Reflection Blog: Romanticism Period

My favorite time period, when it comes to oddness, that we have learned this year is probably the Romanticism period. It is very interesting to learn about how society changed so much from the Puritan period, the Rationalism period, and now the Romanticism era in American. The Romanticism period was a time that involved a sort of reawakening of things, including art, literature, and a connecting bond with nature that had been remotely lost before the Romanticism period took hold around the globe. Before learning about specific details of the era in class, I knew a little bit about some of the famous names that were around at the time. David Henry Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Oliver Wendell Holmes, and Edgar Allen Poe were just a few prominent authors of the time period that used nature, art, and abnormal methods to create masterpieces in their work. Emotion was a key component to their writing and they used it as such a way to get their point across. Before in literature, authors were all about using facts and figures to express the topic. I think a big reason why the Rationalism period did not last as long as most other eras is because science was not as advanced as some people longed for it to be. Many inventions were pawned up at the time, but they were not enough to fulfill the strong desire to be completely rational and logical about things. I feel as if the Romanticism period was a way for society to accept the fact that everything could not be proven with science just quite yet, and they realized that it is okay to provide feeling and emotion with art. Art during the Romanticism period was rather...interesting I guess. I am actually rather intrigued by the unique nature-connecting works that many authors became famous for. Instead of man being the focus of their work, nature and animals were now becoming the spot light and focal image in a painting or sketch. When comparing the Romanticism period with that of the Puritanism period, there was actually little difference in the two, if one asked me. I think that the major difference was the fact that in the Romanticism period lacked the consistent thanks given to God for everything that happened in life at the time. The Romanticist were more wrapped up in the personal and man-drawn opinions and thinking more than anything else.
Overall, I was very intrigued at the information provided and researched about the Romanticism period. It was an era that was drastically important to America and played a key role in what happened throughout society. Man thought differently, acted differently, and went about life in a more nature-bonding manner than before. Although it is not quite my favorite, I see find the Romanticism period to be fascinating and mind-boggling, much like the other eras we have learned about previously. Despite the fact that really weird things, such as poems from Poe, came out of the Romanticism period, I still find their weirdness to be important to life in general.