American Romanticism
1800-1860
Romanticism Notes
Before the Age of Romanticism
(Before 1800)
• American writers not widely read
• Puritans and Revolutionary Period writers not very interested in fiction
No fiction!?!
Put me to sleep!!!
Literary Romanticism Movement
• Population became bored with logic and reason
• Romanticism sought to elevate imagination over reason and intuition over fact
Romanticism Time Frame
• 1800-1860• Romanticism was a
literary and artistic movement of the 19th century
• It was a response to 18th century Revolutionary writing, which relied on exposition and persuasion versus narration
Traits of Romanticism
• Unlike classicism Romanticism focused on the following:– Imagination
– Emotion
– Nature
– Individuality
• A shift took place from personal and political documents to entertaining ones
Characteristics of Romanticism
• Romantics felt that civilization often corrupted man.
• God can be found in nature• Characters quest for a
higher truth, that can’t be taught in formal settings
• Individual truth is more important than institutional laws
• Settings often exotic or supernatural
Romantic Hero
• Lives in harmony in nature and prefers nature over civilization.
• Uncorrupted by civilization and has high moral character
• Hawkeye from Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper (1826)
Romantic Writers • Romantic elements can be found in the works of the following well known authors:– Edgar Allan Poe– Henry David Thoreau– Ralph Waldo Emerson– Nathaniel Hawthorne– Washington Irving– Herman Melville– James Fenimore CooperHawthorne
Poe
Origin of Transcendentalism
Core Belief
A Change in Focus
• Based on a philsophy of Emanual Kant (1724-1804) as expressed in The Critique of Practical Reason
• Knowledge came not from experience or reason, but through intuition and self-revelation
• Nature was their church where they went for inspiration
TranscendentalismTranscendentalism
Most Noteworthy Transcendentalists
– Ralph Waldo Emerson – Henry David Thoreau
Emerson Thoreau
Anti-Transcendentalists
Famous Anti-Transcendentalists
Also known as
• Works showed the evil of mankind
– Nathaniel Hawthorne– Washington Irving – Herman Melville– Edgar Allan Poe
– Gothicism– Dark Romanticism