Romantic Era Synthesis Ash.P4.T5

In the Romantic Era, the reaction against reason and evolution toward imagination and naturalness ennobled the common man in secular ways. As society shifted from being agriculturally to industry based, the large, restless middle class asserted itself as a dominant driver of change in the Romantic culture. Writers and artists portrayed the movement of the common man by turning away from the horrendous industrialism in to a place of inner peace by depicting scenes of natural beauty and personal emotions or experiences. For example, Caspar David Friedrich’s oil painting, Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog, exemplifies the personal involvement of man and nature as a man is portrayed gazing into the landscape layered with fog, deep in thought. The painted man reveals how the people of the Romantic Era turned toward their inner selves, to the beauty of the earth, and away from the inner cities filled with the industrial chaos. Religion is not reflected as influential in the art depicting the ennobling of man. It is through secular representation that this man looks inward to himself and outward to the horizon. Also, in Coleridge’s poem, A Day Dream, the vivid imagery of nature as the trees, balmy night, and moon that are described compliments the affectionate yet dark mood of the poem. Shadows dance upon the wall and roses climb above the “ruined shed” where Mary resides. The melancholy nature and environmental focus of the poem exemplify the Gothic movement as it ennobles the common man by creating a sense of beauty for the woman, Mary, through sensory details focusing on the secular aspects of naturalness and affection toward one another.