The Classicism and the Romanticism are literary movements.

The term Classicism refers to the

admiration and imitation of Greek and Roman literature, art, and architecture. Order, maturity,
harmony, balance and moderation are important qualities of Classicism. The Romanticism might
best be described as anti-Classicism. This movement stressed human emotion and thoughts and
emphasized the individual, the imaginative, the spontaneous, the emotional, the visionary, and
the transcendental. Classicism and Romanticism developed so gradually and exhibited so many
phases that a perfect definition is not possible. In general, Classicism can be defined as a style in
literature that draws on the styles of ancient Greece and Rome.   Classicism is based on the idea
that nature and human nature could be understood by reason and thought. It has attached much
more importance to reason than imagination. More broadly, Classicism refers to the adherence to
virtues including formal elegance and correctness, simplicity, dignity, restraint, order, and
proportion. It is often opposed to Romanticism. The Romanticism can be viewed as an artistic
movement, or state of mind, or both (Manning, 1990).

The differences between Romanticism and classicism include that classicism emphasized order
and reason while Romanticism emphasized feelings and emotions that classical architecture
insisted upon symmetry while Romantic architecture allowed for artistic flourishes, and that
classical literature focused on important figures while Romantic literature focused on common
people. Classicism and Romanticism are opposing movements and styles which have been
influential in all the major arts of the Western hemisphere. Architecture, painting, music, and
literature have all gone through consecutive, and occasionally concurrent, periods of classicism
and Romanticism, the two extremes of which are instantly recognizable (Agresti, 1996). The great
public buildings of Washington DC, for instance, are ostentatiously classical, with the notable
exception of the Smithsonian Castle. Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria, the inspiration behind
the Disney castle, is extravagantly Romantic. Romanticism emphasizes emotion, the senses, and
the individual. It provides the architecture of cathedrals and castles and finds expression in
poetry about the beauty of nature and the agony or ecstasy of love. Classism, which was both an
artistic and intellectual movement during the 1700s, emphasized a return to order, restraint, and
reason. The movement looked to classical Greece and Rome for its inspiration. For example, the
architecture of the period had the classic columns characteristic of Ancient Greece and Rome.
Classicism reigned during the Enlightenment, a period that emphasized reason and brought about
political change, including the French, American, and Haitian Revolutions. Romanticism, which

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developed around 1800, was a literary and artistic movement that was in many ways a rejection
of Classicism ((Agresti, 1996).

It emphasized feeling and emotion, particularly the emotion of the individual. The Romantic
poets, for example, wrote in ways that emphasized horror and the supernatural as an expression
of emotion over reason. The emphasis was not on order, as it was during the Neo-Classical
period, but on feeling. Classical poetry had very clear, regular meters and rhyme schemes, was
more interested in the important people in society than anyone else, and was more likely to
convey ideas than emotions. According to Mason (2010), the age of Romantic poetry in England
is often associated with the publication of Wordsworth's and Coleridge's Lyrical Ballads. In the
preface, Wordsworth writes about a kind of poetry that puts the emphasis on the common person,
nature, and the supernatural. Rather than reason, emotion predominates. Wordsworth famously
wrote that Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from
emotion recollected in tranquility. Romantic poets wanted to write in simple, everyday language
that was accessible to ordinary people who might not have been schooled in the Greek and Latin
classics. It was far less rigid in rhyme scheme and often referenced folk stories or ballads rather
than Classical literature. Many new periods came about as a reaction to the previous period, and
the contrasts between these periods are no different. First, to differentiate between the two, the
researcher will begin with their differences in how they regarded nature. The Romantics believed
that nature was powerful and constantly changing. The Romantics believed that nature was a
force that would/could never be fully understood. Unlike the Romantics, the Classicists believed
that nature could be rationalized. Second was the differentiating thoughts on truth. The
Romantics believed that one would only find truth through their own intuition given they
highlighted the importance of individual thought and not societal thought. The Classicists,
instead, believed that truth existed only as a result of reason. They found that imaginative
thought failed to be able to be studied scientifically and, therefore, upheld no realistic function.
Third, ties into scientific thought differences. The Classicists believed that man should conform
to universal thought and ideas.

