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American Romanticism

American Romanticism. 1800-1840. City vs. Country. For Age of Reason, city was: Independence Adventure Prosperity Commerce Sophisticated society. City vs. Country. For Romantics, city was: Dangerous Corruption Decay and death Evil Morally ambiguous. City vs. Country.

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American Romanticism

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  1. American Romanticism 1800-1840

  2. City vs. Country • For Age of Reason, city was: • Independence • Adventure • Prosperity • Commerce • Sophisticated society

  3. City vs. Country • For Romantics, city was: • Dangerous • Corruption • Decay and death • Evil • Morally ambiguous

  4. City vs. Country The countryside became associated with: • Independence • Good health • Straightforward moral certainty

  5. Journey Motif • Popular in 19th century literature • Represents the journey away from the town, into the country • Moves toward the world of nature • Both a flight from something and • A flight to something

  6. Comparing Two Ages • Age of Reason ‘character’ • Do-gooder • Ambitious • Hard-working • Found energy in “town/city” life

  7. Comparing Two Ages • Age of Romanticism character: • Do-nothing • No ambition • Escape responsibility • Flee to the mountains/nature • Escape the limitations of town (domestic) life • Loves nature • Distrusts civilization

  8. The Romantic Sensibility • Intuition was favored, with and emphasis on: • Imagination • Spontaneity • Individual feelings • nature

  9. The Romantic Sensibility • Rational thinking, was inferior: • Reason • Logic • Planning • Cultivation

  10. The Romantic Sensibility • Why? • People discovered the limits of reason • People believed you could discover truths that were accompanied by • Powerful emotion • Associated with beauty This thinking was essentially for the purposes of ART!

  11. The Romantic Sensibility • How did they do this? Two Ways: • Explore settings in a more natural past • Remove thoughts from the industrial age • Remove oneself from the present; go back to a mythical time

  12. The Romantic Sensibility • Contemplate Nature until dull reality falls away • View commonplace events • Search for deeper meaning or insight

  13. The American Hero • Youth (or childlike qualities) • Innocence • A love of nature • A distrust of town life • Uneasiness with women • Need to engage in a quest for some higher truth in the natural world

  14. The American Hero • Novels tended to look at: • the Wilderness • Westward expansion • Growing Nationalist spirit • Rapid growth of cities (seen as negative)

  15. The American Hero • Your quintessential frontiersman • Idealized frontier life • Virtuous • Lives a moral life (follows the code of the forest) • Highly skilled • Seeking a higher good

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