When people hear the word romanticism they assume it is do with love and the thought of being ‘romantic.’ However it has nothing to do with that although occasionally the subject of Romantic art comes into place.[1] It is an international artistic movement that focused don individualism, imagination emotions and nature. It redefined the ways which western cultures thought about the outside world and their own world.[2] It begun in the late 18th to the mid 19th century. It influenced many artists and poets such as Byron, Wary Woolstoncraft…..
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe poem Prometheus is an example of Romantic poetry. The voice is Prometheus but symbolises men’s struggle against the higher powers of our society. The poem shows men rebelling against god like Prometheus. The poem starts of with Goethe telling the Gods to live the earths alone. Goethe calls it ‘my earth’. The use of the ‘my’ shows that he believes it’s the means earth not the higher power. This links in with the romantics as they. There is clear feeling of anger towards the higher power. Whether that is Zeus, other religious gods or even the government we do not know. But the Prometheus myth is used as a metaphor to express the anger if want to break away from being restricted. “And my hut which you did not build” this emphasizes that ‘Zeus’ did not help man create their lives. They created their huts without any help from the Gods. The Gods have done nothing for the creatures on earth.
The Gods are usually worshiped as they are seen to be almighty and better off than us, nut Goethe goes against this idea in his poem. “I know of nothing poorer under the sun, than you, Gods!” humans are presented to be wealthier and to have a better life than the Gods. This contrasts with the Hesiods Works and Days where he states “for the Gods keep hidden from men the means of life” implying that men and Gods have s different style of life, where the men are not worthy enough to experience the Gods life.
Goethe says they are barely nourished on sacrificial offerings. This shows that men to are starting to lose faith in the Gods and no longer worship or fear them as they are hardly being fed. Goethe writes that only children and fools believe in their help. Thr gods in this poem are continually disrespected. They are said to have heir own masters thus implying they are not as almighty as they say. Prometheus wants men to be like him ant mock the gods as he does. This poem wants to create people to be rebels against the ‘gods’. Like a true romanticist Goethe is urging people to make their own lives happen and not to wait about for help from the ‘Gods’. It is unclear what Johann Wolfgang von Goethe is trying to rebel against; politics, religion, Zeus? But the metaphor of Prometheus symbolises men’s struggle and need to break fee very well. Goethe however forgets the fact that Prometheus is punished and had to endure pain everyday (which in some way is worse than death), just because he tried to overthrow Zeus and help men. So is it worth the pain that rebelling will cause?
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