In this essay, we will try to present the differences between romanticism and classicism in as impartial a manner as possible, so that the reader may draw his or her own conclusions. Please note, that all citations were fact checked.
Today, we label all artistic endeavors of the 19th century as part of the "Romantic Period." There was a Romantic movement, but not everyone ascribed to it. The Romantic movement began in Germany with German poetry—in the late 18th century, by poets such as Ludwig Tieck and Friedrich Schlegel. The Romantic poets were active at the same time as Weimar Classicism—led by Friedrich Schiller—was active. In contrasting these two schools, the question posed begin to take on clarity.
There are several ideas that served as rallying cries for the Romantics:
1. The rejection of the Republican spirit of the era and its emphasis on human equality, in favor of a retreat to the past, of imaginary, medieval myths of chivalry, gallantry, and knights in shining armor-a time when "everybody knew their place". This included emphasis on the Tale of Roland (an eighth century French knight), the Legend of King Arthur and his Round Table, the search for "The Holy Grail", and the Crusades. In contrast, Schiller concentrated on actual historical fights for actual freedom in the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Joan of Arc's France.
2, The rejection of reason and industrial society as promoted by the classical idea. The emphasis was the fear of science through horror stories, mainly in gothic novels. The most famous of these is Mary Shelley's 1818 novel “Frankenstein”, subtitled "The Modern Prometheus". For centuries, Prometheus—the God who gave the gift of fire to man, and was punished for it by Zeus—and considered a hero to mankind. Now, the Modern Prometheus—Frankenstein—in his experiments with electricity, is a villain creating monsters. Was the name Frankenstein a take on Benjamin Franklin? (Fear of nuclear power is just the modern version of it.)
3. The perversion of the sense of political freedom sweeping the world, by promoting the complete freedom of the individual, but as mere erotic license, free from any sense of responsibility to humanity ( i.e. “Lucinda” by Friedrich Schlegel.)
4. The rejection of the rigor employed by classical artists, necessary in science and art for the advancement of humanity, in favor of the artist as a free spirit, doing whatever he or she chooses—“Art for art's sake”. Romantics hold that Art is not to be subjected to criticism or standards. Art judges itself.
The brothers, Wilhelm and Friedrich Schegel, expanded the movement with a periodical called “Athenium”. In 1798 they published an article called "History of the Poesy of the Greeks and Romans." Most people might think that the term “romantic” derives from highly idealized love stories, but it actually comes from Roman, and what the Roman Empire stood for.
At first, the ideas were somewhat confused. Some classical poets thought of themselves as romantics. Some Romantics adhered to classical rigor. Gradually, they sorted themselves out. Let us listen to two.
Percy Shelley (who happens to be the husband of afore mentioned Mary Shelley), composed a beautiful hymn to reason—“To a Skylark”. It's flowery language may seem romantic on the surface, but listen to what he is saying.
Hail to thee, blithe Spirit!
Bird thou never wert,
That from Heaven, or near it,
Pourest thy full heart
In profuse strains of unpremeditated art.
He hails the spirit of the Skylark, but tells you in the second line, in no uncertain terms, that he is not talking about a bird. The Skylark is a metaphor for the human creative spirit! The last line in each stanza is a long line, and it takes great thought, on the part of the reciter, to get it right.
The second stanza, while a seeming description of the Skylark's flight, invokes the four elements, known to the Greeks as air, earth, fire and water.
Higher still and higher
From the earth thou springest
Like a cloud of fire;
The blue deep thou wingest,
And singing still dost soar, and soaring ever singest.
As in a longer piece of music, the tempo and tone change: This is a slow tempo
Like a glow-worm golden
In a dell of dew,
Scattering unbeholden
Its aëreal hue
Among the flowers and grass, which screen it from the view.
This verse begins a process of accelerando
Teach us, Sprite or Bird,
What sweet thoughts are thine:
I have never heard
Praise of love or wine
That panted forth a flood of rapture so divine.
Chorus Hymeneal,
Or triumphal chant,
Match'd with thine would be all
But an empty vaunt,
A thing wherein we feel there is some hidden want.
What objects are the fountains
Of thy happy strain?
What fields, or waves, or mountains?
What shapes of sky or plain?
What love of thine own kind? what ignorance of pain?
The poem ends with:
Teach me half the gladness
That thy brain must know,
Such harmonious madness
From my lips would flow
The world should listen then, as I am listening now
Shelley is always citing something deeper. In the poem as a whole, he invokes the true nature of creativity, as did Edgar Allem Poe later. We couldn’t quote the entire poem here for length, but you can find it here: https://poets.org/poem/skylark
We now compare this to a poet who also seems torn between the romantic and the classical—William Wordsworth. The following poem is beautiful. After reading it, tell us where he stands, compared to Shelley.
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
The Romantic movement in music began later, as composers pondered what to do after Beethoven. Stay tuned.
https://poets.org/poem/skylark