But it is also related to the background of that period.
First, the background
Political and economic foundation
The French bourgeois revolution of 1789 overthrew feudal rule and established bourgeois regime, which inspired many European countries to accelerate the process of anti-feudalism. But what happened after the revolution was not what people expected. In France, although the political status of the bourgeoisie has been established and capitalism has developed rapidly, its political form and political system have changed frequently for a long time, and the social status of all walks of life has also changed many times. Therefore, social contradictions are extremely complicated and acute; In Britain, the contradiction between industrial bourgeoisie, financial bourgeoisie and land aristocracy, and the contradiction between labor and capital are increasingly prominent; In Germany, capitalism has developed because of the weakness of the bourgeoisie, but the whole country is still in a state of division and backwardness; In Russia, the ruling class brutally exploited and oppressed the people at home, expanded abroad, and suppressed the French Revolution and the European bourgeois revolution. The domestic peasant revolution is surging, and the revolutionary aristocrats also held an uprising in1February ... The European reality after the French Revolution caused widespread disappointment, and romanticism came into being.
(B) Ideological and theoretical basis
German classical philosophy and utopian socialism are also closely related to romantic literature. At that time, the philosophy of Kant, Fichte, Schelling and Hegel in Germany was very popular. They exaggerate people's subjective initiative and emphasize genius, inspiration, rational freedom and spiritual strength, which has a certain influence on romanticism's emphasis on subjective spirit and personal feelings. In addition, Saint-Simon, Fourier, Owen and other utopian socialists profoundly exposed the drawbacks of the capitalist system, but they did not advocate political struggle. They fantasize that social struggle will be replaced by class reconciliation and class mutual love, class opposition will be eliminated, and finally the liberation of all mankind will be realized. Their thoughts provide an ideological basis for romanticism to deny reality and look forward to the future.
(3) literary foundation
Romanticism has a solid literary foundation. Rousseau, a French writer, advocated nature, personality liberation, free imagination and frank expression, and wrote the famous novel New Love for Lois. English sentimental literature emphasizes the power of emotion, sympathizes with the poverty of farmers, curses those who show off their family and power, and sympathizes with others. Goethe in Germany put forward the concept of "classical poetry and romantic poetry", believing that the fundamental difference between classical poetry and romantic poetry is objective and subjective, while Schiller also expounded that the difference between "simple poetry" (classicism) and "sentimental poetry" (romanticism) lies in "imitating the reality as perfectly as possible" and "improving the reality to the ideal" ... all of these have had an important impact on the formation of romanticism.
Second, the main features
Romanticism, as a school of poetry with the same political and economic basis, ideological and theoretical basis and literary basis, has the following characteristics:
(1) Pay attention to expressing subjective ideals and personal feelings.
Hegel once said: "The real content of romantic art is absolute inner life, and the corresponding form is spiritual subjectivity, that is, the subject's understanding of his independence and freedom." Romantic writers, dissatisfied with reality, regard lofty spiritual life as a powerful weapon against vulgar material life, so they pay attention to expressing their personal feelings and experiences to express their subjective ideals. When they create, they often write according to their inner feelings rather than objective reality. According to zhukovsky, romantic poets look at life through the prism of their own mind. Therefore, they feel that the rationality advocated by classicism is a constraint on poetry creation, so they put emotion, imagination and creative freedom in the first place, emphasizing that "poetry is a natural expression of strong emotions" (Wordsworth) and "exploration of ideal truth" (George? Sang).
(2) Praise nature and curse urban civilization.
One of the results of capitalist development of material civilization is the industrialization of cities, which makes romanticism feel very disgusted. They responded to Rousseau's idea of "returning to nature", compared the ugliness of reality with the beauty of nature, and tried their best to eulogize the magic and magnificence of nature. In their eyes, nature is an omnipresent God and a spiritual refuge, so it often appears as a symbol of the spirit, pinning romantic writers' curses on reality and yearning for freedom, such as Pushkin's To the Sea and Byron's Childe? Haller's Travels is one of the outstanding representatives.
(C) pay attention to folk literature
Romantic writers believe that folk literature is not polluted by urban civilization and inherits the cultural traditions of all ethnic groups. It has the characteristics of rich imagination, sincere feelings, simple language, easy to understand and free form, which is loved by the broad masses and is also conducive to awakening the oppressed nation. Therefore, they have a great interest in folk songs and folklore, and learn from them in content and form, which has played a positive role in promoting the romantic movement.
(D) the pursuit of surprise artistic effect
Romantic writers, in order to break the rigidity and dullness of classical literature, like to choose ancient or exotic themes, describe bizarre plots by means of contrast, exaggeration and coincidence, and create extraordinary characters to achieve amazing artistic effects. This is most obvious in Hugo's creation.
Third, the romantic literature of various countries.
