American Romanticism 1800-1865 PDF

AMERICAN ROMANTICISM 1800-1865 “We will walk on our own feet; we will work with our own hands; we will speak with our own minds…A nation of men will for the first time exist, because each believes in himself inspired by the Divine Soul which also inspires all men.” —RALPH WALDO E...

AMERICAN ROMANTICISM 1800-1865 “We will walk on our own feet; we will work with our own hands; we will speak with our own minds…A nation of men will for the first time exist, because each believes in himself inspired by the Divine Soul which also inspires all men.” —RALPH WALDO EMERSON  ROMANTICISM ○ Romanticism is a philosophical reaction to the previous decades in which reason and rational thought dominated ○ Emphasis on universal human experience ○ Valuing feeling and intuition over reason  Historical Context ○ Optimistic period of invention, Manifest Destiny, abolition movement, and the “birth” of truly American literature ○ Growth of urban population in the Northeast with growth of newspapers, lectures, debates (especially over slavery and women’s roles) ○ Revolution in transportation, science, ○ Industrial revolution made “old ways” of doing things are now irrelevant CHARACTERISTICS OF ROMANTICISM ○ Writers celebrated individualism, nature, imagination, creativity, and emotions. ○ Interest in fantasy and supernatural ○ Writing can usually be interpreted two ways—surface and in depth ○ Writing is didactic—attempting to shape readers ○ Good will triumph over evil. ○ Strong focus on inner feelings ○ Imagination prized over reason; intuition over fact ○ Blossoming of short stories, novels, and poetry 01 EARLY ROMANTIC 03 TRANSCENDENTALISM 02 FIRESIDE POETS 04 DARK ROMANTICISM  EARLY ROMANTIC 1. Early Romantic authors began the tradition of creating imaginative literature that was distinctly American a. Washington Irving (folktales) b. William Cullen Bryant (poetry) FIRESIDE POETS ○ Fireside Poets, the most popular Romantic poets of the time, were read in the home by the fireside because their poetry contained strong family values, patriotism, etc. It has remained popular in elementary schools for memorization. ○ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow  TRANSCENDENTALISM 1. Transcendentalism came to America from Europe 2. Belief that man’s nature is inherently good; “divine spark” or “inner-light” 3. Belief that man and society are perfectible (utopia) 4. Stress individualism, self-reliance, intuition a. Ralph Waldo Emerson (essays, poetry) b. Henry David Thoreau (essays) DARK ROMANTICISM ○ Dark Romanticism (also known as Gothic or Anti-Transcendentalism) ○ Belief that man’s nature is inherently evil ○ Belief that whatever is wrong with society—sin, pain, evil—has to be fixed by fixing the individual man first. ○ Use of supernatural ○ Strong use of symbolism ○ Dark landscapes, depressed characters ○ Nathaniel Hawthorne (novels, short stories) ○ Herman Melville (novels, short stories, poetry) ○ Edgar Allan Poe (short stories, poetry, literary criticism