Arcadia displays well dressed people in a luscious landscape at a tomb, which is a visual example of Arcadia being a utopia with the imperfection of death represented by the tomb. Both the mythical Arcadia and painting of Arcadia are representations of the contrast between romanticism and enlightenment and because of this Arcadia is the perfect name for the play, because the play is also a comparison with romanticism and enlightenment.
“The Arcadian Shepherds.” Artble, 19 July 2017, https://www.artble.com/artists/nicolas_poussin/paintings/the_arcadian_shepherds.
Spielman, Patrick E. Gluing & Clamping: A Woodworker's Handbook. Sterling Pub. Co., 1986.
“The Arcadian Shepherds.” Artble, 19 July 2017, https://www.artble.com/artists/nicolas_poussin/paintings/the_arcadian_shepherds.
Spielman, Patrick E. Gluing & Clamping: A Woodworker's Handbook. Sterling Pub. Co., 1986.
Isaac Newton
Issac Newton was born in Woolsthorpe, England in 1643. He received an education at Cambridge University allowing him to develop his theories on calculus, celestial mechanics, and light. His research led him to publish a work called “Principia” which established the universal laws of motion and gravity. He also later published a book called “Optics”, which discussed the properties of light and his experimentation on the topic. Sir Issac Newton is probably known most for his three laws of motion.
Newtons laws of motion
Sources:
https://www1.grc.nasa.gov/beginners-guide-to-aeronautics/newtons-laws-of-motion/
https://www.history.com/topics/inventions/isaac-newton
Newtons laws of motion
- Newton’s first law states that every object will remain at rest or in uniform motion in a straight line unless compelled to change its state by the action of an external force. This tendency to resist changes in a state of motion is inertia
- His second law defines a force to be equal to change in momentum (mass times velocity) per change in time. Momentum is defined to be the mass m of object times its velocity V.
- His third law states that for every action (force) in nature there is an equal and opposite reaction. If object A exerts a force on object B, object B also exerts an equal and opposite force on object A. In other words, forces result from interactions.
Sources:
https://www1.grc.nasa.gov/beginners-guide-to-aeronautics/newtons-laws-of-motion/
https://www.history.com/topics/inventions/isaac-newton
Euclid - The Father of Geometry
Basic chapter focuses: 1-4 plane geometry 1- definitions and 10 initial assumptions; triangles; parallelograms; Pythagorean Theorem 2- geometric algebra 3- properties of circles 4- construction of regular polygons (pentagon in particular) 5- ratios and proportions, solution to problem of irrational numbers, formed foundation of the geometric theory of numbers 6- applies ratios to plane geometry and the “application of areas” to solve quadratic problems geometrically 7-9 number theory 7- Euclidean Algorithm 8- geometric sequences 9- proves infinite number of primes 10- comprises ¼ of The Elements 11-13 three dimensional figures 11- intersections of planes and lines 12- method of exhaustion 13- construction of the 5 regular Platonic solids |
|
Taisbak, Christian. “Euclid - Renditions of the Elements.” Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Euclid-Greek-mathematician. Accessed 8 November 2021.
O’Connor and Robertson. “Euclid of Alexandria.” MacTutor, January 1999, https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Euclid/. Accessed 8 November 2021.
Image: (https://www.maa.org/press/periodicals/convergence/mathematical-treasure-euclids-elements-in-both-greek-and-latin)
O’Connor and Robertson. “Euclid of Alexandria.” MacTutor, January 1999, https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Euclid/. Accessed 8 November 2021.
Image: (https://www.maa.org/press/periodicals/convergence/mathematical-treasure-euclids-elements-in-both-greek-and-latin)
Youtube: 0:00 - 2:24
Lord Byron
On January 22 of 1788, George Gordon Noel Byron was born to the single mother, Catherine Gordon. Byron was raised in an unstable home, constantly questioning his emotional mother’s every move. Byron’s birth defect of a clubbed foot, often made this relationship more tense and strained. “From his Presbyterian nurse Byron developed a lifelong love for the Bible and an abiding fascination with the Calvinist doctrines of innate evil and predestined salvation.” (Source 1). In 1798, Byron gained the title “Lord” through the passing of his great-uncle. Shorty after this, Byron began his schooling; attending the Harrow School from 1801-1805 and Trinity College, Cambridge from 1805 to 1808. Byron’s love for writing and oral display of poetry became very obvious and his first book, Fugitive Pieces, was printed and distributed in 1906. A new version was published in 1907 titled Poems on Various Occasions. Byron’s poetry was a reflection of the societal happenings all around him. His poetry reflected the newfound romanticism, and Byron was a mirror of this himself. Byron was openly bisexual, fashionable, expressive, and the very image of a romanticist. His lifestyle was often questioned by those around him, including suspicion of an incest relationship with his half sister, Augusta resulting in a child. By the time he died in 1824, it is guessed that Lord Byron published about 275 poems.
1. “History - Lord Byron.” BBC, BBC, https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/byron_lord.shtml.
Date Accessed: 09 November 2021
2. “Lord Byron (George Gordon).” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/lord-byron.
Date Accessed: 09 November 2021
3. McLean, Amy. “Complete List of Lord Byron's Poetry, 1807-1824.” Amy McLean, 1 Jan. 1970, https://mcleanamy.blogspot.com/2011/09/complete-list-of-lord-byrons-poetry.html.
Date Accessed: 09 November 202
Date Accessed: 09 November 2021
2. “Lord Byron (George Gordon).” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/lord-byron.
Date Accessed: 09 November 2021
3. McLean, Amy. “Complete List of Lord Byron's Poetry, 1807-1824.” Amy McLean, 1 Jan. 1970, https://mcleanamy.blogspot.com/2011/09/complete-list-of-lord-byrons-poetry.html.
Date Accessed: 09 November 202
