ENG202Y1 Lecture 2: Blake + Coleridge
Document Summary
Philosophical + aesthetic movement flourished in germany + england between 1780 . 1840: mode of vision + imagination (alternative to modernism or classicism) Refers to self-described poetic revolutionaries who, in reaction to early 18th c neoclassicism + rationality, celebrates origins of human creativity in individual imagination, inspired by memories of childhood + experiences of transcendence in nature. Suspicious of society + rejects pursuit of health + status, romantics valued the authenticity of socially marginal. Breakdown of medieval preconceptions -> individual = source of meaning, knowledge, art, not god. Imagines how society would look outside of it -> eg. paintings of london in ruins. Politics should reflect the bringing-together of everyone"s individual will -> general. > robespierre uses it to justify the reign of terror. When human beings grow up -> when they stop looking for authority, truth, etc. in other ppl, and look to themselves instead. Sapere aude -> have courage to use your own understanding .
