CLASSICISM THEORY

Today am reviewing the popular theory is criminology, CLASSICISM! (Clap for me). I dont have much to say but i do hope you brought your cup of coffee along. As i always say, take a sip, enjoy the ride. Dont forget to comment oh!. Its very very important, i dont care the year you get to read this jare( 2020 current year- even though we didnt use the year)

Introduction
Classicism refers generally to a high regard for a classical period, classical antiquity in the western tradition, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. Classicism is a specific genre of philosophy, expressing itself in literature, architecture, art, and music, which has Ancient Greek and roman sources and an emphasis on society. It was particularly expressed in the Neoclassicism of the Age of Enlightenment. 

It could be said that classicism as a literary movement refers to three distinct bodies of literature: the French seventeenth century, the English late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, and the very late eighteenth-century German literature known as Weimar Classicism. Classicism has its roots in ancient Greek and Roman literature, philosophy, and art. Classicist believed that the lows of nature could be rationally understood and explained purely by reason.

Main Characteristics

Classicism, a term that, when applied generally, means clearness, elegance, symmetry, and repose produced by attention to traditional forms. It is sometimes synonymous with excellence or artistic quality of high distinction. More precisely, the term refers to the admiration and imitation of Greek and Roman literature, art, and architecture. Because the principles of classicism were derived from the rules and practices of the ancients, the term came to mean the adherence to specific academic canons. 

The classicism of the Renaissance led to, and gave way to, a different sense of what was “classical” in the 16th and 17th centuries. In this period classicism took on more overtly structural overtones of orderliness, predictability, the use of geometry and grids, the importance of rigorous discipline and pedagogy, as well as the formation of schools of art and music. The court of Louis XIV was seen as the center of this form of classicism, with its references to the gods of Olympus as a symbolic prop for absolutism, its adherence to axiomatic and deductive reasoning, and its love of order and predictability.

This period sought the revival of classical art forms, including Greek drama and music. Opera, in its modem European form, had its roots in attempts to recreate the combination of singing and dancing with theatre thought to be the Greek norm. Examples of this appeal to classicism included Dante, Petrarch, and Shakespeare in poetry and theatre. Tudor drama, in particular, modeled itself after classical ideals and divided works into Tragedy and Comedy. Studying Ancient Greek became regarded as essential for a well-rounded education in the liberal arts.
The Renaissance also explicitly returned to architectural models and techniques associated with Greek and Roman antiquity, including the golden rectangle as a key proportion for buildings, the classical orders of columns, as well as a host of ornament and detail associated with Greek and Roman architecture. They also began reviving plastic arts such as bronze casting for sculpture, and used the classical naturalism as the foundation of drawing, painting and sculpture.

Proponents of the Theory
    The term “classicism” was first applied to literature by Aulus Collins in his book, Noctes Allecea, in the 2nd century A.D. He coined the term ‘scriptor classisus’, which he is opposed to ‘scriptoria proletarius’. By his term, that is the former, he means an ‘aristocratic’ writer, and that is the author who writes for a happy few! Referred to as a ‘happy few’ are the educated people. It is because of this that the works of such authors are said to be read in the classroom or school. He is opposed to the latter term, which covers the works meant for general consumption. (Shipley, 1970:46).

    Steinberg (ed) (1953), agrees with Shipley (1970) and adds that the social implication brought a change to the meaning which simply means a work of the first class grade and this means that it is work of high quality. During the renaissance, only the great works in the Greek and Roman literatures were considered of first class quality and considered worthy of emulation. Since the acceptance of this idea, the view has persisted so much that classicism implies the reveal of the forms and traditions of the ancient world. We can agree that the Greek’s culture is classical because their literature attained formal perfection, contains humanitarian sprit and appeals to various nations. We can see these in the works of Homer, Plato, Aristotle and others. 

Preminger (ed) (1965) quoted in Okodo (2006), explains six meanings of classicism as they concern ‘classicism’, ‘classics’ or classical as a term of reference. His first meaning of ‘Great’ or ‘First class’ supports the meanings given by Shipley, (1970) and Steinberg (1953) describes ‘classicism’ as something concerned with the writer of high quality whome he qualified as ‘classical’ as opposed to a ‘preletarianism’ writer and that is the one that writes for not too educated people. According to him, ‘classical’ was derived from ‘classieus’ and ‘proletarian’ was derived from ‘proletarianism’.

