Great post. Yes, the Romantics have left much destruction in their wake. Ive read a lot of the German Early Romantics, Novalis, the Schlegels, Fichte. They had a free love commune in Jena and were pretty much pushing Romanticism as a grift, which never really panned out for them. Their romantic project was a failure during their lives, August Wilhelm Schlegel did other things well: ie. Sanskrit and Philology. Their contemporaries like Goethe and Schiller, who you mention, were at odds with them, or really the other way around. Heine wrote a scathing essay, On Romanticism. The premises of the Early Romantics are so preposterous, that it never got any traction at the time, while Goethe became the first author to become fabulously wealthy from book sales.
Whats crazy is that the influence of the Romantics has only slowly grown and metastasized over time.
It was a reaction to the Enlightenment, which was appropriate at the time, but the Romantics never grew out of it, like Goethe did after his Sturm and Drang phase.
Your post touches on some issues with Romanticism which you correctly connect to current delusions.
I am presently writing a post on the conception of Nature in the Early Middle Ages, where it is seen as Gods Creation, and not as the idyllic place to which the Romantic escapes. I contrast it with the Romantic conception.
Thanks for your comment. I've been more and more interested specifically in the German Romantics. You're probably familiar with J. G. Robertson's A History of German Literature. Thanks to AI, I can get those lengthy German passages translated in an instant on my phone! His sections on Romanticism are densely packed. Irving Babbitt's take on Romanticism has been very influential on my own thinking. I highly recommend his work Rousseau and Romanticism, which tackles this particular sentimental humanitarian/Rousseauistic strain of Romantic thought. I look forward to your essay. Please sent it to me when it's published!
No, I don’t know that Book, but was interested in looking into it. I studied in Germany, so know the German histories of literature. It would be interesting to see an anglophone take. The quote you give is describing the Early Romantics.
It seems like German Idealism is the conduit which continued these bad ideas, specifically Hegel. All of this is so foreign to English and American political Tradition, that i wonder how these bad ideas started seeping in so late in the game. Germans, on the other hand, just cant grasp how we see political life, based on Locke, Montesquieu etc, which is foreign to them. Ie, classical liberalism
Isn’t the real danger to Christian truth the distortion of immanentism, where God is not recognized as transcendent, but dwelling only in created nature and beings?
And the error is easily made when one dallies too long and too rapturously with art that is lovely and yet slightly askew.
Yes, we are swimming in this fishbowl that distorts Life into a caricature of reality based on the lenses that are employed by ourselves and our overlords.
The answer might be found in the four chambers (lenses) of the Sacred Heart and by likeness, our humble human hearts.
I penned this poem maybe 18 years ago. Emily, when you described the mystic and then the artistic...well, I knew I had to share it.
A Poem to Ponder...
Drawn and Quartered
by Mike Rizzio
Four chambers, but one purpose,
Four Gospels live to tell,
A Sacred Heart, so wounded,
A lance launched straight from hell.
Our brokenness, bloodletting,
True Mystics judged insane,
King Science, throne ascending,
To deaden all our pain.
Four riders, on four horses,
Steeds rearing for a treat,
Our corpse, nears rigor mortis,
For Art not Science meet.
But wait...a ray of His Glorious Sonshine...
One part—sacred theology,
One part—mystic sight,
One part—true science,
One part—creative light.
...and if ever two lungs breathed forth,
East-West, air that is sweet,
Aloft they'll send His Body,
Heartbeat, Heartbeat, Heartbeat.
(((In 1054 AD when the first split was realized, we saw the two lungs separate. Now we are seeing the results play out in a global unraveling of goodness, truth and beauty with a whole new set of lenses)))
Recently there has been great movement in roundtable discussions where several experts in their respective fields have discussed and developed their perspectives on an important topic with inspired complementarity. One such group included Jordan Peterson, Jonathan Pageau, John Vernake and Bishop Robert Barron. The Mystical, Artistic, Scientific and Theological chambers/lenses were all active and the discussion on MEANING was profound.
MAST is the acronym, raising all sorts of neat possibilities. For a mast raises flags, sails and communication receivers.
Thanks - I watched it. The scenes of nature and the folks living through industrialism - gives it all a different impact. I think I'll use this next time I teach romanticism.
