Romanticism

Romanticism, the emphasis on the individual, a rejection of artificiality in favor of passion and emotion, a love of nature, a respect for the commonplace, a freeing of the imagination, I LOVE THIS PERIOD! 

Romantics believed that profound lessons could be learned from observing nature.

I believe like them that there is no greater beauty than that found in nature, and I see higher truths reflected in natural scenes.

No matter how great rulers believe themselves to be, their lives and deeds will be lost to history. Only nature, and not human achievement, truly endures. 

Some romantics writers liked to stay anonymous. They thought that anonymity can feel good. 

Indeed blending into a crowd on a bustling city street or losing yourself in a mass of fellow sports fans at a sold out game can be exhilarating. 

But there is difference between being invisible and being ignored. 

Orwell wrote, "When I sit down to write a book, I do not say to myself, 'I am going to produce a work of art.' I write it because there is some lie that I want to expose, some fact to which I want to draw attention, and my initial concern is to get a hearing." 

Orwell did not want to ignore the local Burmese. He learned that imperialism is absurd because it destroys the freedom of the oppressors as well as that of the oppressed. 

The political and military leaders use deceptive language to obscure the hideous realities of war in order to further their aims. They use depersonalizing terms to make people on the opposing side seem like embodiments of evil rather than fellow human beings. 

Where do we find Peace?

In Nature! Nature will never prove us wrong for having loved it. Nature leads us throughout our lives. It impresses us with its quiet and beauty and feeds our minds with lofty thoughts. 

Nothing, not evil tongues nor selfish people nor mundane activities, can change our faith in nature.