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dancing phalanges:

--- Quote from: elysepopplewell on August 08, 2017, 11:01:31 pm ---Heya! I regret I have to look at this through the eyes of an ATB student, but the ways of thinking modules aren't so varied in what's expected.

Spoiler'The Spirit of Individualism is a celebration of the self'
To what extent does this statement reflect your understanding of Romanticism?

The Romantic Movement was highly interested in the celebration of the individual as it reacted against social, political and economic developments in society that threatened the creative power of the individual. Nice! The growth of the Industrial Revolution made human beings replaceable parts in a system and the strict rules of the Enlightenment period limited the expression of unrestrained emotions. Therefore, in response, the Romantics underlined the importance of a personal relationship with nature and a trust in emotion and subjective experience. I've learned a whole lot about romanticism so far! This celebration of the individual is heavily featured in Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s ‘Lime Tree Bower My Prison’, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, William Blake’s ‘The Chimney Sweeper’ and Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights. However, while the Romantics treasured the imaginative genius of the individual, Shelley’s Frankenstein also warns against the dangers of the ‘Romantic overreacher’. Therefore, whilst Romanticism was greatly influenced by the spirit of individualism, it also acknowledged the potential issues that may arise if the individual is given too much freedom. Wonderful!

The works of Coleridge, belonging to the “first wave” of Romanticism, reveal his pantheistic view of nature, and his belief in the power of the imagination to liberate, enlighten and transform the individual. This is evident in his conversational poem This Lime Tree Bower My Prison. Here, Coleridge celebrates the ability of the individual imagination to liberate the individual and achieve a closer connection between man and God. This mental illumination is chronicled primarily through the persona’s change in tone as the poem progresses. The first stanza begins with the negative connotations of “prison” and “must” in “here must I remain”, reflecting the persona’s melancholy and unwillingness to remain in his surroundings. Not 100% on board with the way you've quoted "prison" and "must" but then only "must" is in the quote that comes after? Just not 100% clear. However, Coleridge expresses the transformative powers of the imagination in experiencing the sublimity of nature when he describes the grandeur of “the wide wide Heaven” and “hues as veil the Almighty Spirit.” Furthermore, Coleridge continues to profess that nature “ne’er deserts the wise and pure” disclosing the role of nature as the source of true wisdom, rather than science and reason as previously believed in the Neo-Classic era. In this sense, Coleridge celebrated the Romantic belief in the power of the individual imagination within the natural world. Wonderful - exceptionally well rounded article.

The concept of the Romantic individual is one captured in the ‘heroic overreacher’ based on figures such as Napoleon, the mythical Prometheus and Paradise Lost’s Satan, who embodied the Romantic quest for knowledge and sense of tragic heroism. Similarly, the Romantic idealism that Shelley presents is based upon the faith in men’s divine and creative powers. Shelley, however, subverts this construct by foreshadowing the dangers of humanity’s hubris through her representation of the Romantic ‘overreacher’ Victor Frankenstein. Following the outburst of the French Revolution, a belief in divine creative activity emerged, to which Dr. Frankenstein is guilty of when professing “an eager desire to learn . . . the secrets of heaven and earth.” While Victor is highly Romantic in the sense that he personifies the belief in Romantic idealism and imagination, his ignorance ultimately separates him from the Romantic’s respect for the power of nature and humanity’s limits of control over it. Once his creature begins to murder Victor realises “a panic on seeing the pale yellow light fill the chamber.” Shelley transforms the symbolism of light in the Enlightenment, being civilised knowledge into a Gothic Romantic representation of the disturbing knowledge Victor is now constrained by.  Here, Shelley is warning the dangers of the spirit of individualism in the form of the overreaching ambition of the Romantics. 

