Sensitivity is a current that has emerged from the literary epoch of Enlightenment. In terms of content, it contributes to the rational and rational approaches of the Enlightenment the sentimental and the sensitive. Sensitivity, however, is not to be understood as a counter-movement, but rather as a complement to enlightenment ideas. The sensibility can be dated to the years 1740 to 1790, whereby it must be borne in mind that no flow begins in one day and ends at another. In France and England there are sensitive tendencies from 1700 onwards.
term
The term goes back to a recommendation of the German poet Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. In 1768, the publisher Johann Christoph Bode translated the novel A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy from Laurence Sterne into German and chose the title Yorick’s sensitive journey. The novel is a form of the travel report, but in contrast to other travel reports places less emphasis on the country, people, customs, customs and culture of the countries visited, but rather describes the subjective sensations of the traveler. The novel established the genre of sensitive rice elite.
The adjective sentimental had suggested to Gotthold Ephraim Lessing as a translation of the word sentimental. Consequently, the concept was a neologism, which has only been documented in German since the publication of the novel, and is nowadays the term for a whole epoch: sensitivity. Thus, the concept of epoch was first formed many years after the first sensitive tendencies.
The concept of sensitivity in dictionaries and reference books can be found quickly and is now anchored in German language usage. The encyclopaedias of that period tried to give as exact a definition of the concept as possible, but which deviates partly from what is now understood by the word.
This is what is said in the German dictionary of 1776: sensitivity is thus the ability to be touched easily to gentle sensations. In the dictionary of the German language of 1807, the entry is found: [sensitivity is the] faculty and inclined to gentle pleasant sensations, relating to skill, to find pleasure in sympathetic movements.
Temporal classification of sensitivity
It is important that literary poems do not begin in one day and stop again. Rather, it is so that first movements become noticeable, more and more works arise in the course of this current, and only afterwards an epoch concept is coined.
The upper concept of the period, that is, the dominant epoch, is the Enlightenment. This is usually found between 1720 and 1790. The sensitivity, understood as the internal flow of the Enlightenment, can be dated to about 1740, and also ended in 1790. The new flow is thus rather short-lived.
If we date the whole to the year 1740, it is usually meant that the first sensitive tendencies in the writings of Christian Fürchtegott Gellerts, who had already been regarded as the most widely read German writer during his lifetime, are evident. However, the whole thing can also be classified a few years later, if there are sensitive tendencies in many writings. Then we can arrange the whole thing between 1760 and 1790, and thus primarily refer to the lyricism of Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock.
The culmination of sensitivity is achieved with the numerous imitations of Laurence Sterne’s Sentimental Journey (1768), with many translations emphasizing the sentimental side of the book, Richardson’s novels, Miller’s Victory (1776), and the appearance of Goethe’s Werther (1774) which is actually attributable to the storm and the urge, but still has sensitive tendencies. The initial criticism of the current, and its climax, therefore, almost coincide.
Characteristics of sensitivity
Sensitivity is often understood as a counter-movement to enlightenment, but is rather a complement to this epoch. This must be clear in order to understand the characteristics of the flow in its entirety. Both tendencies thus turn against a predominance of nobility and clergy (the church). The focus is the self-confident or self-confident citizen who owes his moral and ethical principles to a natural reason and a natural human being.
Overview: The essential features of the flow at a glance
Excursion: In order to classify the basic characteristics of sensitivity, the essential content of the Enlightenment should be considered in advance. Since about 1700, the Enlightenment has generally described the intention of overcoming all structures which obstruct progress through rational thought. Problems and theoretical hurdles should now be solved primarily through the use of the mind. Characteristic is Immanuel Kant’s appeal Sapere aude !, which he has with courage to use your own mind! translated.
For the Enlightenment, therefore, it was essential to appeal to one’s own intellect and reason, to fight against prejudice, to increase the natural sciences, and to demand a religious tolerance as well as to stand for education and the individual’s individual freedom of action, as well as for universal human rights.
Sensitivity does not contradict many of these motives of the Enlightenment. What is essential is that it places the sensation in the place of reason. Thus the feeling is opposed to the mind, and it is not regarded as a stain when a person feels and expresses his subjective feelings. The sensitive current is thus primarily a reaction to the predominance of rationalism.
Furthermore, the sensitive aspect is strongly influenced by Pietism. Pietism is a religious movement of German Protestantism, which turned against the dogmatism of the church of that time. In pietism, the primary concern is to perceive the divine subjectively, and thus to find its own access to the religious, which is not given by the doctrine of letters (cf. Bible). Consequently, Pietists place their ideal of personal, emotional piety in the foreground.
The sentiment thus arises from two essential aspects: it is a reaction to the supremacy of reason in the Enlightenment, and continues to be based on the view that the faith of a person arises from an individual-subjective piety, and not by observing external dogmas ( ecclesiastical teachings).
Consequently, the consideration of one’s own sensations, and consequently the view of the interior, is at the top of the followers of that current. It was about listening to and expressing inner processes and showing emotional excitements, which gave the feeling a tremendous place and became a benchmark for actions and personality.
