A Brief Analysis on Five Elementary Components of Rousseau’s Romanticism

Abstract

The romantic ideology of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712 ~ 1778) firstly is a summary of his personal life experience, also the quintessence of his time spirit; moreover, it makes an outstanding contribution to the Enlightenment as well as the process of modernization theory. On one hand, it fills the deficiency of mainstream ideology of Enlightenment which is no longer confined to the rational and scientific knowledge; conversely, it strengthens the power of perception especially in art and religion, breaking new ground for widely releasing people’s inner creativity. On the other hand, the basic characteristic of romanticism emphasizes the emotions (or feelings) and becomes another mind-set that is from Rousseau, the father of romanticism, which is completely different from the rationalism of the Enlightenment. Rousseau’s romanticism is not ‘anti-rationality’, but ‘anti-intellectuality’ (i. e. a kind of rationalism in a narrow sense). This paper generalizes the core of Romanticism including the self-worship, appreciation of nature, expectations of dream, pursuit of emotion and obsession of language games. At the same time, it further analyzes what influences Rousseau’s Romanticism has made on literary creation and education in nineteenth and twentieth century.