American Literature: Romanticism

American Romantic PeriodTranscendentalism and Dark Romanticism

Romantic Period

The American Romantic

period, which lasted

from about 1820-1860,

was a movement where

literature focused on

intuition, imagination,

and individualism.

Romantic Period

Characteristics:

Imagination

Individuality

Nature as a source of spirituality

Looking to the past for wisdom

Seeing the common man as a

hero

Romantic Period

Washington Irving

Biography

Works

Style

Washington Irving

Washington Irving was the first

American author who found

success both in Europe and in

America.

Washington Irving

Biography: Born April 3, 1783; Grows up in Manhattan, New

York; Moves to Tarrytown, New York

(at the age of 15); Goes to Europe (at the age of

17); Meets Sir Walter Scott.

Washington Irving

Works: The Sketch Book

'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow' and 'Rip Van Winkle;

Tales of a Traveler'The Devil and Tom Walker;‘

Washington Irving had a great

sense of humor, which

transcended into his writings.

Washington Irving

Style: Imagery

using words to create a picture in the reader's mind to create long descriptions of the American landscape

Modern short story; Irony

saying the opposite of what you really mean

Question Time

1. Romanticism started in:

a. England

b. United States

c. Germany

d. Italy

Question Time

2. It is a characteristic of the American

Romantic period:

a. A trickster god interferes

b. Symbolism

c. Imagination

d. Worlds are created

Question Time

3. He is known as the father of American

literature:

a. Rip Van Winkle

b. Washington Irving

c. Henry David Thoreau

d. Walt Whitman

Question Time

4. Washington Irving’s The Sketch Book

contains his most well-known story:

a. Tales of a Traveler

b. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

c. The Devil and Tom Walker

d. The Scarlet Letter

Question Time

5. It's the story of the superstitious Ichabod

Crane's attempts to win over the fair Katrina,

and how he is scared away by a Headless

Horseman.

a. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

b. The Devil and Tom Walker

c. The Scarlet Letter

d. Rip Van Winkle

Transcendentalism

Transcendentalism was an

American literary and

philosophical movement that

lasted from the 1820s to the

1850s.

Transcendentalism

Beliefs:

The 'Eternal One'

Every individual carries the

universe within himself and is

entitled to his own personal

relationship with spirituality.

Transcendentalism

Beliefs:

Intuitive Thought

Intuition should have

precedence over conscious

thought. Intuition is the most

fundamental form of

knowledge.

Transcendentalism

Beliefs:

Imagination

Imagination allows a person to

transcend himself, to consider

things anew.

Transcendentalism

Transcendentalism encouraged

man to look closely at the world,

to look closely at himself, and to

be radically honest about what he

sees.

Transcendentalism

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Henry David Thoreau

Walt Whitman

Emily Dickinson

Ralph Waldo Emerson

‘Self-Reliance’

Individualism

Every thought and action

should be independent and

authentic. Individuals must be

free to pursue their personal

goals and desires.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

‘Self-Reliance’

Nonconformity

People must think for

themselves and resist the

pressure to conform to

prevailing ideas or practices.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

‘Self-Reliance’

Intuition

Intuition is the most

fundamental form of

knowledge. Intuition is direct

knowledge; all other

knowledge is secondhand.

Henry David Thoreau

‘Civil Disobedience’

Henry David Thoreau's essay Civil

Disobedience, published in 1849, has

influenced civil rights leaders from

President John F. Kennedy to Gandhi to

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Henry David Thoreau

‘Civil Disobedience’

He encouraged Americans to avoid

supporting immoral government

spending by not paying taxes, even

if that action landed them in jail.

Emily Dickinson

19th-century American poet;

Wrote over 1,000 poems;

Focused on death, immortality

and nature;

Her poems rarely had titles.

Question Time

1. It is a movement, a reaction against 18th-

century rationalism:

a. Modernism

b. Puritan Writing

c. Realism

d. Transcendentalism

Question Time

2. Transcendentalist doctrines found their

greatest literary advocates in _____ and

Thoreau.

a. Jefferson

b. Emerson

c. Freneau

d. Smith

Question Time

3. Transcendentalists recognized ______ as

the “highest power of the soul”.

a. intuition

b. logic

c. the senses

d. thinking

Question Time

4. Famous female transcendentalist:

a. Anne Bradstreet

b. Emily Dickinson

c. Sylvia Plath

d. Mary Jane Watson

Question Time

5. Thoreau’s greatest essay that has

influenced civil rights leaders around the

world:

a. Everything You Need

b. Creation and Truth

c. Civil Disobedience

d. Patience

Dark Romanticism

American Renaissance Explosion of uniquely

American literature  1840-1860 American literary

masterpieces Subgenres: the Dark

Romantics and the Transcendentalists. 

Dark Romanticism

Characteristics:

Lots of creepy symbols

Horrific themes

Psychological effects of guilt

and sin

Dark Romanticism

Characteristics:

Symbols

A symbol is

something that

represents

something

else.

Dark Romanticism

Edgar Allan Poe's poem

‘The Raven’

In that poem, the raven

is a symbol for death

and hopelessness as it

sits and watches the

narrator, who is slowly

going mad. 

Dark Romanticism

Characteristics:

Horrific Themes

A story's theme is a statement that

the text seems to making about the

subject.

• the struggles of human nature

• surroundings could be filled

with evil

Dark Romanticism

Characteristics:

Psychological effects of

guilt and sin

Dark Romanticism

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The

Scarlet Letter

Hawthorne tells the story of a

minister whose affair with a

married woman sends him into

a guilt-ridden self-punishment,

and ultimately death.

Dark Romanticism

The result of Dark Romantics is a

collection of short stories,

poems, and novels that forced

Americans to see that evil was

lurking in us all.

Question Time

1. Movement that started during the last

years of the American Romantic Period:

a. Realism

b. Transcendentalism

c. Dark Romanticism

d. Modernism

Question Time

2. It is not a characteristic of Dark

Romanticism:

a. Lots of Creepy Symbols

b. Imagination

c. Horrific Themes

d. Psychological Effects

Question Time

3. During the Romanticism, __________ and

_______ were two strong subgenres:

a. Thinkers and Believers

b. Transcendentalism and Realism

c. Transcendentalists and Dark Romantics

d. Puritans and Dark Romantics

Question Time

4. Poe’s best-known poem, in his own

lifetime:

a. What Can You Do?

b. Rip Van Winkle

c. The Raven

d. True Love

Question Time

5. It tells the story of a minister whose affair

with a married woman ultimately sends

him to death:

a. Sin and Truth

b. Love Story

c. The Raven

d. The Scarlet Letter