CLASSICISM
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| Dr. Hareshwar Roy |
INTRODUCTION:
The term Classicism is very confusing
because it carries so many meanings. Despite this confusion, the term is still
useful in describing particular styles and impulses in literature and the arts.
Classicism means clearness, elegance, symmetry, and repose produced by
attention to traditional forms. It is sometimes synonymous with excellence or
artistic quality of high distinction. More precisely, the term 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.
DEFINITION:
Classicism developed so gradually and
exhibited so many phases that a perfect definition is not possible. 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. In general, Classicism
can be defined as a style in literature that draws on the styles of ancient Greece and Rome
BRIEF HISTORY:
Classicism is a force which is often
present in post-medieval European and European influenced traditions. Some
periods felt themselves more connected to the classical ideals than others,
particularly the Age of Reason,
the Age of
Enlightenment and some classicizing movements in Modernism.
THE RENAISSANCE AND THEREAFTER:
The study of ancient Greek was virtually
unknown in Western Europe till the fifth
century. Classicism first made an appearance during the Italian
renaissance. It introduced a host of elements into European culture.
Petrarch, the father of Italian humanism, first learned about and promoted
classical learning. His classicism was
most strongly received by Boccaccio. Up to this point classicism had been
mainly a literary pursuit. Outside Italy
writers affected by the revival of classical conventions included Bacon and Jonson
in England and Corneille and
Racine in France
The advent of printing is likely responsible for the permanent
establishment of classicism as an integral part of Western civilization from
the fourteenth century to the present day. Italians, no doubt, played the lead
role in the revival of antiquity in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. But
in the sixteenth century that role was assumed by northern Europe .
Here classicism particularly flourished among scholars in France , Germany ,
Switzerland , and England
THE 18TH AND 19TH
CENTURIES:
In the 18th century the pursuit of these
ideals became codified in terms of rules of decorum deriving from Aristotle's Poetics and Horace's Art of Poetry. The Augustan age in England stretched from the time of Dryden to the
middle of the 18th century, and included many self-conscious attempts to
imitate the poets of the Augustan age in Rome
THE TWENTIETH CENTURY:
In the early 20th-century there was a
renewed interest in Greek literature. In the works of Ezra Pound and T. S.
Eliot one can easily find classical ideals. Abstracted classical elements can
be found in the paintings of Paul Cézanne and Pablo Picasso. A more overt
classicism has found renewed acceptance among many postmodern architects in
recent years. In the present day philosophy
classicism is used as a term particularly in relation to Apollonian
over Dionysian impulses in society and art; that is a preference
for rationality, or at least rationally guided catharsis, over emotionalism.
CONCLUSION:
. In
short, Classicism has influenced not just literature but all of the arts. It
has its effect on the entire world. It is clear that this movement has transformed
Western culture in many ways. Some of its major precepts are surviving into the
twentieth century and still affecting our contemporary period.
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