The Romantics

I was first introduced to the Romantics through William Blake, the film maker Jim Jarmusch (who I have recently been made aware of) had said that Blake was a large influence during his early 20's so I decided to do a little reading, but, like always I was introduced to a much larger world of artistry. Blake was an artist that opposed oppression and monarchy, he was one of a few artists that, at the time, were involved in the romantic European movement, a movement that helped shape society today.

Early one, at the very beginnings of the movement, Europe was heavily oppressed by the government and religion. Before this time people where only as free as the law allowed. Children were forced to work in factories and at times put into shackles on the streets of London.  The early romantics began to picture a world of freedom, a world where people were not born into chains, this coincides with the American revolution so its clear to see that the world was going through a dramatic shift of ideologies.

Latter, the Romantics began to find nature. poetry from Wordsworth and Coleridge helped Europe see the beauty and power of nature, but more importantly they helped define what it was to be a Romantic. The Romantics believe that the power of imagination is what defines us as individuals. These simple ideologies are the root of all modern European civilizations, we are more free than ever before and through the Romantic's poetry, art and ideas we live as we do now; with opportunity, freedom of speech and creativity all in our daily lives.

Moving on towards the 1800's the most famous of all the Romantics were Lord Byron, Shelly and his wife Mary. Marry went on to write the novel Frankenstein. Their work was slightly different from the likes of Wordsworth and Coleridge, their work was much darker, bringing about questions of science and the industrial revolution. Its funny, because during my A Levels I studied Shelly's Frankenstein and didn't like it all that much but now, as a much more open and focused soul I understand clearly the themes expressed in the story, the artistic flourish with every word. I think I'd like to go back and read the story again. 

The Romantics have quickly become a large point of interest to me, the fact that this movement played such an integral role in shaping the modern world is merely a small factor, for me, what's most important is their outlook on the world around us, especially the nature of humankind and the nature of our own planet, the questions of science and religion are still incredibly relevant today as they were almost 300 years ago.

Its seems we are all descendants of the Romantics.