Contesto storico dell'età romantica, Appunti di Inglese

Scarica Contesto storico dell'età romantica e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! The Romantic Age Declaration of Independence of America from Britain It happens in 1773, but the real declaration was written by Jefferson in 1776 and signed by George Washington, the general of the troops. It’s also called Boston tea party, because the rebels took the tea of the Britain ships and they threw it into the sea. French Revolution The French revolution isn’t a quick change but an act of rebellion. It’s considered the culminating moment of the Enlightenment and the beginning of the Romanticism, because it’s characterised but an idea of politic freedom e an importance of the individual. So the romanticism has got his roots in the 18 century. British intervention –> Also the Great Britain was involved in the French Revolution, in fact, before the period of terror (in which were beheaded aristocratics and king), the young British went to fight on the side of the rebels. The Great Britain was also directly involved when Napoleon declared war oh her, in which he lost. During this war there was also the “splendido isolamento”, that is when Napoleon closed the businesses with the Great Britain, who suffered a severe blow (soffrì un grave colpo). George III George III was the grandson of George II and was born in England. His reign was the longest English reign, in fact it lasted 60 years. During his life he became mad, probably because of a genetic illness, so the Parliament governed England again. Exactly in the reign of George III, we find the industrial revolution, a quick change that happens in 20-40 years, but that is precede by the agricultural revolution. Agricultural revolution Practically, in this period, some inventions were born and people understood how to exploit (sfruttare) better the fields. At the same, considering that the trade was really important and people needed to improve the production of milk and meat, obtained by animals, some common fields were closed to create pastures (pascoli). In particular were closed by the aristocracy, who could pass the Enclosures (leggi per i propri interessi) through their representatives in the Parliament, who often were their relatives. Moreover these laws could passed only by the aristocratic, because were expensive. So, the small farmers couldn’t buy these new machines and they couldn’t use common fields anymore, so their fields were involved in aristocratic property. They lost their cottage (auto- produzione per la famiglia) and were forced to move to the cities, were they could find job in the mills (opifici). Industrial revolution The creation of new machines determinates the birth of the mall, a kind of industry in which some people worked near a big machine that ran on water, so we could find these malls near the rivers. After that the steam engine (motore a vapore) was created, who was used specially for the weaving (tessitura) and the industries were born, specially in areas full of coal (carbone). So in 20-40 years, the Mushroom Towns (they grew quickly) were born, mostly in England were there was a lot of coal, some examples are Manchester, Liz, Shelfid and so on. Meantime in these industries there were people specialized in improving the machines, but there were also women and children. Slowly the owners understood that they could pay less people who weren’t specialized, because the weaving with the steam engine was easier. So a lot of farmers came to the cities to find job and they were hired (assunti) by the industries owners. In any case the situation wasn’t so good as could seem, because on one hand the working conditions were very bad, the vapour provoked lung diseases (malattie polmonari) and the coal was really pollutant (inquinante); in the other, in the cities were built a lot of public housing (case popolari) to welcome all that people from the countryside, in which there wasn’t hygiene care (cura dell’igiene). The working class The first workers weren’t part of a class, they were in a new place with different rules, they worked in terrible conditions, in the countryside they used to know each other and their employer (datore di lavoro), so there was a social disease (disagio sociale). In fact, also if after Napoleon there was a period of peace for England, there were two important revolts. 1) A group of worker, the Luddite Movement, started a rebellion in 1811, in which they didn’t attach the industry owners but the machines, that were considered the cause of that situation. 2) The second happened in 1819 and it’s called Peterloo massacre (“massacr”) because the historians wanted to create an assonance with Waterloo, where Napoleon was defeated, and because it took place in St Peter Field, a Manchester square. Practically there was a pacific protest with factory workers, women and children. But the government sent a cavalry against them, so a lot of people died. This caused a sensation (suscitò scalpore) mostly among the intellectuals, for example an important romantic poet is Percy Bysshe, called Shelley. After some years, with Carl Marx in the second part of the 19 century, they obtained an own class, the working class. Nature (700 Vs 800) Nature power –> During the age of Reason, nature was considered perfect and men could face her. Instead during the Romantic age, nature dominates man, because is stronger than him. Man could also know his divine rules, but he can’t defeat her. We can find this new idea of nature also in the art, because it wasn’t a background for important people anymore, but it covered all the painting to demonstrate that it was more powerful than man. Moreover the artists used to color with quick brush strokes (pennellate veloci), so it made nature dynamic and powerful. God → Nature is a dynamic living force, that wasn’t created by God but that contains God inside. Nature becomes a source of inspiration and can convey (trasmettere) moral truths. Contact with nature –> When people left the countryside they left also the contact with nature, so it became idealize. Practically, in that period, poets and writers celebrated a back to nature, saying that a farmer life is better than a factory worker one, but actually the first was as difficult as the second. They thought that living in contact with nature brings people closer to God, instead the rationality is a corruption and brings people away from him. So a children was considered better than an adult, because his mind is less rational. Or a farmer is better than a factory worker, because is closer to nature. This idea was introduced by Rousseau. From Pre-romanticism to Romanticism 1) CREPUSCULAR ATTITUDE. People understand that the man consist both of rationality and an inner (interna) part, like a sort of soul or spirit. We can find a romantic sensibility with introspection, awareness (consapevolezza) that life is short and a tendency to talk about death and cemeteries. The English pre-romanticism isn’t a pessimism, it’s only able to see man aspects that the Illuminism neglected (trascurò). Foscolo tomb → With it you can remember people, specially who did great deeds (grandi gesta). English pre-romantic tomb → it’s an intermediary (tramite) between the dead person and his relatives, because can keep a contact with his spirit. So it’s a crepuscular attitude, a feeling of loneliness (solitudine) and sadness, melancholy 2) BACK TO THE ORIGINS In the second half of the 18 century we find a kind of poetry characterized by a back to the origins, so a research of the Anglo-Saxon poetry. In fact the author Macpherson pretended to had found with the Poems of Ossian (I Canti di Ossian). 3) GERMANY