Genre Analysis Draft 2

Brian Ingebretsen

3/4/14

ENGL 1A

Nature and the Ingenuity of the Romantic Vision and Scientific Mystery

Nature, in its entirety, can entice a beauty that cannot be fathomed by a lone, living creature and is equally, in every way, mysterious. Nature provides some with a sense of solace and escape while for others, a scientific playground where one can learn about the Earth and enjoy its benefits in the process. Though the fundamental nature is looked at through the scientific perspective, the beauty and elegance of nature is captured by authors and painters who see it for its tranquility, sanctuary, and wisdom. These writers and painters would soon help give rise to what literary and art scholars call the Romantic Age of the 19^th Century. This was an era of simple enlightenment and natural freedom, an era that showcased the majesty and simplicity of nature. Authors, artists, and even present day scholars have all basked in the tranquility that was and still is the natural world, though some perceptions are different, the overarching idea of beauty and power never left the minds of the men and women who poured their soul into Mother Earth and received her bliss in return.

The perceptions of Romantic nature come in a plethora of different ideas and are strewn from different experiences which are how this movement began. The Industrial Revolution was in full swing as cities began to cultivate dirt, slime, and unattractiveness that scared away many and gave the world a completely new and disgusting image. The pioneers of Romanticism valued the beauty and simplicity of nature over the dull and gray of industrialization and did everything to raise awareness on the travesty. Did they stop industrialization? No, they did not but it is not what they failed to do, it is what they successfully accomplished and that was to bring on a new genre of storytelling. During the era, the world was omnipresent with these storytellers and came about in different shapes and forms: writers, artists and philosophers, and with each story written or art piece perfected, a new idea would find its way into the overarching Romantic world. The idea of majesty and power made its way to artist Caspar David Friedrich and his famous painting entitled Wanderer above the Sea of Fog as it depicts the powerful scope that nature offers viewers.  The painting is of a wanderer who looks out onto a sea of clouds which hide mountains and other natural mysteries with the metaphor usually being that he is looking into the unknown. The painting is a marvel of Romantic design and clearly conveys what the artist was trying to showcase, it shows power, beauty, and the unknown which were frequent ideas used in the storytelling. Though these ideas of power and beauty were commonly used, how they were used were very seldom the same.

There was a darker Romantic movement that had formed in the midst of the Romantic boom, a romanticism that focused not on the simplicity and elegance of nature but on the power and darker depths of nature. These stories told tales of immeasurable psychology and a strange, dark elegance that promoted fear as well as beauty, these tales opened up an entire new realm of Romanticism. Dark Romanticism delved deep into the minds of the human and portrayed temptation, sin and self-destruction, making them the pure story objective for the storyteller. Edgar Allen Poe was the most famous of the Dark Romantics and absolutely loved writing about psychological paradigms and other dark subjects including death, mourning and decomposition. A story written by Poe, which is entitled The Fall of the House of Usher, ensnares this ideal of psychological darkness and uses it to convey a form of mystifying, yet creepy, beauty. In contrast to the painting, the story depicts nature as “…an unredeemed dreariness of thought which no goading of the imagination could torture into aught of the sublime” as the story takes the reader into the dreary and melancholic House of Usher (Poe). There is a certain beauty to his descriptions as he says phrases of immeasurable imagery including “the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit” and “with an utter depression of soul which I can compare to no earthly sensation more properly than to the after-dream of the reveler upon opium” with each line containing glorious amounts of detail and description. There are some grand and obvious contrasts between the painting and this story but one mustn’t forget that there are comparisons too including the amount of detail in each of them. They both incorporate the power of nature and the affect it has on the real world; in one case it is seen as an empowerment to self-will and in the other it is a force of strange and demonic powers, which one has no control over.

