Introduction to American Romanticism

1. Introduction to American Romanticism A Movement Across the Arts

2. What is Romanticism? • Romanticism refers to a movement in art, literature and music during the 19th century (1800 – 1860) • American Romanticism was a reaction to the Classicism of the late 18th century • Classicism was characterized as: • Upholding REASON over nature and human nature • Emphasizing Social over the personal • The Common over the Individual • In literature, Classicists valued Clarity, Order and Balance

3. Classicism rested firmly on the belief that the city and urban center was the place to find success and self-fulfillment

4. By the early 1800’s, early American cities were festering with social problems: • Poverty • Over-crowding • Unemployment • Malnourishment

5. At this time in American History, exciting things were occurring outside of these urban centers: • The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 and the subsequent Gold Rush prompted Westward Expansion and the idea of ‘Manifest Destiny’ • America needed a new identity and a new spirit

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

7. American Romanticism • . . . Was born out of three main events: • 1. Westward expansion • 2. The need for a new ‘American’ identity that set it apart from the British past • 3. The demise of the urban center

8. Characteristics of American Romanticism (The 5 I’s) • Imagination • Intuition • Idealism • Inspiration • Individuality

9. Imagination • Imagination was emphasized over “reason.” • This was a backlash against the rationalism characterized by the classical period or “Age of Reason.” • Imagination was considered necessary for creating all art.

10. Intuition • Romantics placed value on “intuition,” or feeling and instincts, over reason. • Emotions were important in Romantic art.

11. Idealism • Idealism is the concept that we can make the world a better place. • Idealism refers to any theory that emphasizes the spirit, the mind, or language over matter – thought has a crucial role in making the world the way it is. • Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher, held that the mind forces the world we perceive to take the shape of space-and-time.

12. Inspiration • The Romantic artist, musician, or writer, is an “inspired creator” rather than a “technical master.” • What this means is “going with the moment” or being spontaneous, rather than “getting it precise.”

13. Individuality • Romantics celebrated the individual. • During this time period, Women’s Rights and Abolitionism were taking root as major movements. • Walt Whitman, a later Romantic writer, would write a poem entitled “Song of Myself”: it begins, “I celebrate myself…”

14. Romanticism in the Arts • Classical art was rigid, severe, and unemotional; it hearkened back to ancient Greece and Rome • Romantic art was emotional, deeply-felt, individualistic, and exotic. It has been described as a reaction to classicism, or “anti-Classicism.”

15. Classical Art

17. Romantic Art

19. Romanticism in Music • “Classical” musicians included composers like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Franz Josef Haydn. • 1730-1820. • Classical music emphasized internal order and balance.

20. Romantic musicians included composers like Frederic Chopin, Franz Lizst, PyotrIl’yich Tchaikovsky • 1800-1910. • Romantic music emphasized expression of feelings.

21. Romanticism in Literature • In America, Romanticism most strongly impacted literature. • Writers explored supernatural and gothic themes. • Romantic authors distrusted progress, and often looked to the past for inspiration • Writers also wrote about Nature – Nature was a source of inspiration and a reflection of the inner world

22. Washington Irving was an early Romantic author • Irving explored mythology and nature in his writings as a way to examine the human condition and moral development • As you read “The Devil and Tom Walker” ask yourself what makes this short story a representation of Romantic Literature