Cumhuriyet Üniversitesi Fen-Edebiyat Fakültesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi

Abstract

German Romantic Period covers the years between 1798-1835. Around these dates two significant events took place: The French Revolution in 1789 and Goethe’s death in 1832. Politically, the French Revolution profoundly influenced the Romantic ideas on the state and the people. Goethe, on the other hand, was especially influential on the Romantics with his works during the Sturm und Drang period. German Romanticism is divided into two periods as the Jenaer Romantic and the Heidelberger Romantic. The first type is more philosophical and the latter is more nationalistic and religious. Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff (1788-1857) is a writer associated with the Heidelberger Romantics, and his efforts to combine religion and art are evident in his works. Dealing with the themes such as travel to distant places, longing for homeland and love for an unknown person, which are among the motifs in romantic art, Eichendorrf, in a way, expressed his own longings. Eichendorff’s novella bearing the title “Eine Meerfahrt” was written in 1836 but was published posthumously in 1864. In “Eine Meerfahrt”, in which religious motifs are predominant, the traces of colonialism are also apparent. This study aims to, after touching upon important aspects of the Romantic Period, put forward romantic and colonialist elements in Eichendorrf’s novella