American Romanticism

Approximate years:1790-1860

A New Philosophy

• Romanticism: school of thought that valued feeling and intuition over reason and logic• Began in Germany in the 1750s• Strong influence on literature, music and art• Developed as a reaction to

Rationalism/Deism• Romantics believed that there were limits to

reason and logic and that imagination was more powerful than both

A New School of Thought

• Romantics believed that poetry was the highest form of art and the most perfect example of imagination

• Romantics sought wisdom in natural beauty• Some even believed it was the only

place where man could truly connect with God

Characteristics of Romanticism• Values feeling and intuition over reason• Places faith in experience and imagination• Rejects civilization in favor of nature• Prefers youthful innocence to educated

sophistication• Champions individual freedom• Looks to the wisdom of the past• Finds beauty and inspiration in myth and the

supernatural

Romantic EscapismTwo Types of Romantics in AmericaType I: Gothic Romantics• Romantics wanted to rise above “dull

realities” to a realm of higher truth• Sought to understand the psychological

aspects of the human mind, especially how we deal with guilt and loss

• Known for stories with• Exotic settings• Supernatural elements• Folktales and legends

Examples of this type of Romanticism? Gothic Romantics—Poe, Hawthorne, Irving, Melville

Edgar Allan PoeHistorical/Biographical Info

• Father deserted family when Poe was 3• Mother, Eliza, well known actress who contracted TB and died

soon after Poe’s father left• Placed in foster care with Frances and John Allan (childless

couple); separated from siblings; brother eventually dies of TB as well• Foster mother, Frances, contracted TB when Poe was in college

• John Allan carried on numerous affairs during his wife’s illness, fathered several illegitimate children, and eventually disinherited Edgar

• After leaving UVA (debt) and West Point (gambling and debt), he found a home with his aunt, Maria Clemm and cousin Virginia• Married Virginia when she was 13 and he was 26

• She too, contracted TB and died soon after…she was the inspiration for some of Poe’s greatest poetry (The Raven and Annabelle Lee)

Edgar Allan PoeHistorical/Biographical Info

• Supported family as literary editor for various magazines

• Wrote his own novels, poems, and short stories without the backing of a publisher• Created the “detective story” genre with character of

sleuth C. Auguste Dupin• Explored the criminal mind and the psychology of a

killer with stories like “Tell Tale Heart” and “Hop-Frog”

• As a writer, he was the master of the psychological thriller—wanted to discover the unsettling truth in the dark, irrational depths of the mind

Edgar Allan PoeFall of the House of Usher

• Fall of the House of Usher• House of Usher: sounds like European

aristocracy…why?•Satire of European Aristocracy?−Both Madeline and Roderick

suffer from genetic diseases•Poe is commenting on incest among aristocracy or fearing for himself?

Edgar Allan PoeFall of the House of Usher

• Basic Plot• Exposition: Narrator comes to visit old friend, Roderick.• Rising Action:

• Roderick explains his illness to narrator and the illness of his sister, Madeline, who is close to death.

• Roderick and Narrator spend time together reading, playing music, and painting

• Usher announces Madeline is dead and must be buried immediately• After a week, on a stormy night, Roderick is acting strange; narrator

reads him a story.• Climax: Madeline enters the chamber and she and

Roderick die in each other’s arms• Resolution: the narrator escapes as the house collapses on

itself.

Edgar Allan PoeFall of the House of Usher

• Group Activity• Each table group will analyze and

discuss a specific part of the story and present their analysis to the class. Make sure your group finds specific examples from the text (in the form of quotations) to support your opinions

Group Activity--Usher• Setting—How does the setting initially contribute to the atmosphere of gloom, dread and

terror? How is this atmosphere heightened on the night Madeline comes out of the tomb? • The narrator describes it as “insufferable gloom”, “dull” and “dark”, “bleak”, “vacant” “utter depression of soul” on

the night: “gloomy furniture”, “dark”, “tattered”, “tortured into motion”, “intense sentiment of horror”, heightened even more when the house begins to make the noises described in the story the narrator reads “the echo of the very cracking/ripping sound”

• Character—Compare Contrast Roderick and Madeline. What conclusion does our narrator come to regarding these siblings that surprises even him?

• Roderick tries to control all of his feelings and senses; Madeline’s character is very 1 dimensional she is either alive and seems like a specter, or she appears dead. They are twins, so in some way they are two halves of the same whole. Roderick is the mind’s attempt to explain the world through reason and logic (while carefully controlling all emotion) and Madeline is all feeling and emotion (or nothing at all)

• Analyze the narrator—how would you characterize him? Are there any descriptions of him? What character traits define him? What is his function in the story? How is he affected by the House of Usher?

• He is a kind and loyal friend. Somewhat brave for entering and staying at a house that makes him feel so awful (“a sense of insufferable gloom). We know very little about him—no description, nothing about where he’s been or where he came from, only that he and Usher had been friends in boyhood. This is because Poe wants us to see ourselves as the narrator. That is his true function in the story he is the character through which we experience the House of Usher.

• Identify and explain the following symbols: the crack/fissure; the individual bricks; and the winds during the final night of the house.

