Jan. 5th, 2015

Do Now:Top 5 list of things you learned in 2014. (In general – not necessarily in this class or even in school )

Jan. 5th, 2015

Do Now:In no less than 3 sentences, describe what you think are the characteristics/themes/

subject matter of American Romanticism.

AmericanRomanticism

1800 -1860

American Romanticism

For Rationalists – the city was a place of civilization and opportunity

For Romantics – the city was a place of immorality and death.

For these reasons, the Romantic Journey often leads into the countryside. A place of independence, morality, and

healthful living

American Romanticism

Sometimes, the journey might be into the mind. The works of Edgar Allen Poe show

journeys into the imagination. The Romantic journey is both a flight

from something and a flight to something.

The Romantic Sensibility: Celebrating Imagination

Romantics valued feeling over reason.

Romanticism – originally a European movement – began in late 1700s Spread throughout Europe into the

1800s. Came to America slightly later and took

somewhat different forms

Romanticism

First grew in response to rationalism. Rationalism had focused on reason and

science.▪ Sparked the Industrial Revolution▪ With Industrial Revolution came filthy cities and

terrible working conditions. Romantics distrusted pure reason and

instead turned to the imagination. Claimed that the imagination could see and

understand truths that the rational mind could not.

Romanticism

Romantics valued imagination, feeling, and nature over reason, logic, and civilization.

Romantics valued poetry above all other works of the imagination. They contrasted poetry with science,

which they viewed as a destroyer of truth.

Edgar Allen Poe once called science a “vulture” with wings of “dull realities” that preyed upon the hearts of poets.

Romantic Escapism: From Dull Realties to Higher Truths

Romantics – explored exotic settings In the more natural past or in locations

far from civilization and industry.Romantics – explored supernatural

worlds Explored legends and folktales

Romantics

Tried to reflect on the natural world in order to see truth and beauty. This approach is found in many lyric

poems▪ In these poems, the speaker discovers in

ordinary scenes or objects (flower by a stream, bird flying overhead) some important deeply felt understanding about life.▪ Like the Puritans, Romantics found truth in

nature▪ But rather than finding moral lessons, Romantics

found a more general feeling of mental and emotional health.

Characteristics of American Romanticism

Values feeling over reason Places faith in the imagination Shuns civilization and seeks nature Prefers innocence to sophistication Fights for individual’s freedom and worth Trusts past wisdom, not progress Reflects on nature to gain spiritual wisdom Finds beauty and truth in supernatural or imaginative

realms. Sees poetry at the highest work of the imagination Is inspired by myth, legend, and folklore.

The American Novel and the Wilderness Experience

Some American writers imitated English and European models of writing.

Others believed that America should develop a literary style of its own.

The great American frontier provided a sense of unlimited possibilities that was not available in Europe.

The first truly American novels looked westward.

James Fenimore Cooper (1789 -1851)

Wrote about unique American settings and characters. Frontier communities American Indians Backwoodsmen Created the first American hero: Natty

Bumppo▪ This character’s simple morality, love of

nature, and almost superhuman inventiveness make him a true Romantic hero.

A New Kind of Hero

The typical Romantic hero is youthful and innocent.

He relies on common sense rather than book learning and is close to nature.

Because women represented marriage and civilization (to many writers), Romantic heroes are often uncomfortable around them.

Romantic Heroes

In contrast to Romantic heroes, Ben Franklin represents the rationalist hero. He looks to the city to better himself.

Today Americans still create Romantic heroes in the form of Superman, Luke Skywalker, and Indiana Jones, along with dozens of other western, detective, and fantasy heroes.

Characteristics of the American Romantic Hero

Is youthful and innocentHas a strong sense of honorHas knowledge that comes from

experienceLoves nature and avoids town lifeSeeks truth in the natural world.

American Romantic Poetry: Read at Every Fireside

Goals of American Romantic poets were different from those of Romantic novelists. Novelists looked for new subject matter Poets wanted to prove that Americans

were not ignorant hicks.▪ To do this, they wrote poems is a style much

like the poems of England.

Fireside Poets

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882), John Greenleaf Whittier, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and James Russell Lowell were known as the Fireside Poets. Poems often read aloud by the fireside In their time period and for a long time

after, they were the most popular poets America ever produced.

Fireside Poets

Because they preferred the old, established styles of poetry, the fireside poets were unable to recognize the American poetry of the future.

In 1855, Whittier read the work of a young poet, Walt Whitman, and promptly threw it into the fire. After reading the same poetry, Ralph Waldo

Emerson wrote the young poet a letter. “I greet you,” Emerson wrote to Whitman, “at the

beginning of a great career.

The Transcendentalists: True Reality is Spiritual

Emerson led a group know at the Transcendentalists. These people believed that to find the

truth about God, the universe, and one’s self, one must transcend, or go beyond, the everyday experiences of the physical world.

Transcendentalism was not new▪ It originated in the ancient Greek philosophy

of idealism.

Transcendentalists

Idealists said that true reality was found in ideas, not in the imperfect physical world.

They sought the pure reality – the “ideal” that was beneath physical appearances.

American Transcendentalists were idealists in a more practical sense. They believed that humanity could be

perfected, and they worked to make this idea a reality.

Emerson and Transcendentalism Through his books and lectures, Emerson

became the best-known member of the Transcendentalists. His transcendentalism added ideas from Europe and

Asia to a distinctly American base. Emerson drew much of his thought from

Puritanism. God revealed himself through the Bible and the

physical world. This mystical view of the world was passed on to

American Romantics and to Emerson.

Emerson

He wrote, “Every natural fact is a symbol of some spiritual fact.”

His view of the world came from his intuition, not from logic. Intuition is our ability to know things

through feeling rather reason. In contrast, Franklin saw nature as

something to be examined scientifically.

Emerson’s Optimistic Outlook Positive thinking (optimism) guided Emerson. Strongly believed that God is good and works through

nature. If we trust in our own power to know God directly, we

will see that we, too, are a part of the Divine Soul. Emerson’s optimism appealed to many people who

lived in a time full of worries – about money, slavery, and future of our nation. Emerson gave them a comforting message. If the world

depresses you, look within yourself. The God within will connect you to the peace and beauty

of the universe.

A Transcendental View of the World

Everything, including people, is a reflection of the divine.

The physical world is a doorway to the spiritual world.

People can use intuition to sense God in nature or in their own souls.

A person is his or her own best authority. Feeling and intuition are superior to reason

and intellect.

The Dark Romantics

Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, and Edgar Allen Poe are known as the Dark Romantics.

Because of their gloomy view of the world, some people see these writers as anti-Transcendentalists.

Dark Romantics had much in common with Emerson and his followers. Both groups valued feeling over reason. Both groups saw the events of the world as a signs

or symbols that pointed beyond.

The Dark Romantics

Did not agree with the optimism of the Transcendentalists.

Thought that Emerson took only the bright side of Puritanism and ignored the belief in the wickedness of humanity.

To create a greater balance, the Dark Romantics explored both good and evil. Looked at the effects of guilt and sin on the mind, body

and soul, including madness. Behind the pasteboard masks of polite society, they saw

the horror of evil. From this vision, the Dark Romantics shaped a new,

truly American literature.