German literature
Romantic literature first appeared in Germany at the end of 18. German romantic literature is generally divided into three stages: early romanticism, middle romanticism and late romanticism.
1789, August, the representative figure of early romanticism in Germany? William? Schlegel and his brother Friedrich? Schlegel co-published the magazine Athena Temple in Berlin to publicize the theoretical program of romanticism, thus forming a literary center with them as the core, which is called early romanticism (or Jena School) in history. They advocate the liberation of individuality and the freedom of creation, and advocate that "poets should do whatever they want and not be bound by any narrow laws."
Novalis (1772— 180 1), another important writer of early romanticism, was originally named Friedrich? Leo Polder? Seal? Hardenbergh is the main practitioner of romanticism. His masterpiece Ode to the Night (1800) is divided into six chapters, including some poems and prose fragments, which were written after his beloved fiancee and his beloved brother died almost at the same time. The poet is caught in a spiritual crisis and can only seek the realm of ideal and beauty in subjective fantasy.
1805, Napoleon's army occupied Germany, and some romantics were very concerned about the fate of the nation. They gathered in Heidelberg, jointly published Hermit Newspaper, and devoted themselves to the collection, collation and research of folk literature, and were called late romantics (or Heidelberg School). The main representatives of romantic poets in the later period are Arnim (1781-1831), brentano (1778- 1842) and Brothers Grimm. Anim and brentano, together with the editor, wrote a collection of folk songs, The Boy's Magic Horn. Jacob. Green and William? Both brothers Grimm have written fairy tales about children and families, which have made great contributions to the inheritance and development of national culture.
Hoffman, Chamik and Heine are the representatives of late romanticism. Hoffman's works are imaginative, good at psychoanalysis, mysterious and grotesque. Many later writers, such as Nikolai Nikolai Gogol, Dostoevsky and Ellen? Poe, Baudelaire and others have all been influenced by him. Shacks Jr., the masterpiece, tells the story of an ugly dwarf who swindles around with three magic hairs and finally collapses, making a sharp satire on the German reality at that time.
Chamik is both a poet and a writer. His masterpiece novella Peter? The Adventures of Schlemmett (also translated as The Story of the Shadow) is about poor citizen Peter? Schlemmer sold his shadow to the devil, in exchange for the happiness bag that can get wealth. As a result, instead of happiness, he caused a lot of trouble. Finally, he threw away the happiness bag, got a pair of magic shoes, and found real happiness in studying nature.
Heine also embarked on the road of creation under the influence of romanticism. He was an important poet in the period when German poetry turned from romanticism to realism in the first half of19th century. His early poems were mainly lyric poems, represented by songji, which mainly described the joy and pain brought by love and the dissatisfaction with society. He has sincere feelings, beautiful artistic conception and strong romantic color. Many lyric poems have been set into songs by composers and widely sung all over the world, such as Riding on Singing Wings, Lorelei, You Are Like a Flower, etc. The political poem "Germany, a Fairy Tale in Winter" (1844) is Heine's most important work, which expresses what the poet saw and heard in Hamburg in the form of dreams, exposes and satirizes Germany's autocratic system, and also expresses hope for the future of mankind.
English literature
English romantic literature came into being at the end of 18, and its main achievements are reflected in poetry. The pioneers were Burns and Blake. The representatives of the first generation of romanticism are Hunan poets Wordsworth (1770- 1850), Coleridge (1772- 1834) and Southey (1774-1). They believe that capitalist urban civilization destroys human nature, resulting in intrigue and selfishness. Only by returning to nature can we restore the simple relationship between people and make the society develop healthily. Therefore, they live in seclusion in the lake area of northwest England, eulogizing ordinary and simple rural life and natural scenery, and depicting mysterious and bizarre plots and strange scenery. From 65438 to 0798, Wordsworth and Coleridge jointly published Lyric Songs, which marked the maturity of Wordsworth's poetry creation. When the book was reprinted in 1880, Wordsworth wrote a preface and systematically expounded their views on poetry. This collection of poems and this preface initiated a new era of romanticism from poetry practice to poetry theory in the history of English literature. In the preface, Wordsworth thinks that "all good poems are natural expressions of strong feelings", but such feelings are "recalled in peace". The content of poetry should be "events and scenes in ordinary life", and ordinary things should be given "imaginative colors" with the language of poetry. A poet should be "the strongest defender, supporter and defender of human nature, spreading the friendship of the people wherever he goes".
Wordsworth put his theory into practice in his poetry creation. Most of his poems praise nature, with plain language, fresh and profound artistic conception and vivid and touching images. Representative works mainly include tintern abbey Fu, Overture, Immortal Signboard, Lonely Harvester, Du Fu and so on.