Conversely, William Blake’s ‘The Chimney Sweeper’ is a celebration of the self as Blake protests against the exploitation of the individual within Industrial England. Blake’s poem appeared in Songs of Innocence in 1789, the year which marked the outburst of the French Revolution, revealing his revolutionary attitude towards the treatment of chimney sweepers, with the 1788 Chimney Sweepers Act yet to bring any great change to their conditions. Blake’s work intellectually challenged the responder as it mirrors the ways of thinking put forward by philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau in Emile (1762). Rousseau argues that innocence is a child’s essential quality, which is menaced by social institutions such as family and the state. The exploitation of the children is established by Blake through the line “in soot I sleep” which displays the bleak hope of escape from the inhumane conditions of child labour. The tale of “little Tom Dacre” is introduced by Blake to give a sense of identity to the child sweeper, thus also emphasising to the audience his individuality, a key aspect of the Romantic way of thinking. This is really good the way you've embedded the idea of the individual in the middle. It's too often that people just top and tail their paragraph with it (across all subjects with essays!)Yet, this is abruptly destroyed through the narrator’s imitation of an adult, when advising Tom that it is all for the best, so “soot cannot spoil your white hair.” The juxtaposition between black and white contrasts the angelic nature of childhood with the darkness of the soot, and thereby, alluding to the malevolence of those who exploit him, namely adults. The power of the condition of innocence, however, is powerfully symbolised by Blake through Tom’s dream where they are “set free” to run over “a green plain.” To this extent, Blake expressed the desire of English Romantic intellectuals for a yearning for the pre-industrial past and reaction to the perversion of individual spirit as a result of the modern industrial world.

Romantic writers also challenged the constraints of the social hierarchy and moral code of the Enlightenment period on the individual, an idea expressed in Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights. Through characterisation, Brontë argues the Romantic belief that nature, even in its most frightening and uncontrollable state, is superior to civilisation. The construct of civilisation as a corrupting force on the spirit of the individual is also reflected in Rousseau’s Discourse on Inequality (1754). Nice engagement! Rousseau taught that men would be free in the state of nature and that emotion, when not distorted by the unnatural limitations of civilisation, is a great source of wisdom. Read this sentence back - "is a great sense of wisdom" doesn't make sense. The way I realise is that when you take out the comma splice out, so the things between the commas, you realise it doesn't make sense to read it through. I can't suggest how to fix it because I don't know what you're trying to say with the end bit unfortunately! It's not a huge thing, just a one-off slip. Bronte represents Rousseau’s way of thinking through the dichotomy of Catherine and Edgar’s values. The novel’s very name – Wuthering Heights, is closely associated with a powerful, stormy wind, and so are its inhabitants. For instance, when Heathcliff overhears Catherine saying that marriage with him will “degrade” her, she runs out of the house and experiences a raging storm. The violent thunder and rain of the storm are symbolic of Catherine’s own conflicted state as well as her passionate feelings for Heathcliff. In contrast, the uncontrollable Wuthering Heights is juxtaposed by Thrushcross Grange, a “splendid place carpeted with crimson.” Compared with Catherine’s emotional plea for Heathcliff in the storm, Edgar’s reaction to the dying Catherine represents the rational way of thinking present during the Enlightenment Period. Her cries for help remain unheard as instead, Edgar “is continually among his books”, which are emblematic of civilisation. Splendid! Wonderful paragraph.

In addition, the characterisation of Heathcliff appears to align with Rousseau’s idea of the Noble Savage. While Rousseau never actually used the phrase, the wildness of Heathcliff’s character connects with Rousseau’s view that the Noble Savage stands in direct opposition to the man of culture. For instance, after Catherine’s death, Heathcliff “howled, not like a man, but like a savage beast”, emphasising that even after Heathcliff has acquired manners and appears to be cultivated, he is still inseparably linked with the natural world. Catherine’s own desire to return to her “savage” self on the moors leads her to the conclusion that death is the only way she can escape the entrapment of civilised life. Therefore, through characterisation, Emily Bronte celebrates the individual emotion over reason as well as the importance of a deep union with nature.