Central motifs of sensitivity were, therefore, the discovery and experience of nature, the friendship, the enjoyment of life, the observation of mental impulses and the affection in virtue, grace, or even friendship. Another characteristic feature is the emphasis on private life, which is opposed to the public’s emphasis on absolutism.
These principles were reflected in the artistic approaches of sensitivity. Thus predominantly, the genres dominated the fine nuances of the interior, such as the letter, diaries, as well as sensitive travel reports, and many (letter) novels also arose in the ebendies. Lyric poetry was also a popular genre, since it offered itself to transport sensations, with the addition of emotion-laden odes and stirring pieces (the play which was to turn to tears).
Note: Sensing has been a high priority in sensibility. Nevertheless, reason was not entirely denied, since it was a helpful means for the sensitive person to direct the emotional impulses into the correct paths and to develop into social perfection. An increase can only be found in storm and urge.
Literature of Sensitivity
As described above, literary forms dominated, making it possible to express inner emotions and moods. It is often a feature of these texts that they are characterized by enthusiasm and exuberantly sweep the inner feeling outwards.
Already around the year 1700 the first sensitive trends can be found in England. Here it is above all the so-called sentimental comedy of Colley Cibber or also George Farquhar, with their simple protagonists moved the audience to tears and less laughed. In addition, English sentiment was marked by the widespread moral weekly, although these were mainly determined by Enlightenment ideas. It was not until much later, from 1740, that the family romances of Samuel Richardson and the works of Laurence Sternes were characterized by sensitive ideas.
In France the comédie larmoyante, that is, the touching comedy, which is strongly reminiscent of the bourgeois tragedy, developed at the same time, however, mostly to a happy ending. The touching comedy criticized the state clause, which states that in tragedies only persons of courtly status should occur, and that comedies should not deal with any serious issues. This genre now consciously places non-noble figures in serious situations and still offers comedic elements. Central themes are the parents’ love and childhood.
In Germany there is a very strong friendship cult in the literary landscape, as in the poems of Jakob Immanuel Pyra, and numerous forms of the art lyric are to be found. Odes, idols, hymns and elegies were created. Here, above all, Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, who influenced the literature of sensibility through artistic odes, and in addition reached an enormous proximity to nature and profound religiousity in the epic of Messiah (1748-1773). Klopstock’s writings influenced many other representatives of sensibility.
It is also typical for the lyricism of this period that the lyric self, in the literary text, leave its own emotional stimuli free and thus is able to show strong emotional excitements. Furthermore, the soul life of the ego is often exposed and thus represented with the individual and his emotions in the center. Frequently the idyllic, romantic-looking country life and the bourgeois city-oriented city life are often compared.
In addition to these works, dramatic texts, such as agitations or even lazy plays of love, arise in German sensibility, in which, like in France, the comedic is supplanted by the sentimental, and the bourgeois tragedy also gains in importance. Important representatives of the sensitive drama are August von Kotzebue and August Wilhelm Iffland.
In the epic, it is chiefly genera which make it possible to show the interior and to represent the different nuances of one’s own feelings. Consequently, above all, letters, letter romances, travel reports and other experiences are the main themes. A highlight of this portrayal of the deepest feelings is Goethe’s Werther (1774), who, however, already falls into the storm and impulse. After all, here the feeling is shown not only as a gloom, but as an absolute.
It is also the storm and the urge to develop in parallel with sensitivity and enlightenment, and the simple exaltation of the feeling, as demanded by representatives of the sensibility, and aroused into a intoxication of the sensations. Here reason is countered with something which is supposed to replace it almost: the feeling.
Representatives and works of sensitivity
Matthias Claudius (1740-1815)
The Wandsbeck Bothe (1771/75)
Evening song (1778)
Ludwig Heinrich Hölty (1748-1776)
Poems (1782/83)
Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock (1724-1803)
Messiah (1748-1773)
The Battle of Hermann (1769)
Oden (1771)
The Lake of Zurich (1771)
The Early Tombs (1771)
The Spring Festival (1771)
Johann Heinrich Voss (1751-1826)
The seventieth birthday (1781)
Luise (1783/84)
Sophie von La Roche (1730-1807, grandmother of the Bettina of Arnim)
History of the Miss von Sternheim (1771)
Short overview: The most important overview of sensitivity
Sensitivity is a current that has emerged from the literary epoch of Enlightenment. In terms of content, it contributes to the rational and rational approaches of the Enlightenment the sentimental and the sensitive. Sensitivity, however, is not to be understood as a counter-movement, but rather as a complement to enlightenment ideas.
It can be dated to approximately the years 1740 to 1790. In England and France, however, there have been sensitive tendencies since 1700, which have mainly been reflected in dramatic works. Furthermore, individual ideas continue into the 19th century.
The emphasis on the inner sensations was dominated by literary forms, which could represent and represent the various nuances of soul life. In lyric poetry, odes, idols, and elegies, the drama was characterized by stirrings, and was marked by bourgeois tragedy, and in the epic it was letters, romances, and travel reports that determined the literary field.
Note: Enlightenment, sensitivity and storm and urge are epochs, which ran almost simultaneously. The most important thing is that in the Enlightenment the mind was elevated to the highest good, the sensitivity is sensitive and almost faint, and the storm and impulse expresses itself in a kind of emotional noise.