3/14 FRQ

Please answer the following in a five paragraph academic free response: To what extent did Romanticism challenge Enlightenment views of human beings and the natural world and how did this challenge illustrate changes between the Enlightenment and Romantic views of the relationship between God and the individual?

Romanticism was a way of living that was more emotional, and focused on the individual than anything that the world had ever seen before. It existed in everything, including; art, music, and poetry. In music, everything was predictable before romanticism. One would be able to expect everything that was played. Romanticism got away from that with different emotions that were felt at different times in no particular order. The new views of the Romantics brought about an even greater change than the Enlightenment did when it came to religion, and also challenged Enlightenment ideals towards the human being, and the natural world at the same time.

Before the Enlightenment, the human body was thought of only as a gateway into heaven. Should this body lead a good life, the soul would be granted access into heaven. The Enlightenment was focused on science, and was determined to figure out how it worked through a series of tests, ans dissections. The Romantics did away with both of those ideas. They believed that the body was a beautiful gift from nature, and that it can be anything that one wants it to be, and not some tool for scientists or a possession of God. Romantic poet George Keats witnessed a surgery undergone without anesthesia for the one being operated on. He was so horrified by this experience he dropped out of medical school and became a student of nature.

The natural world was thought of as God's gift to humanity for the longest time until the Enlightenment questioned the Churches teaching. Enlightenment thinkers viewed the natural world in terms of science, believing it is their practicing ground. Romantics had a more emotional approach. They were the type of people to sit back and admire their surroundings. Poet George Keats experienced much tragedy in his life, but still lied down in his garden to simply admire the beauty of the world around him. Romantics viewed it as a beautiful thing, not a gift from God, or man's proving ground

The belief in God was brought into question throughout the age of Romanticism. An anonymous pamphlet was sent out in Oxford university entitled The Necessity of Atheism. This called to question why one should believe in a supernatural being without any proof of him existing. Why should he lead on a good life without any reward when he dies. When he dies... that is the end. If there was nothing after death, man should do what he wants during his life. The author of this pamphlet was a Romantic poet by the name of Percy Bysshe Shelly. Shelly brought many modern things that happen today. He is the reason why there are some who question God. He was the first person of note to leave his wife for another, a practice that is unfortunately popular today. Shelly was the first celebrity to live a life that was entirely public. Shelly did many things against the Church's idea of God. He openly rejected him and encouraged others to follow suit. He left his wife for another, and made love to her while he was still married to another.

The Romantics called everything into question. Ideas that were accepted, were now rejected because of these radical thinkers. The ideas of the Enlightenment were no different. The Romantics discouraged people from donating their bodies to science, as they were a beautiful thing, not at the disposal of other men. The natural world was something to be admired, not destroyed. This outpouring of emotion from the Romantics lead to many things that are happening today. Without Beethoven, there is none of the music today. Without Shelly, there is no divorce, and everyone widely accepts some form of God. Franz Liszt influenced almost any piano player after him with his new style of playing.