Coleridge's poems are few, mainly the long poems Ode to the Ancient Ship, Christabel and Kublai Khan, which are characterized by distinct rhythm, ups and downs of emotions, rich imagination and supernatural mystery. Ode to the Ancient Ship (also translated as Song of the Old Sailor) is the only complete long poem left by Coleridge. In the poem, three young people were invited to the wedding, and one of them was dragged by an old sailor on the way to listen to his sailing experience. The old sailor said that his ship sailed smoothly at first, but then it met with fog and heavy snow, and an albatross brought them peace. However, the old sailor shot the lucky bird under an inexplicable impulse, so nature began to punish them. The south wind blew the boat to the equator and trapped everyone on board. At this time, the old sailor saw the wreckage of a ship coming. Two women were gambling on dice. One was "Death". As a result, "Born from Death" won, and she wanted to get off the old sailor, so all the other sailors died, but he survived. The old sailor was moved by God's kindness and blessed this beautiful and happy creature. When he woke up, he found that dew and rain had fallen, and his dead companion could suddenly stand up and operate, and the boat went forward smoothly. However, after many twists and turns, the process of atonement is over. Finally, the old sailor warned the wedding guests: "Love all life, no matter how big or small, prayer will be effective." Hearing this, the young man had no intention to eat, and he became "more serious and smarter". This long poem has a profound theme, which inspires readers in morality, religion, art, psychology and environmental protection.
18 17, Coleridge published a theoretical work on romantic literature, Literary Career. In this book, he emphasized the role of imagination and thought that "the genius of poetry takes conscience as the body, fantasy as the clothing, action as the life and imagination as the soul." The difference between imagination and fantasy is that "imagination is the vitality and original material resources of all human perceptions" and it is a kind of re-creation, while "fantasy is actually just a memory that has got rid of the constraints of time and space. "Good poets have imagination, ordinary poets have only fantasy. These theories have played an important role in promoting the development of British romanticism.
The representatives of the second generation of English romantic poetry are Byron (1788- 1824), Shelley (1792- 1822) and Keats (1795-1822).
Percy. Bishop. Shelley is an outstanding English romantic poet. He has a rebellious spirit and pursues ideals and truth all his life. His poems are simple in language, rich in imagination, harmonious in rhyme and strong in lyricism. Most of them are about nature, love and political freedom. In his poems, he pursues pure and noble love, speaks for the oppressed, supports the women's liberation movement, and yearns for an ideal society full of light and freedom. Representative works mainly include ode to the west wind, Lark, Queen Mabu and Islamic Uprising. And the liberation of Prometheus can best represent his thoughts. The poem is divided into four acts, and it is written that Prometheus, who stole fire for mankind, was punished by Jupiter and tied to the cliff in the Caucasus. Later, Pluto defeated Jupiter, Hercules let Prometheus go, and the whole world was bathed in the dawn of love. Shelley also made great achievements in romanticism. His literary thoughts are mainly reflected in the preface of Islamic Uprising, Prometheus Liberated, Chyi Chin and Debate on Poems (182 1), which occupies a place in the history of western literary theory.
Keats (1795- 182 1) is one of the most outstanding romantic poets in Britain. He has bourgeois democratic thoughts, yearns for ancient Greek culture, and dreams of seeking comfort in an eternal and beautiful world. His poems are vivid, imaginative, colorful and three-dimensional, permeated with the love of freedom and the pursuit of true beauty. His representative works include Ode to an Ancient Greek Weng, Ode to a Nightingale and Ode to Autumn. It shows the poet's unique feelings about nature and his yearning for beauty. Tennyson, Browning, Wilde and Imagist poets in the 20th century were all influenced by Keats' poems, and China modern poets Xu Zhimo and Wen Yiduo were also his followers.
Scott (1771-1832) is an important poet in The Romantic Period and the founder of European historical novels. Like Burns, he loves Scottish folk literature. From 1802 to 1803, he published three volumes of Scottish border folk songs. His long narrative poems are mainly about Scottish historical events and folklore, and the representative figure is Marmion (1808). His historical novels are full of twists and turns, vivid dialogues between characters, organic combination of historical materials and folklore, and integration of romanticism and realism, which have influenced many later writers, such as Thackeray, Dickens, Hugo, Balzac, Pushkin and Tolstoy. The representative works are Ivanhoe (18 19) and Davard (1823).
(3) French literature
French romanticism was formed around 1820. Its pioneers were chateaubriand and Madame de Starr. Chateaubriand took English lake poets as his teachers, and Madame de Starr took German literature as a model, respectively introducing English and German romanticism into France. Under the influence of German and British romantic literature, French romantic literature has made outstanding achievements.
