The Romantic View of the Natural World

"My heart leaps up when I behold

A rainbow in the sky:

So was it when my life began;

So is it now I am a man;

So be it when I shall grow old,

Or let me die" 

-William Wordsworth, 'My heart leaps up'

The 19th century was a time of transformation in Europe. The ideas of Enlightenment had been spread, leading to a focus on science that was separated from the church. Philosophers such as Immanuel Kant, John Locke, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau were all involved with bringing Enlightenment to be. Romanticism was an artistic movement that originated in Europe in the nineteenth century and continued on until mid-century. It was a protest to Enlightenment ideas such as: importance of reason and logic as the ways to understand the world. Romanticism also protested against Industrialization and its negative impacts on the natural world. The main emphasis in this movement was imagination and emotion. This was shown through literature, music, painting and drama. Romanticism was the enduring search for individual rights and for understanding and experiencing the world. Landscapes were one of the main subjects for Romanticism artists; for nature was an uncontrollable power that juxtaposed the ordered world of Enlightenment. Many of the images depicting violent and terrifying nature from this time were categorized as the Sublime. Romanticism was not just a European movement; American Romanticism was another subsect of the movement that caused change in America as well.

There is this idea that the Romantics were people who discredited science but in fact; the Romantic movement is one of the cornerstones to modern environmentalism. Many Romantics were in fact scientists, they were just more upfront with how science can also affect people’s relationship with nature. The movement caused many to shift their focus from industrialization back to the natural world. To stop focusing on the drama of human life but to experience the world and remember the magic that is everyday. This shift caused people to think about the emotions and feelings that the natural world can bring to a person. The paintings and pieces of art that depict nature are the spark in environmentalism that inspired and made people want change for the natural world.  If not for Romanticism we would have had a different relationship with the world today.