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American Romanticism

American Romanticism. Early 1800’s to 1865. We will walk with our own feet. We will work with our own hands. We will speak our own minds -Ralph Waldo Emerson. Before we look at what Romanticism IS, we have to think about what it IS NOT!.

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American Romanticism

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  1. American Romanticism Early 1800’s to 1865

  2. We will walk with our own feet. We will work with our own hands. We will speak our own minds -Ralph Waldo Emerson

  3. Before we look at what Romanticism IS, we have to think about what it IS NOT! • Despite the name of the literary period, Romanticism does not deal with sappy love stories. THIS IS NOT THE KIND OF LITERATURE THAT WE ARE GOING TO STUDY!

  4. So what IS Romanticism? • Romanticism is the name for the literary period that followed the Age of Reason (The Revolutionary Period) in America. • Due to the fact that the country was now established, writers moved their focus away from political matters and revolutionary governmental ideas, and began to focus on other aspects of life (emotions, possibilities, imagination etc…)

  5. Characteristics • THE 5 I’s • Imagination • Intuition • Idealism • Inspiration • Individuality

  6. Characteristics of American Romanticism • Values feeling and intuition over reason • Places faith in inner experience and the power of the imagination • Shuns the artificiality of civilization and seeks unspoiled nature • Prefers youthful innocence to educated sophistication • Champions individual freedom and the worth of the individual • Contemplates nature’s beauty as a path to spiritual and moral development

  7. Characteristics (continued) • Looks backward to the wisdom of the past and distrusts progress • Finds beauty and truth in exotic locals, the supernatural realm, and the inner world of the imagination

  8. A sample of American Romantic art- note the wild landscape, no hint of civilization and ominous clouds.

  9. Types of literature prevalent in Romanticism… • Short stories • Novels • Poetry • Essays

  10. Elements of Romanticism • Frontier: vast expanse, freedom, no geographic limitations. • Optimism: greater than in Europe because of the presence of frontier. • Experimentation: in science, in institutions. • Mingling of races: immigrants in large numbers arrive to the US. • Growth of industrialization: polarization of north and south; north becomes industrialized, south remains agricultural.

  11. Romantic Subject Matter • The quest for beauty and does not tell people how to live their lives • Escapism - from American problems. The use of the far-away and non-normal • Interest in external nature - for itself, for beauty: • Nature as source for the knowledge of the primitive. • Nature as refuge. • Nature as revelation of God to the individual.

  12. Romantic Techniques • Remoteness of settings in time and space. • Improbable plots. • Inadequate or unlikely characterization. • Socially "harmful morality;" a world of "lies." • Organic principle in writing: form rises out of content, non-formal.

  13. Representative writers • William Cullen Bryant • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow • DARK ROMANTICS • Nathaniel Hawthorne • Herman Melville • Edgar Allan Poe

  14. BIG PICTURE. • Romantic VIEW OF MAN: Focus on the individual and his inner world (imagination and emotions).

  15. BIG PICTURE • Romantic VIEW OF NATURE: Nature is beautiful, mysterious, and symbolic. God can be seen in nature.

  16. BIG PICTURE • Romantic GUIDE TO TRUTH: Intuition (inner voice or gut feeling) and imagination guides each individual to understanding.

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