The passage below is accompanied by four questions. Based on the passage, choose the
best answer for each question.
Understanding romantic aesthetics is not a simple undertaking for reasons that are internal to
the nature of the subject. Distinguished scholars, such as Arthur Lovejoy, Northrop Frye and
Isaiah Berlin, have remarked on the notorious challenges facing any attempt to define
romanticism. Lovejoy, for example, claimed that romanticism is “the scandal of literary history
and criticism” . . . The main difficulty in studying the romantics, according to him, is the lack of
any “single real entity, or type of entity” that the concept “romanticism” designates. Lovejoy
concluded, “the word ‘romantic’ has come to mean so many things that, by itself, it means
nothing” . . .
The more specific task of characterizing romantic aesthetics adds to these difficulties an air of
paradox. Conventionally, “aesthetics” refers to a theory concerning beauty and art or the
branch of philosophy that studies these topics. However, many of the romantics rejected the
identification of aesthetics with a circumscribed domain of human life that is separated from
the practical and theoretical domains of life. The most characteristic romantic commitment is
to the idea that the character of art and beauty and of our engagement with them should
shape all aspects of human life. Being fundamental to human existence, beauty and art
should be a central ingredient not only in a philosophical or artistic life, but also in the lives of
ordinary men and women. Another challenge for any attempt to characterize romantic
aesthetics lies in the fact that most of the romantics were poets and artists whose views of art
and beauty are, for the most part, to be found not in developed theoretical accounts, but in
fragments, aphorisms and poems, which are often more elusive and suggestive than
conclusive.
Nevertheless, in spite of these challenges the task of characterizing romantic aesthetics is
neither impossible nor undesirable, as numerous thinkers responding to Lovejoy’s radical
skepticism have noted. While warning against a reductive definition of romanticism, Berlin, for
example, still heralded the need for a general characterization: “[Although] one does have a
certain sympathy with Lovejoy’s despair…[he is] in this instance mistaken. There was a
romantic movement…and it is important to discover what it is” . . .
Recent attempts to characterize romanticism and to stress its contemporary relevance follow
this path. Instead of overlooking the undeniable differences between the variety of
romanticisms of different nations that Lovejoy had stressed, such studies attempt to
characterize romanticism, not in terms of a single definition, a specific time, or a specific
place, but in terms of “particular philosophical questions and concerns” . . .
While the German, British and French romantics are all considered, the central protagonists
in the following are the German romantics. Two reasons explain this focus: first, because it
has paved the way for the other romanticisms, German romanticism has a pride of place
among the different national romanticisms . . . Second, the aesthetic outlook that was
developed in Germany roughly between 1796 and 1801–02 — the period that corresponds to
the heyday of what is known as “Early Romanticism” . . .— offers the most philosophical
expression of romanticism since it is grounded primarily in the epistemological, metaphysical,
ethical, and political concerns that the German romantics discerned in the aftermath of Kant’s
philosophy

Sub Question No : 1
Q.1 According to the passage, recent studies on romanticism avoid “a single definition, a
specific time, or a specific place” because they:
Ans1. seek to discredit Lovejoy’s skepticism regarding romanticism.

2. prefer to focus on the fundamental concerns of the romantics.
3. prefer to highlight the paradox of romantic aesthetics as a concept.
4. understand that the variety of romanticisms renders a general analysis impossible.

Details

2

Sub Question No : 2
Q.2 Which one of the following statements is NOT supported by the passage?
Ans 1. Romantic aesthetics are primarily expressed through fragments, aphorisms, and
poems.

2. Recent studies on romanticism seek to refute the differences between national
   romanticisms.
3. Many romantics rejected the idea of aesthetics as a domain separate from other
   aspects of life.
4. Characterising romantic aesthetics is both possible and desirable, despite the
   challenges involved.

Details

2

Sub Question No : 3
Q.3 According to the romantics, aesthetics:
Ans 1. should be confined to a specific domain separate from the practical and theoretical
aspects of life.

2. is primarily the concern of philosophers and artists, rather than of ordinary people.
3. is widely considered to be irrelevant to human existence.
4. permeates all aspects of human life, philosophical and mundane.

Details

4

SubQuestion No : 4
Q.4 The main difficulty in studying romanticism is the:
Ans 1. lack of clear conceptual contours of the domain.

2. absence of written accounts by romantic poets and artists.
3. controversial and scandalous history of romantic literature.
4. elusive and suggestive nature of romantic aesthetics.

Details

1