American Romanticism

1. American Romanticism

2. Romanticism • Idea that God is actively involved in Creation - Universe is evolving • Rejection of Industrialism and large cities - celebration of pastoral setting • Value feeling and intuition over reason - a rejection of classicism and rationalism and deism • Imagination, dream/fantasy world • Reflect on the natural world until dull reality falls away to reveal underlying beauties and truths • Romantics find a less clearly defined divinity in nature, not necessarily the God of Christianity or a God only of science and reason

3. Six I’s of Romanticism: Intuition, Imagination, Innocence, Inspiration (from Nature), Inner experience, Individualism • To the Rationalist the city is the place to find success, wealth and self-discovery • To the Romantics it is a place of immorality, pollution, over-crowdedness, corruption and death • You cannot be an individual in the city – you conform and lose your innocence and spirituality

4. Plato

5. Plato - famous Greek Philosopher • Plato held that reality is an imperfect reflection of an ideal, permanent realm. • Divided Line: On the surface are pure forms, behind these pure forms are universals - what lies behind reality. Making up the pure forms are the particulars of the physical universe, that which we see around us in the physical world • General Concepts relate to specific objects. For example, he wondered what enables human beings to refer to thousands of different objects - say, trees - by using a single word, tree. Plato concluded that all trees share something in common; this is the form or idea of a tree

6. Divided Line Pure Forms – Objects we see in Nature _____________________________________ Universals – The spiritual truth that lies beyond the surface

7. Ralph Waldo Emerson

8. Ralph Waldo Emerson • Famous Essayist, Poet, Philosopher and Minister. Studied Plato and all of the Romantic writers coming out of England extensively • He called for a national Epic - superior civilizations have superior art forms - can’t be just imitation

9. Transcendentalism • To Transcend means to “rise above” • In determining the ultimate reality of God, the Universe, the self one must go beyond everyday human experiences - Based in Idealism • Believed in human perfectibility Divine Soul or Oversoul • Everything in the world is a reflection of this • The physical facts of the natural world are a doorway to the spiritual or ideal world • God is found in intuition, feeling, and nature

11. Intense Optimism • Death is simply part of the cycle of life. Evil occurs because we separate from a direct, intuitive knowledge of God - have to reaffirm our connection to the Divine Soul • Organic Forms - Things that are natural and evolve and change Children to a Romantic • Children are more “in tune” with the spiritual realm because they have just come from there • Children retain the wonder of immortality and then they gradually lose it as they get older and live life • Childhood innocence is characterized by a wonder for nature

12. Emerson’s Contributions • In his essays he tries to produce an artistic tradition. He lays the ground work for posterity • He feels the Puritans have had a negative influence on the U.S. • He sees life as a search for truth, but not grim - joyful and exciting • He influenced architecture and music and other art forms at the time • He calls God the Oversoul; he takes the theistic conception out of a purely Christian context and places it in the context of nature • He feels that nature is the mediator between these 2 realms • He reduces the importance of reason; he asserts that mankind cannot understand the universe through reason alone. • Art is the way of living creatively – people shape their perception to gain a better insight into the Universal Truths

13. Emerson’s Contributions • He embraces change – he sees the Universe as being in the process of becoming something - creation is still going on, still being molded by the Oversoul. • Poetry is the highest of callings • Poet is involved in the creation of God’s Will • He calls poets “liberating gods”- they look for truth and help others search for truth; they help others live a more elevated existence • He embraces American ideals of freedom and democracy • God is the supreme artist - all creation is a work of art • Restore a balance where art is at the center of things - create room for art in civilization • Emerson was a great optimist and idealist but he was accused of having little understanding of evil – ultimately Romanticism’s downfall.