Thus, the Romantic Movement was deeply infused with an interest in celebrating intense individualism and emotional expression that had been constrained by the previous Age of Enlightenment. (Ideas on a powerful ending without just rewording ideas of introduction) I think one of the strongest points of your essay is the way that each idea seems to flow from each other without you making overly obviously comparisons between the texts, if that makes sense. It reads like butter, very smooth. You could be creative here, and do something along the lines of, "Romantic Literature echoes the blah blah of content and the blah blah of thinkers...manifesting in the texts that offer a window to the spectacle today." And be a little creative in your wording, despite being an essay. That could be nice and simple, and it avoids using the exact same language as above.

An incredible essay. I'm not sure if there are more mini ways of thinking to be explored within Romanticism, but from your paragraph structure I can see this is clearly an incredible essay. The writing is, as always, clear, wonderful, insightful, and judiciously selected. Another incredible essay from you dancing phalanges! A few wording things throughout, and obviously need to consider your conclusion. But from my viewpoint as a non-romantic student, this is an exemplary piece.

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Was just about to go to bed so I can get some sleep before my french exam tomorrow so this gives me great comfort for Thursday's exam :) Thank you so much for doing this after such a long working day! I was just wondering quickly with my creative if this is enough context for the slave being educated?
I share with you a letter I found from Quaco, who was sold off early in his life to an officer in the Royal Navy. He was one of the lucky few introduced to the British way of life, which included an education. Regrettably, the poor soul was later kidnapped by his former owner and sent back to sea on the Aurore, where recently he penned his final farewells.
It's the same sort of way that Olaudah Equiano who wrote The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano received his education :)
I also signed off/started off a couple of the letters with stuff like: My dearest Lucy. Forgive my long delay in writing... and at the end when the ship is about to sink: Farewell, my dear, excellent Lucy! Remember me with affection, should you never hear from me again.
Hopefully that sounds right? But thanks once again for giving my essay a look! :)

elysepopplewell:

--- Quote from: dancing phalanges on August 08, 2017, 11:07:51 pm ---Was just about to go to bed so I can get some sleep before my french exam tomorrow so this gives me great comfort for Thursday's exam :) Thank you so much for doing this after such a long working day! I was just wondering quickly with my creative if this is enough context for the slave being educated?
I share with you a letter I found from Quaco, who was sold off early in his life to an officer in the Royal Navy. He was one of the lucky few introduced to the British way of life, which included an education. Regrettably, the poor soul was later kidnapped by his former owner and sent back to sea on the Aurore, where recently he penned his final farewells.
It's the same sort of way that Olaudah Equiano who wrote The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano received his education :)
I also signed off/started off a couple of the letters with stuff like: My dearest Lucy. Forgive my long delay in writing... and at the end when the ship is about to sink: Farewell, my dear, excellent Lucy! Remember me with affection, should you never hear from me again.
Hopefully that sounds right? But thanks once again for giving my essay a look! :)

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Yes! You had a tricky task ahead of you by incorporating the context as to how the slave became so literate, and I admit to not considering referencing another character to do this - but I think this is great! An excellent idea! Truly :)

dancing phalanges:

--- Quote from: elysepopplewell on August 09, 2017, 10:55:14 am ---Yes! You had a tricky task ahead of you by incorporating the context as to how the slave became so literate, and I admit to not considering referencing another character to do this - but I think this is great! An excellent idea! Truly :)

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Great thank you :) Just to clarify I'm not mentioning Olaudah Equanio just taking inspiration from his way of doing it :)

elysepopplewell:

--- Quote from: dancing phalanges on August 09, 2017, 12:25:53 pm ---Great thank you :) Just to clarify I'm not mentioning Olaudah Equanio just taking inspiration from his way of doing it :)

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No of course! I mean, the reference of Quaco. Stellar!

dancing phalanges:

--- Quote from: elysepopplewell on August 09, 2017, 01:24:48 pm ---No of course! I mean, the reference of Quaco. Stellar!

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Hi Elyse,
Just with the bit where you talked about the comma splicing and stuff,
what i was trying to say there is that the romantics followed their emotions (ie. that it was a source of wisdom, that it governed the choices/decisions they made) if you get my drift.
how do you suggest i fix it to make it flow better :)

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