Both words from which the adjectives were derived were sourced from the Roman tax law. The first means the member of the highest income brackets whereas the second means the wage earner with income that is below the taxable minimum. He borrowed the term from the tax collectors to enahce the social distinction as noted in social sciences wehrer the division between the rich and the poor is clearly noted with the term of the ‘proletariat’ and the ‘bourgeoisie’. 

    The second meaning which Preminger attaches to classicism is that it is ‘what is read in the school’. According to him, this meaning was first formed in the 6th century A.D. by Megnius Felix Enodius who spoke of a student that receives lectures in school as a ‘classious’. ‘Classious’ was used by the French and Italian Renaissance critics of the 16th century to describe literary works that are studied in the school. Because of the belief that the literature read in the school as prescribed by appropriate authorities should be of high quality, or excellent, the combination of the ideas of the ‘first rate’ formed the concept of this meaning of classicism.

    The third meaning is used to denote ‘Greatest’ or ‘Standard’ works of literature which also means periods of eminent literary development. This idea which is the current definition in both Germanic and Roman languages was first developed in the 19th century. In Thema Sebiller’s Art Poetique Francoys (154), he writes of Alain Chartier and Joan de Moung as “bons et classiques poetics francoy “ which means standard or model authors.

The Fourth meaning is specifically the limitation of ancient authors. As the authors of criticism and Roman antiquity become increasingly standardized, both as models for imitation and as school texts a fused meaning of a writer of high quality; what is read in the school and the standard works of all literature become the current meaning in the 17th century. Classics was made anonymous with the imitation of critics and Roman authors who in turn captured the appellation, “classics” as a collective term for their works. At present, the meaning remains acceptable. In the 20th century, critics used it to designate two different practices. It is sometimes used to denote the imitation of criticism and literary themes in the modern literatures.

    The fifth meaning is that it is adapted as the antithesis of romanticism. The autonomy-classicism versus romanticism was first coined by Frendric Von Schlegel (1772-1829). He saw classicism as an effort to express infinite idea and emotions in finite form. Schlegel envisaged a finite poetics co-existing within own idea of romanticism that is a progressive universal poetry in the making of which the poet was low unto himself. It was Mine de Steal (1766-1817) in his De l’Allemagre, who brought the antimony to the attention of both French and English critics. He drastically rejected classicism as a sterile form of literary creation. According to him, it is a mechanical imitation by means of predetermined rules. 

    And his sixth idea denotes a period designation in literary history. The confusion generated by ‘classic’, ‘classical’ and ‘classicism’ within one thousand seven hundred years is reflected in the designation of classical movements and epochs by the historians of literature within 20th century. Since these authors whose works fell under the heading of classicism in literature referred to as an attempt to reconstruct a poetry for vernacular literature from criticism and literary sources. The authors seldomly referred to their work as ‘classical’. The authors seldomly referred to their work as ‘classical’.

The aesthetic and general classicisms in literature have had to be reconstructed from hindsight. In this respect, historians of French literature have had the easiest task since the polemics of French romanticism clearly defined what its contrary, classicism, was and the canon of Boileau’s precursors and followers created a clear-cut vocabulary for purposes of grouping and analysis. In the histories of French literature and in the works on general and comparative literature from a French point of view, the period 1660-1700 is noted as high point of French classicism.

There was an influence of its critical theory and works upon the literatures of 18th century. Europe consists an international age of classicism, the aim of French classism was not conscious of classical revival, its aim was nationalist. Its intention was to produce a literature that is French to the core, which was worthy of the Greece and classical ideal.

Conclusion
Classicism refers to a high regard for a classical period, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. This implies a canon of widely accepted ideal forms. As a theory of fiction, is the possession of a high literary quality by a work in such a way that it is adjudged standard and used as a perimeter for measuring other works subsequent work tend to imitate it. Irrespective of different ideas or notions about classicism, the general idea about its meaning borders on high quality, which is a masterpiece that is a standard worthy of emulation.

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