English 251
The Disparity
The Age of Reason was a period of intellectual and philosophical movement in the thirteen colonies during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The era to follow The Age of Reason was The Romantic period. The Romantic period was a literary, musical and artistic movement towards the end of the eighteenth century. These two periods in time may have a few similarities; however, they differ in mindset, character, and behavior.
First of all, one noteworthy difference between these two eras is peoples mindset. Mindset means the established set of attitudes held by someone. The mindset during The Age of Reason is more of a logical way of thinking. One man that is a logical thinker during this time is Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson is a smart man, he wrote a majority of the Declaration of Independence; he states, that all political connection between them and the states of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved (Declaration of Independence). This officially separated the colonies. Jefferson writes very logically to be able to firmly uphold the colonies separation. The mindset during The Romantic period is on the opposite side of the stick, for creativity is the general way of thinking. Creative means relating to or involving the imagination or original ideas, especially in artistic work. One superb creative writer during this period is Edgar Allen Poe. His writings are so creative they are hard to classify;The Norton Anthology American Literaturestates, The tales have proven hard to classify (Poe 734). The mindset of people changed drastically during these eras from a logical standpoint to a creative point of view.
Secondly, another significant difference between these two eras is peoples character. Character means the mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual. The type of character that is portrayed during The Age of Reason is self-improvement. An advocate of self-improvement is Benjamin Franklin. He has many quotes for this and he made a schedule to reflect on every day. One of Franklin's quotes is as follows, he states, When youre good to others, you are best to yourself (Franklin). This truly means when you are good to someone else you are doing yourself a favor and improving yourself and hopefully the ones around you. On the other hand, the type of character portrayed during The Romantic period is individualism. Individualism means the habit or principle of being independent and self-reliant. One could say individualism is being a...