Great post. Yes, the Romantics have left much destruction in their wake. Ive read a lot of the German Early Romantics, Novalis, the Schlegels, Fichte. They had a free love commune in Jena and were pretty much pushing Romanticism as a grift, which never really panned out for them. Their romantic project was a failure during their lives, August Wilhelm Schlegel did other things well: ie. Sanskrit and Philology. Their contemporaries like Goethe and Schiller, who you mention, were at odds with them, or really the other way around. Heine wrote a scathing essay, On Romanticism. The premises of the Early Romantics are so preposterous, that it never got any traction at the time, while Goethe became the first author to become fabulously wealthy from book sales.
Whats crazy is that the influence of the Romantics has only slowly grown and metastasized over time.
It was a reaction to the Enlightenment, which was appropriate at the time, but the Romantics never grew out of it, like Goethe did after his Sturm and Drang phase.
Your post touches on some issues with Romanticism which you correctly connect to current delusions.
I am presently writing a post on the conception of Nature in the Early Middle Ages, where it is seen as Gods Creation, and not as the idyllic place to which the Romantic escapes. I contrast it with the Romantic conception.
Thanks for your comment. I've been more and more interested specifically in the German Romantics. You're probably familiar with J. G. Robertson's A History of German Literature. Thanks to AI, I can get those lengthy German passages translated in an instant on my phone! His sections on Romanticism are densely packed. Irving Babbitt's take on Romanticism has been very influential on my own thinking. I highly recommend his work Rousseau and Romanticism, which tackles this particular sentimental humanitarian/Rousseauistic strain of Romantic thought. I look forward to your essay. Please sent it to me when it's published!
No, I don’t know that Book, but was interested in looking into it. I studied in Germany, so know the German histories of literature. It would be interesting to see an anglophone take. The quote you give is describing the Early Romantics.
It seems like German Idealism is the conduit which continued these bad ideas, specifically Hegel. All of this is so foreign to English and American political Tradition, that i wonder how these bad ideas started seeping in so late in the game. Germans, on the other hand, just cant grasp how we see political life, based on Locke, Montesquieu etc, which is foreign to them. Ie, classical liberalism
Im hoping to finish my New post today. If interested, here in the proceeding one which introduces the medieval work i an still going from. https://open.substack.com/pub/robertwhitley/p/the-codex-and-its-aura-pragmatic?r=2mwz1j&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
I will send the next one soon hopefully? I proofread forever lol
Isn’t the real danger to Christian truth the distortion of immanentism, where God is not recognized as transcendent, but dwelling only in created nature and beings?
And the error is easily made when one dallies too long and too rapturously with art that is lovely and yet slightly askew.
Yes, we are swimming in this fishbowl that distorts Life into a caricature of reality based on the lenses that are employed by ourselves and our overlords.
The answer might be found in the four chambers (lenses) of the Sacred Heart and by likeness, our humble human hearts.
I penned this poem maybe 18 years ago. Emily, when you described the mystic and then the artistic...well, I knew I had to share it.
A Poem to Ponder...
Drawn and Quartered
by Mike Rizzio
Four chambers, but one purpose,
Four Gospels live to tell,
A Sacred Heart, so wounded,
A lance launched straight from hell.
Our brokenness, bloodletting,
True Mystics judged insane,
King Science, throne ascending,
To deaden all our pain.
Four riders, on four horses,
Steeds rearing for a treat,
Our corpse, nears rigor mortis,
For Art not Science meet.
But wait...a ray of His Glorious Sonshine...
One part—sacred theology,
One part—mystic sight,
One part—true science,
One part—creative light.
...and if ever two lungs breathed forth,
East-West, air that is sweet,
Aloft they'll send His Body,
Heartbeat, Heartbeat, Heartbeat.
(((In 1054 AD when the first split was realized, we saw the two lungs separate. Now we are seeing the results play out in a global unraveling of goodness, truth and beauty with a whole new set of lenses)))
That's lovely, thanks so much for sharing it!
Recently there has been great movement in roundtable discussions where several experts in their respective fields have discussed and developed their perspectives on an important topic with inspired complementarity. One such group included Jordan Peterson, Jonathan Pageau, John Vernake and Bishop Robert Barron. The Mystical, Artistic, Scientific and Theological chambers/lenses were all active and the discussion on MEANING was profound.
MAST is the acronym, raising all sorts of neat possibilities. For a mast raises flags, sails and communication receivers.
I think I saw my husband watching that while he was doing dishes the other night! *the only time he finds "free" for such things
Love this analysis. You might find this video essay on Romanticism interesting. Overlaps a lot with what you're saying: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vki6LRAf_-w&pp=ygULcm9tYW50aWNpc20%3D
Thanks - I watched it. The scenes of nature and the folks living through industrialism - gives it all a different impact. I think I'll use this next time I teach romanticism.