Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1910-12-22
ROMANT|C|SMIN IN FRANCE
A Scholarly Paper Read Before
Private Class In English By
DR.. SiriCh OF ST. Johns
College
A BREAK WITH THE PAST
Classicism Defined-The Seventeenth
Century An Age Satisfied With Ii.

Last evening before the private
class in English literature, which
meets weekly at the residence of
Miss Pinkney, very scholarly
paper was read by DR.. f. II. Sirich, of
st. Johns College.
DR.. Sirich's subject was "l.o-
manticism in France" a subject to
which his paper showed he had given
careful thought, deep study and ex-
haustive research. The paper was
much enjoyed by the class, and at its
close there was lively discussion
of the subject in which Rev. Joseph
2. McComas, Prof. F. w. Morri-
son, Professor Stryker, and others
participated.
Among other things DR.. Sirich
said:
Romauticism in French liter
ature is essentially a break with
the past, j. e., with Classicism, H."
and for this reason he characterized
classicism. to show more clearly in
what way Romantcism was opposed
to it. "Classicism," he said, "ex-
tended from the middle of the fif-
teenth to the beginning of the nine
teenth century. It's Golden age was
the seventeenth century, and from
the point of view of literature he
showed some of the characteristics
of this age, which. the lecturer said,
was primarily an age satisfied with
itself. It's literature was not mill
tant. 1t represented the social linn.
its of the time, the royal power and
spiritual power of the church.
Here and there" the lecturer
said. I'VE may hear the echo of the
conflicts of religion and politics, or a
confused presentment of a far dis
tant future, still chimerical, of
which he cited examples.
The seveneenth century. DR.. Sirich
said, was an age splendidly, if not
profoundly Christian. Religious lit
erature furnished almost all the mas
ter pieces of its prose. The great
tragic poets were Christians. No
voice, he said, puts directly in ques-
tion the principles of faith, no voice
attacks directly the temporal power
of the church. The dispute is be-
tween the churches, between sects;
it is only a question of orthodoxy
and heresy.
In speaking of the Classic age,
DR.. Sirich said Absolute absence of
all personality was the characteristic
par excellence of this classic age,
which brought it into most violent
contact with the Romantic move.
ment. 'Efface Oneself" was the law
of the literary world. the objective,
the general, the world itself stiffled
the personal life wits the domestic
life of the fireside. Man was only
pure intelligence. There were no
portraits, but types, and he cited
examples of Moliere and others whose
poetry was such a characterization.
DR.. Sirich said the seventeenth
century was an age of confidence in
itself, of opticism and quietude, the
eighteenth shows a temperament
aggressive, troubled, irriltant, yet
all literary works brought in the
shadows of the seventeenth century
show the impress of the classic
dogma. Voltaire prolonged the GEN.
tury of Louis XIV.
The paper covered so much that it
is impossible in a brief account to
give complete, or even compre-
hensive review, in a newspaper criti-
cism. The paper was given marked
attention and received at its close
most favorable comment for the
author.
The next lecture will be given be-
fore the class on January 4 by Pro-
fessor Woodcock, of st. Johu's Col
lege, whose subject will be The Su-
preme Court"