• The crack: the break in Usher’s sanity; the two surviving Ushers• The individual bricks: the individual members of the Usher family, long dead• The wind: the Lady Madeline rising from the grave the winds symbolize her struggle to get out of the tomb

Group Activity--Usher

• What do you think is happening at the end of the story? Is Madeline a ghost? A hallucination? Or a real, living person who has been buried alive?

• She is a real person who has been buried alive. Proof? Usher says it “We have put her living in the tomb!” It is foreshadowed: “the mockery of a faint blush upon the bosom and face”. She is covered in blood when she appears and was clean in a white gown when they buried her, a perfect example of her “bitter struggle”

• What does the poem mean? What is its symbolic meaning? Is the Palace a symbol for something else? Draw a picture of the house as described in the poem?

• The poem is about a palace that was once beautiful and happy, but then it was attacked by evil and now people who see it, fear it.

• On a symbolic level, it is about the House of Usher itself. But it is also about Roderick and his loss of sanity.

• If you draw a picture of the poem, it looks like Usher.

Group Activity--Usher

• Identify and explain the following symbols: the house; the storm; Roderick and Madeline’s diseases.

• The house: the family and the individuals who are left of the family—R and M• The storm: symbolizes the chaos in usher’s mind on the last night• The diseases: the “family evils” that have been inherited through inbreeding

• Theme--What do you think the theme of the story is? What is Poe trying to teach us about humanity? How is this story an examination of the human mind? Considering Roderick and Madeline haven’t left the house in years, what might Poe be saying about isolating oneself from society?

• When isolated from people and society, like Usher, we lose touch with our sanity• Usher is the reason and logic; Madeline is the feeling

Washington Irving

• Wrote under several pseudonyms• Diedrich Knickerbocker• Geoffrey Crayon

• First found success as a satirist• A History of New York: funny, fake history that

ridiculed America’s past

• Influenced by British Romantic, Sir Walter Scott• Encouraged Irving to read German folklore and

legend for inspiration• Began writing folktales based on German tales with

American twist

The Devil and Tom Walker

• Archetypal plot pattern: Faust story• Man sells his soul to devil for personal

gain during his life on earth• Each retelling puts its own spin on the

ending

The Devil and Tom Walker

• Symbolism• Trees in swamp: symbolize the men whose names

they bear• Look healthy and prosperous, but are rotten inside

• Ax: woodsman (old scratch) is instrumental in the downfall of the “trees”. Their deaths are fuel to him, like logs on a fire

• Cautionary Tale—What is Irving satirizing in this story?• False piety/hypocritical religious beliefs• Excessive greed

“The Devil and Tom Walker”• Table work

• Analyzing imagery• Identify the imagery in the following passages• Explain how imagery supports 1 of the following

− Characterization− Plot− Theme

• Description of the marked trees • Description of Tom’s search for his wife • Description of Tom’s house, horses, and carriage • Description of Tom carried off by Devil

Nathaniel Hawthorne(1804-1864)• Descendent of Judge Hathorne (Salem

Witch Trials)• Heavily influenced by his Puritan ancestry—

felt so guilty about family involvement in SWT that he changed the spelling of his name

• Short stories and novels deal with sin and redemption• First success was a collection of short

stories— Twice Told Tales 1837• Achieved literary popularity with The Scarlet

Letter in 1850

Nathaniel Hawthorne

• “The Minister’s Black Veil”• Parable: short stories often from religious

scripture that teach a moral lesson—the meaning is often ambiguous

• Hawthorne calls this a parable to make it clear that this is NOT realism—this is a story with a moral lesson

• Symbol: a person, place, thing, or event that has meaning in itself and also stands for something more than itself

Nathaniel Hawthorne

• “The Minister’s Black Veil”• Symbolism—THE VEIL

• Hooper explains that it is a symbol of “universal secret sin”− Why black?—inspires dread in his

congregation− Why wear it?—Hooper declares his kinship

with all people as a secret sinner– Makes congregation uncomfortable

because it reminds them of their own secret sins

Herman Melville

• Background• Considered one of America’s great early novelists• Born in NYC to wealthy familyall that changed when

father’s business failed and then he died• At 11 years old, Melville becomes main supporter of his

family (clerk, farmhand, teacher)• Became a sailor at 19; experiences on whaling ships in So.

Pacific became basis for many stories. • After early success as a writer, his 3rd book was rejected by

readers• Moved to Massachusetts and befriended other GR,

Nathaniel Hawthorne• Published his masterpiece, Moby Dick, in 1851

Moby Dick

• Noted for its complexity• Story of the fateful voyage of a

whaling ship• Story of a bitter man’s quest for

vengeance• Philosophical examination of

humanity’s relationship with untamed natural world

Symbolism—what other meaning might there be? • The Whale

• Enormous and powerful• Unpredictable but follows nature’s laws• Seems immortal and uncaring about human suffering

• Ahab’s fake leg• The dents on the deck• His furrowed brow

• The gold coin • The harpooners’ drinking from their weapons• The Wind• The masthead• The Pequod itself (in the mind of Ahab)