Science is a big motivator of Romanticism; it brings the poetry to life, whisks away the reader to a world of unimaginable beauty and wisdom, and enthralls the reader in the majesty and omnipresence of natural spiritualism. The two complement each other in such a way that if one factor is altered or removed then the entire piece would be demolished; think of a bridge being supported by two ends. The artistry of Romantic storytelling teleports readers into a paradise of solace and solitary and really helps them find peace within themselves and within others. According to Algis Valiunas, who wrote the article entitled Scientists Fallen Among Poets, discusses the many storytellers who provided a larger portal into the understanding of both science and romance. These contributors include Mary Shelley and Humphrey Davy: both who are on opposite sides of the Romantic bridge but share the same idea in that science and romance simply go hand in hand with each other. Valiunas continues his understanding by defining what science really is which, according to him, is “…driven by impulses of imperious ferocity, indifferent to ordinary human needs and moral structures, defying Heaven itself in the quest for knowledge, and enjoying ecstatic moments of revelatory apprehension in which the great questions receive their answer” which easily translates into the ideal formula to producing a wonderful romantic story (Valiunas). Science focuses on deciphering the secrets of the wild and untamed nature, delving into the depths of what a naturally occurring substance really is and Romantic writing takes this idea and exemplifies it to a degree of beautiful and heavenly art. These works of pure imaginative art relay a sense of wonder and mystery into the reader to get them excited and curious about what is really out in the wild and gives that wondrous tone and overarching majesty that nature truly has to offer. This Romantic bridge connects the audience with the beauty of nature and an aptitude for science and everything in between.

The tone of this essay will now change to the more informal first-person view because I need to discuss which story had the most significant impact upon myself. Both of these stories speak out to me and I adore the direction they are going and how they are written but I have to say that I prefer the Wanderer painting over the Usher story. I chose the Wanderer painting because it speaks to me on both an emotional level and a spiritual level because it symbolizes how I live my life; in the clouds and ready to face the unknown wonders ahead of me. To others this may have a similar affect because, like myself, a lot of other people are visual learners and thinkers rather than arithmetic which makes the painting a lot more relevant. As for the least effective, I would have to say that the Usher story and all of its psychological undertones fits because though it delves deep into the emotions of pain and neglect that we can all attribute to, I like to experience that of wonder not of reality and despair. The tone of the painting is a magical tone, it feels like you are really standing on that mountain and feeling the breeze while looking out at your unknown destiny. This being said, all three of the stories have different messages once encoded and they are all each made to hide that certain code; for the painting it was a metaphor on destiny and for the Usher house story, it was the decay of a world; for the article it was an informative piece on the combination and virtue of both science and romance. Though these stories are of the same subject, they are all quite different in a very obvious manner which includes the lightness of the painting, the darkness of Usher, and the science of the article. As stated before, there are many different styles of Romanticism: the transcendentalist view, the dark view and the scientific view which are each written and shown differently from one another. The transcendentalist view is more imagination oriented meaning that there is a lot more descriptions of the tranquility of a subject while the darker side tackles and forms a certain beauty around psychological aspects such as fear, regret and melancholy. The science genre takes on a more academic route because it describes the significance of the two together as a whole and how separating them would destroy the concept meaning that the tone of said style would be more informative rather than story oriented. To some degree, I believe that reading affects someone personally but in most cases we are already drawn to what we like and stay away from what we don’t. You may enjoy a certain genre or love reading about some important figure but you will always be drawn to a certain type due to experiences in the real world. I live with my head in the clouds and I absolutely adore life, so much so that when I first read a romantic story I was hooked and from then on I have based everything I read and write on the Romantic notion because it feels good to me.

Romanticism conveys the image of the beauty of the natural world and how a simple life can always be a better life. It brings about peace and preaches the message of solitude and completeness and also brings the mystery of science and mixes it with the power of storytelling. There are types of Romanticism that follow different patterns, whether it is about power, nature, or even fear they all combine into one overarching subject; the human. Humans want to see the beauty in everything even if it deals with death; humans convey emotions about many different things which are what the movement was trying to show. Humans are individuals, not machines, they do what they want and they follow their emotions wherever they take them. If one is to find true beauty they need only look within themselves at their emotions and what better way to let your emotions out than by looking at a painting or reading a story and just let it take them away. Your mind is a meadow and you are allowed to plant any seeds you want; so go ahead and plant the seeds of discovery, scientific mystery, and the eloquence of life at its fullest.

Bibliography

·         Valiunas, Algis. "Scientists Fallen Among Poets - The New Atlantis." The New Atlantis. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2014.

·         Poe, Edgar Allan. "The Fall of the House of Usher." Poestories. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2014.

·         Friedrich, Caspar David. "Wanderer above the Sea of Fog." Artble: The Home of Passionate Art Lovers. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Mar. 2014.