ENGL 2210 World Literature II

Romanticism: Study Guide

1. Describe some of the main differences between the Romantic and the Enlightenment view.
2. What are some 3-4 things that Romanticism emphasizes?
3. Reason vs feelings as the guide to certainty. Which one should be the guide, according to the Romantics? Why?
4. What was the Romantic view of traditional authority?
5. Innocence (youth)vs experience (old age) as a path to knowledge.
6. Radical overturning of all social and political institutions.
7. The idea of a Revolution as a Romantic idea. In what ways can the American and French Revolution be considered as outcomes of Romantic ideals?
8. Emphasis on individual and national uniqueness.
9. Reason vs feeling as a way to knowledge.
10. Who was Immanuel Kant and what was his contribution to Romanticism?
11. Authority located in the self rather than in society. Describe the romantic view of the relationship between the individual and society.
12. Locate authority in the self, rather than in society.
13. Absolute uniqueness of the self.
14. Essential goodness of human nature. Compare to the religious view.
15. Religious and social repressiveness was the enemy.
16. Emphasis on inner (psychic) experiences.
17. Women, children and "primitive" people have higher capacity to feel and express emotions.
18. What role did the soul play?
19. Emphasis on pleasurable emotions.
20. What was the role of imagination?
21. What was the Romantic view of nature and the primitive? Compare to the Enlightenment view. Rational vs irrational view.
22. Does our world have more tendencies of the Enlightenment or the Romantic view of the world? How so?

• Introduction to Romanticism. Page at Washington State University.
• Introduction to Romanticism. Page at Brooklyn College.