The emphasis today is on getting through the day and we forget to romanticize life. Why have human beings lost connections with nature and self?
Discussing literary critic John Ruskin's ideas of the pathetic fallacy could work when building an argument around the emotional connection between nature and self. He noticed that the people in art (including poetry) had disappeared. As in, people were less frequently being depicted in art during this time. And so instead, human emotions were being assigned to aspects of nature. More than this though, he proffered that it was the emotional state of the human reflected into the natural aspects of the artwork. You can find this practice in the poetry of Keats, Wordsworth, and most of the big six. (This is a very rough summary of his argument, of course, Ruskin's book Modern Painters would be the text to refer to for the far more eloquent expression of his idea). – Samantha Leersen3 years ago
Romanticism isn’t necessarily dead, but rather it’s bland and not as interesting anymore. – kyeferreira3 years ago
The contemporary man is rejecting romanticism objectively. Emerson, Whitman, Thoreau has not emphasized that there would be a day when we lose our connection with naturalism, but they have glorified romanticism enough to imply that. – metamorphicrock3 years ago
This is a particular kind of Romanticism called Naturalist Romanticism. This narrows this topic somewhat in its own right but whoever decides to write this may benefit from further narrowing. I would recommend looking at a particular nation’s naturalist literature of the Era. The richest would be the United States (c. 1820-1900), the United Kingdom (1798-1837), and France (1789-1914). – J.D. Jankowski3 years ago
I agree that it's not dead, but perhaps it's taken a back seat since now we explore things virtually. The pandemic especially has made this more prevalent. – Ndeu3 years ago
The pandemic certainly has changed how the natural world is thought of. As we spend less time in the world we’ve created for ourselves many people find themselves returning to the natural world. Popular social media apps such as Instagram and Tiktok bring a fresh perspective to time-honoured traditions such as foraging and gardening. It would definitely be interesting to look more closely at the at the effects of a pandemic in forcing people to reconnect with nature. – mielcheveux3 years ago
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