The appearance of chateaubriand's novella Adala (180 1) marks the beginning of French romantic literature. Adala, the heroine in the novel, falls in love with the young Shakeda, but because Adala is a Christian and Shakeda is a heretic, they can't be married. Finally, in order not to betray God, Adala committed suicide by taking poison. Before she died, she told her lover that she would convert to Christianity in the future and agreed to meet in heaven after death. His other novella, Renee, is a sequel to Adala. It is written that the young French aristocrat Rene died at birth, and his family didn't like him. Only his sister Amelia lives with him. Later, my sister insisted on becoming a monk. When Rene sent her to the monastery, she told her true feelings: it turned out that she had love for her brother, so they had to break up. From then on, Rene was alone, lonely and melancholy, wandering around, crossing the ocean, fleeing to the virgin forests of America to find comfort, and finally found a spiritual home in Christianity. After this work was published, it had a great influence. Melancholy is called René' s "disease of the century", so René is the first romantic "hero" image in European literature that shows the characteristics of "disease of the century".
Madame Starr's works on literature (1800) and Germany (18 13) provide the theoretical basis for French romanticism. In her two works, she analyzed the relationship between literature and social environment, established the literary criticism method of sociology, and started the tradition of French positivism literary criticism. She clearly divided European literature into two categories: southern literature and northern literature: Greek, Italian and Spanish literature and French literature in Louis XIV's era belonged to southern literature; The literature of Britain, Germany, Denmark and Sweden are all included in the northern literature. Here, southern literature and northern literature appear as synonyms of classical literature and romantic literature. By comparing the two kinds of literature, she clearly praised the northern literature as "local literature", "endless source of inspiration" and "the only literature that can grow and be constantly updated", which played a role in fueling the French romanticism's final victory over classicism and its entry into the historical stage. Her two autobiographical novels, Delphine (1802) and Corinna (1807), describe the tragic fate of a talented woman who pursues personality liberation and love happiness and is swallowed up by social prejudice, which is full of romanticism and represents the highest achievement of her novel creation.
Alfons? De? Lamartin (1790— 1869) is good at writing about love and nature. His Collection of Meditations (1820) is the first work of French romantic poetry. Another poet Alfred? De? Winnie the Pooh (1797— 1863) is famous for writing philosophical poems. His Ancient and Modern Poems (1826-1837) and Destiny Collection (1864) advocate the spirit of being aloof and tenacious, and show their dissatisfaction with reality and sympathy for others. In his later poems, longing for the future can be seen everywhere.
Hugo is the leader of French romantic literature and the most outstanding romantic poet, dramatist and novelist. His Preface to Cromwell (1827) became the theoretical program of romanticism, and the success of his drama Onani marked the victory of romanticism over classicism. (See special chapter for details)
George? Sang is an outstanding romantic novelist. She has rich feelings, loves nature and likes to observe the world around her with idealistic eyes. Especially after accepting the idea of utopian socialism, her novels are full of poetry and bright colors. His main works are: Kang Luo (1842- 1843) and Anji.
(4) Russian literature
/kloc-at the beginning of the 0/9th century, influenced and promoted by romanticism in western Europe, Russian romantic literature came into being. Zhukovsky, the founder of Russian romantic poetry, is known as the first lyric poet in Russia. Influenced by sentimentalism, his poetry is full of mystery and superb artistic skills, which plays an important role in the innovation of Russian poetry form and meter and the rise of romantic literature. The Decemberists poets and Pushkin led Russian romantic literature to the road of serving the people's liberation movement, and created a large number of political lyric poems full of revolutionary passion, patriotism and democracy. Their works draw nutrition from folk songs, and often express their feelings through historical figures and folklore, eulogizing the ideal of anti-autocracy and fighting for freedom. In 1930s, lermontov inherited the tradition of romantic poetry and wrote a series of poems condemning tyranny and pursuing individual liberation, such as the long narrative poems Monk (1839) and Devil (1829- 184 1). In the novel Contemporary Heroes, he created the second redundant figure Bi Qiaolin after onegin.
Eastern European literature
Romantic literature, which first appeared in Germany, Britain and France, quickly spread to European countries, and finally formed a magnificent trend of literary thoughts all over Europe. In Eastern Europe, the rise of romanticism is closely related to the vigorous national rejuvenation and national liberation movement at the beginning of19th century, showing strong patriotism and distinctive national color, and romantic literature represented by Polish poet Mis Kevic and Hungarian poet Petofi appeared. Their poems not only have a distinct ideological tendency of patriotism and democracy, but also are full of national characteristics and folk literature colors, with a strong flavor of life and strong lyricism, which is unique in European romantic literature. The third part of Mitzi Kevic's long poem "Sacrifice to the Ancestor" criticizes the bloody slaughter of the Tsar invaders, exposes the ugly face of Polish aristocrats who betray the motherland and seek glory, and praises the patriots' tenacious fighting spirit. Petofi's narrative poem The Warrior of Janos created an ideal hero and reflected the hopes and demands of the Hungarian people. Freedom and Love is the poet's strongest praise for freedom, which has been handed down from generation to generation among people all over the world.