Apple (1992) opines that the Romantics believed that they should embrace their own individual
innovations. Perhaps the most poignant quote to exemplify Romantic thought on tradition and
innovation is from William Blake: I must create a system or be enslaved by another mans; I will

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not reason and compare. Basically, the Romantics believed in the endless possibilities which
man could change the world, and they embraced them. The Classicists, instead, held up the
importance of adhering to what has already been said and done and mastering only those ideals.
Classicism and Romanticism are artistic movements that have influenced the literature, visual
art, music, and architecture of the Western world over many centuries. With its origins in the
ancient Greek and Roman societies, Classicism defines beauty as that which demonstrates
balance and order. Romanticism developed in the 18th century, partially as a reaction against the
ideals of Classicism, and expresses beauty through imagination and powerful emotions.
Although the characteristics of these movements are frequently at odds, both schools of thought
continued to influence Western art into the 21st century. The name "Classical" was given to the
Greeks and Romans retroactively by Renaissance writers. Artists and thinkers of the
Renaissance, which literally means "rebirth," saw themselves as the heirs of that world following
the Middle Ages. Its ideals continued to exert strong influence into the Age of Enlightenment in
the 17th and 18th centuries. Classicism originated in ancient Greek and Roman societies. In
literature, Classicism values traditional forms and structures. According to legend, the Roman
poet Virgil left orders for his masterpiece The Aeneid to be burned at his death, because a few of
its lines were still metrically imperfect. This rather extreme example demonstrates the
importance placed on excellence in formal execution.. Other characteristics of the movement
include balance, order, and emotional restraint. Romanticism writers celebrated outcast and the
unlikely hero in their literature. Romanticism may be a somewhat confusing term, since modern
English speakers tend to associate the word "romance" with a particular variety of love. As an
artistic movement, however, it celebrates all strong emotions, not just feelings of love ( Ortner,
1998).

In addition to emotion, as opined by Manning (1990), romantic artists valued the search for
beauty and meaning in all aspects of life. They saw imagination, rather than reason, as the route
to truth. While Classicism emphasized the beauty in order, Romantic poets like Wordsworth
sought the beauty of untamed emotions. Furthermore, these movements have different attitudes
toward the grotesque. William Shakespeare, writing before the onset of Romanticism,
occasionally used deformed characters in his plays, such as Caliban in The Tempest; they are
used primarily for comedic effect or as a foil to the physical perfections of another character.
Romantics, however, celebrated the grotesque and the outcast through the form of a Byronic

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hero, named after the English poet Lord Byron. One well-known example of this character type
is Edward Rochester, the love interest in Charlotte Brontë's novel Jane Eyre, who reaches
spiritual perfection only after undergoing physical deformation.

Thus, Oedepus is a story filled with more classism that romanticism since he was a man of
reason and not intuition nor emotion. Oedipus Rex is a typical classical tragedy because it has the
element of tragic setting, atmosphere and mood, tragic character with tragic hamartia, tragic plot design
moving to tragic disintegration, and therefore the tragic realization by the character and audience. The
dialogue as well as the language of the chorus also emphasizes the tragic message about the tragic life
of the ill-fated Oedipus. Oedipus Rex is an ancient Greek tragedy which is so typical of the classical
tragedies that Aristotle took it as an example to define and illustrate the qualities of a tragedy.
Aristotle's definition is a descriptive one, and not prescriptive; the definition of tragedy has been
modified because many great tragedies have been written since without being confined to the
Aristotelian features. However, it is feasible to first see this tragedy in terms of Aristotle's definition.
Aristotle defined tragedy in terms of its plot, character and action. The plot of a tragedy must consist of
one, great and complete action. Each part of the play must contribute to the final tragic consequences
and effect. The cause and effect must be logically linked: no external force must intervene. The main
tragic character must possess great status and ideal qualities; but he must also have a weakness, though
not a moral flaw, this weakness is called ‘hamartia'. The consequence of the character's own error of
judgment or of his wrong action must bring the fall, from which there is no escape. Besides the tragic
plot, we have a typically tragic character, Oedipus. Oedipus is a tragic character because he is a great
man with some ideals and with a commitment to finding out the truth and cure the problem besetting
his country. But like a tragic character, he has a tragic weakness. His tragic weakness is that in the
confidence of what he knows or can know, he becomes too careless and disrespectful towards the gods,
the fate that the oracles have disclosed for him, and that is, he defies to any inner voice and wisdom
with regards to fate and destiny.