14. From “Nature” • A simple glimpse of the Divine -the night sky • If the stars only came out once every 1,000 years people would be amazed and filled with faith and love and they would remember it • The “eye” - can integrate the parts of nature into a landscape

15. From “Nature” • Lovers of nature are young at heart and feels the necessity to commune with nature regularly • Emerson is obsessed with the ocular - the “eye” - also the “I” of the individual. The focus on the self disappears, becomes transparent and sees everything. • The “eye” is able to see the beauty in Nature - the artist • Light is the artist in nature because we need light to see • “nature always wears the colors of the spirit” meaning that our emotions are reflected in nature

16. From “Self Reliance” • Americans have the indomitable will to be successful and to work hard • Different people, facts and places strike each of us as “right” or familiar when we first encounter them, almost as if we had already known them. • These “preestablished” differences hint at our unique purpose in life and at an overall design or harmony • Overall sense that people have a goodness about them • People should trust in themselves and beware of society - remain a nonconformist

17. American Frontier • Louisiana Purchase of 1803 more than doubles the size of the nation • The Frontier, the myth of the WEST continues to expand • Journey Motif - People pursue dreams of land, $, and prosperity • Frontier movement helped break the country away from the Puritan grip, to move away from the East • Sense that America doesn’t have the history and developments that Europe has • Explorers are Adam, landscape is Eden, a pre-fallen realm • Paradox of how we looked at the landscape - saw it as a special/holy place to be preserved and admired as God’s creation but also as a place to be controlled, utilized for value, produce natural resources • First great American literature was about the frontier

18. Louisiana Purchase

19. The Leatherstocking Tales • James Fenimore Cooper writes 5 novels (The Pioneers, The Last of the Mohicans, The Prairie, The Pathfinder, and The Deerslayer) about different adventures of a wilderness man • His name – Nathaniel (people call him Natty) Bumpo (he is renamed as Hawkeye, Deerslayer, The Trapper, Pathfinder and Leatherstocking) • He is constantly moving and changing his identity - important motif in American Literature • The Pioneers - 1823 - Natty Bumppo is in his 70s • The Last of the Mohicans - 1826 - Hawkeye is in his 20s. Most famous and popular of the 5 texts. It is about the French and Indian War. • The Prairie - 1827 - The Trapper is in his 80s • The Pathfinder - 1840 - The Pathfinder is in his 30s

20. James Fenimore Cooper

21. The Pioneers - 1st book written, 2nd to last book chronologically

22. The Last of the Mohicans was made into a popular film in 1992 starring Daniel Day Lewis as Hawkeye

23. The Prairie by James Fenimore Cooper - Last book chronologically, 3rd book written

24. The Leatherstocking Tales • The Deerslayer - 1841 - The Deerslayer, or Hawkeye, is 18 • He gets his names and identities through experiences with nature outside the community setting, not with people • Juxtaposed with real frontiersmen, some are criminals, some destroy the environment • Cooper looked at life on the early Frontier • Natty Bumpo is the first great American literary figure • A Romantic Hero, rugged, handsome, loved nature while distrusting town life • American Romantic Hero was innocent, intuitive, youthful and close to nature • Stories also question what America is to do with the American Indian • In the texts the bad Indians get killed and the good Indians fade away

25. The Leatherstocking Tales • Cooper suggested that the U.S. government allow the Indians to move west of the Mississippi because Westward expansion hadn’t gotten that far yet • Cooper gave Europeans what they wanted to hear - myth, not history • The first couple of novels are fairly realistic but the latter novels become more and more mythologized • Bumpo recognizes nature as a place for spiritual rejuvenation • Cooper intermingles history with myth - first novel is more history, last novel is all myth • Bumpo - a country bumpkin or hick • His search for identity representative of a country in search of identity • He moves constantly West, looking for a newer Eden

26. The Leatherstocking Tales • Natty Bumpo has a Native American traveling by his side in most of the stories - the traveling minority companion became another American literary motif • Cooper had not direct knowledge of Native Americans so he latched on to two stereotypes • Native Americans are either vicious villains or the noble savage who has a great sense of connection to the land, very spiritual, idealized • Ignored the real human character in between