Enlightenment Era Research Paper

In literature, the Romantic era and the Enlightenment era have both produced amazing ideas and philosophies that both have had a substantial generational impact not only in literature but also in society now, and then. Both the Romantic and Enlightenment eras have helped shape and solidify many genres and aspects in literature, and though both of these time periods have created literary legacies, the Romantic era and the Enlightenment era have very few similarities and actually oppose one another idealistically. The Enlightenment era is based around reason, this era relied heavily on science, math and rationality, the Romantic era rebelled against the ideas that were solidified within society brought forth by the Enlightenment era. The Romantic

The Enlightenment era dates back to the seventeenth century when Sir Isaac Newton published his “Principia Mathematica”. The Enlightenment thinkers thought that everything in the world around them could be solved scientifically, and felt that science, math, and critical thinking would improve society around them. The Enlightenment era deemed reason to be the source of power but also pushed for freedom, religious tolerance and progression of man taking themselves out of the dark ages. During the Enlightenment, many thinkers and artists praised each other on scientific, mathematical, and literary works, but were also critical of each other and works published by one another, as well as literary texts from times like the Renaissance. An example of this is how Dr. Samuel Johnson gave much praise to William Shakespeare but also found three critical flaws with Shakespeare’s work in “The Preface to Shakespeare”. An example of Dr. Johnson’s praise towards Shakespeare is when

In fact Romantic thinkers and artists challenged the rational beliefs that were implemented for years during the Enlightenment eras rule from the seventeenth century till the nineteenth century. Romantic artists and thinkers valued intense emotion, and expression. These thinkers believed that science and rationality would sterilize society, eliminating human emotion, that the ideas of the Enlightenment era would devalue the very feelings that make people human. Romantic thinkers also believe in a quest, a process, the development of man, as well as romantic perception. Furthermore Romantic thinkers also believed that poetry made bad things more digestible. An example of this is in Lord Byron’s “When We Two Parted”, where Byron stated “When we two parted in silence and tears half broken-hearted to sever for years, pale grew thy cheek and cold, colder thy kiss; truly that hour foretold sorrow to this”(1). Byron is expressing the sadness, the intense emotion of sorrow of being broken up with by his muse. Lord Byron expresses himself as hurt, and presents his raw emotion on a pedestal for his audience. Much of Byron’s work truly embraces the ideals of a true Romantic, because he understands that life may be subjective and not calculated with pure