Every human being has certain limits and he should conduct life within those limits. A person
cannot accomplish everything. Arrogance in excess will ultimately bring out the downfall of the
person concerned. Moderation is a virtue that people should practice in order to avoid the
possible catastrophe in life. While in power Oedipus acted bossy rebuking and accusing people
who were under his authority as a king. Oedipus shouldn’t have acted arrogantly while at the
peak of fortune and should have thought about the potential misfortune that could befall him any

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time in future. This is the lesson imparted by the play. Oedipus’s suffering is so intense and
heartrending that we are deeply moved by it. The whole plot of the play is built around irony.

In contrast, seemingly, classicism seems not to be the main theme in ‘The Lonely Reaper’ but
romanticism. As with all of Wordsworth’s poems, the themes of The Solitary Reaper are highly
influenced by Romanticism. He speaks of a lonely figure cutting grain and singing, developing
Romantic ideas of Solitude in nature. Wordsworth interpreted the song, imagining the different
topics she sings of. He takes time to watch as listens he witness the beauty of her voice and
solitude, a Romantic value that opposes the busy life of society. As Romantics appreciate the raw
authenticity of basic life, Wordsworth admires her simple life as he ponders whether she sings of
big problems the world faces or some little mundane “matter of to-day” (Bialostosky, 1992).

By emphasising the point that she is alone in her reaping and binding, he demonstrates the
Solitude concept of Romanticism. In the first two verses, he focuses purely on her, excluding
himself and created an image of a farmer entirely secluded from everything but nature. Here she
is working with nature, farming crops and singing with no instrumental aid but her own natural
voice. In the second stanza he continues to involve nature, comparing her voice to birds and
mentioning islands and seas. His focus on nature and her solitude in it clearly connects the poem
to Romanticism and shows how important this concept is to Wordsworth (Driver, 2001).

The working singer goes about her reaping without hurry, her singing aiding her aura of gentle
equability. Romantics object to the rapid haste of society and the hectic activity of the cities.
Thus According to Bialostosky (1992), Wordsworth admires and concentrates on her calm manner
and soothing voice, as it contrasts with bustling urban areas. Another quote in the poem: “Stop
here, or gently pass!” refers to the rush of society, so much so that they cannot stop and
appreciate beauty anymore. Wordsworth has taken the time to stop, observe and contemplate her
song and loneliness, whereas many folk would “gently pass” without a glance. He takes the
Romantic concept of stopping and appreciating nature, beauty and valuing the individual, the
woman in the field, and validates it with elegant imagery and emphasises on its importance and
allure (Driver, 2001). He speculates that she is singing about the problems the world faces,
perhaps with industrialisation, and he seems to be interpreting the song as a mourning for the life
he idealizes. He also considers a more simplistic subject she might be singing for and
also admires the fundamental lifestyle. He uses his Romantic philosophy to interpret the song

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and translates this into the poem. Something that differentiates classism from romanticism
fundamentally.

Reference List

Agresti, A. (1996). An introduction to categorical data analysis. New York: John Wiley and Sons.

Apple, M. (1992). Education, culture, and class power: Basil Bernstein and the NeoMarxist Sociology of
Education. Educational Theory 42(2), 127–145.

Bialostosky, D. H. (1992). Wordsworth, Dialogics and the Practice of Criticism. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press

Driver, E. (2001). The Poetry of William Wordsworth and an Imaginary Life by David Malouf. Glebe,
N.S.W.: Pascal Press.

Manning, P. J. (1990). Reading Romantics: Texts and Contexts. New York: Oxford University Press.

Mason, E. (2010). The Cambridge Introduction to William Wordsworth. New York: Cambridge University
Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511781940

Ortner, S. B. (1998). Identities: The hidden life of class. Journal of Anthropological Research, 54, 1–17.

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