Romanticism versus Realism

Paper Summary:

This paper examines two of the most important school in art and literature, that of Romanticism and Realism. The author discusses how although these schools tend to be assigned to certain specific and bounded moments in history, in fact the impulses toward the Romantic and the Realistic run throughout human history and across the cultural landscape.

From the Paper:

"Realism as a style in art and literature attempts to describe human behavior and surroundings or to represent figures and objects exactly as they act or appear in life in an objective and unidealized way. Attempts at realism have been made periodically throughout history in all the arts, however the term is usually applied to a movement that began in the mid-19th century that was a direct reaction to the highly subjective approach of romanticism. Realist artists as a group exhibited a profound sense of social consciousness and a high degree of commitment to addressing the political problems of their times; this was also in contrast to the Romantics who often sought to escape the problems of their day and who felt too alienated to try to intervene in the political process."

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