Zelenkas Romantic Essay Part A

Individuality. What does that mean? By definition, it means: the quality or character of a
particular person or thing that distinguishes them from others of the same kind. On our planet,
Zelenka, individuality simply means: you. Individuality or being yourself is an important
aspect to becoming who you want to be and what you want to purse. This aspect helps our
planets society continue to grow mentally and emotionally.
The Enlightenment was a time when science and religion were strong in the intelligent
minds. It was a time when people questioned the world around them and wanted to learn more. It
was the movement that educated the poor minds and spread information about Earth like a
wildfire. This movement taught people how to write, read, and understand. People started to
speak from the mind and speak their intellectual views.
However, somethings have to come to an end. The French Revolution was the beginning
of the end of the Enlightenment movement. Carreira (2010) stated that the French Revolution
started out to place the government to the highest principles of enlightened thought, but turned
out to be a bloodbath demonstrating the lowest side of human character. Some people began to
think that the Enlightenment was suffocating and squeezing the spirit, passion, and moral out of
them forever. Hence, people starting to think about themselves.
A new literary movement began: Romanticism. This was the movement of the five Is
which were, imagination, intuition, idealism, inspiration, and individuality. Romanticism affected
all of the arts across the table from literature to art to music. People no longer wanted to think of
the world around them. Rather, people started to think of the world within them. People started to
think emotionally about views and aspects of themselves. People started to express themselves.

Romanticism affected art by changing from still paintings to a moving piece of scenery.
Nature was a continuously painted scene, but never was repeated. Some artists took nature and
demonstrated the terror and horror it brought upon the people. Other artists took nature and
showed people the beauty and elegance hidden within the trees and beyond the mountains.
Artists showed audiences their artistic views of the world, but always inputted a deeper meaning
behind the canvas, such as fear or happiness.
Art was not the only piece of art that changed to become more emotional. Romanticism
affected composers to veer away from the formal clarity of classical to experiment, striving
emotional deeper into their music. Composers used music to express themselves. They used
music to pull the laughter out of people and bring the tears into their eyes. Composers were
inspired by the romantic love flowing in the air, the supernatural aspects hidden within the
shadows, and dark subjects such as death. Music became richer and intricate.
Most of all, literature is said to be the most affected by this era. Writings during the
Enlightenment were scientific, facts and data. Information. However, Romanticism affected
writing to be from facts and data about the world to the emotions and feelings about humanity.
Poets and authors let the words dance onto the paper and perform tricks for audiences all around.
Literature showed the most gorgeous side of the world and the most darkest side ever
experienced by man. Literature showed individuality and perspective.
The reason our planet decided to take this literary time period to start off our planet with
is because people need to be themselves. People have different views, but thats human nature.
That is the human mind. That is human. Expressing ones self is a recommended and accepting
aspect of our world, because at the end of the day the only person that will always agree on every
topic is themselves.

References
Estrella E. (2014, December 15) Music Forms and Composers During the Romantic Period
about education Retrieved from
http://musiced.about.com/od/medievalto20thcentury/a/Music-Forms-AndComposers.htm
Forward S. (2005, December 8) Legacy of the Romantics OpenLearn Retrieved from
http://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/culture/literature-and-creativewriting/literature/legacy-the-romantics
Galitz K.C. (2004, October) Romanticism The Met Retrieved from
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/roma/hd_roma.htm