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Chapter 12 Section 4
American Literature and the Arts
• Identify the common themes in American literature and art in the mid-1800s.
• Describe the flowering of American literature in the mid-1800s.
• Discuss the development of unique American styles in art and music.
Objectives
Chapter 12 Section 4
American Literature and the Arts
Terms and People
• transcendentalism – a movement that sought to explore the relationship between humans and nature through emotions rather than through reason
• Ralph Waldo Emerson – the leading transcendentalist who wrote popular speeches and essays
• individualism – the unique importance of each individual
Chapter 12 Section 4
American Literature and the Arts
Terms and People (continued)
• Henry David Thoreau – a transcendentalist who wrote Walden
• civil disobedience – the idea that people should peacefully disobey unjust laws if their conscience demands it
• Herman Melville – author of Moby-Dick
• Nathaniel Hawthorne – author of The Scarlet Letter
• Louisa May Alcott – author of Little Women
Chapter 12 Section 4
American Literature and the Arts
Warm Up Questions:
1.What was the goal of the transcendentalism movement? 432
2.Give me one example showing how writers focused on American history. 434
3.What was a major topic of American paintings during this time period? 435
4.Before this time period, artists and authors were influenced by where, rather then American history and nature?
Chapter 12 Section 4
American Literature and the Arts
How did American literature and art have an impact on American life?Americans were divided by sectionalism and slavery, but they were united by nationalism and an optimistic belief in the possibility of improving themselves and society.
These ideas were expressed in and reinforced by American art and literature.
Chapter 12 Section 4
American Literature and the Arts
Before 1800, American writers and artists modeled their work on European styles.
However, by the mid-1800s, American writers and artists had begun to develop styles that reflected American optimism and energy.
Their work explored subjects that were uniquely American.
They used formal language and referred to Greek and Roman myths.
Chapter 12 Section 4
American Literature and the Arts
Washington Irving
Stories • “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”
• “Rip Van Winkle”
Famous character
• Rip Van Winkle was a lazy farmer who slept through the American Revolution.
Inspiration • Dutch history of New York
Chapter 12 Section 4
American Literature and the Arts
James Fenimore Cooper
Novels • The Deerslayer
• The Last of the Mohicans
Famous character
• Natty Bumppo was a frontiersman who kept moving westward and criticized the destruction of nature.
Impact • Cooper’s novels helped American literature gain popularity in Europe.
Chapter 12 Section 4
American Literature and the Arts
By the early 1800s, a new artistic movement called Romanticism took shape in Europe.
A small but influential group of writers and thinkers in New England developed an American form of Romanticism.
Romantics emphasized the importance of nature, emotions, and imagination.
Chapter 12 Section 4
American Literature and the Arts
Humans
This movement was called transcendentalism, and its goal was to transcend human reason.
Transcendentalists argued that humans should pursue a close link with nature and live simply.
Nature
Humans seeking beauty, goodness, and
truth within their own souls.
Chapter 12 Section 4
American Literature and the Arts
Ralph Waldo Emerson, the leading transcendentalist, wrote speeches and essays in which he urged Americans to:
• question the value of material wealth, and pursue higher values instead.
• rely on principles of individualism to guide their lives and improve society.
Chapter 12 Section 4
American Literature and the Arts
The transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau:
• spent two years living in the woods at Walden Pond, meditating on nature.
• published Walden, a book in which he urged Americans to live simply.
Chapter 12 Section 4
American Literature and the Arts
Like Emerson, Thoreau believed people must judge right and wrong for themselves.
He encouraged civil disobedience and once spent a night in jail for refusing to pay taxes that he felt supported slavery.
Thoreau’s ideas about civil disobedience and nonviolent protest influenced later leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr.
Chapter 12 Section 4
American Literature and the Arts
Two later novelists, who were both fascinated by psychology and extreme emotions, began to change the tone of American literature.
Herman Melville’s 1851 novel, Moby-Dick, told the story of a sea captain who destroys himself during an obsessive search for a white whale.
Today, Moby-Dick is
considered one of the greatest American
novels.
Chapter 12 Section 4
American Literature and the Arts
Chapter 12 Section 4
American Literature and the Arts
Nathaniel Hawthorne often used historical themes to explore the dark side of the mind.
• In his 1850 novel, The Scarlet Letter, a young Puritan minister is destroyed by secret guilt.
• Hawthorne—who was descended from the Massachusetts Puritans—paints a grim picture of Puritan life.
Chapter 12 Section 4
American Literature and the Arts
Chapter 12 Section 4
American Literature and the Arts
Louisa May Alcott presented a gentler view of New England life in her 1868 novel Little Women, a story about four sisters growing up together.
• The novel’s main character, Jo March, was one of the first young American heroines portrayed as a real person rather than as a shining ideal.
Chapter 12 Section 4
American Literature and the Arts
Poets of Democracy
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
• Longfellow based poems, such as “Paul Revere’s Ride,” on American history.
• “The Song of Hiawatha” was one of the first works to honor Native Americans.
Walt Whitman • In books of poetry such as his 1855 Leaves of Grass, Whitman is seen as the poet who best expresses the democratic American spirit.
Frances Watkins Harper and John Greenleaf Whittier
• Harper and Whittier wrote poems that described and condemned the evils of slavery.
Chapter 12 Section 4
American Literature and the Arts
After 1820, American artists turned away from European themes and focused on American landscapes.
Kindred Spirits, Asher B. Durand
Chapter 12 Section 4
American Literature and the Arts
The Hudson River School was a group of artists who painted scenes of the Hudson River valley.
Thomas Cole and other painters of this school sought to stir emotions with the beauty of nature.
Chapter 12 Section 4
American Literature and the Arts
Other American painters were inspired by the daily lives of common Americans.
• George Caleb Bingham painted scenes of life on the great rivers.
• George Catlin captured the ways and dignity of Native Americans.
Chapter 12 Section 4
American Literature and the Arts
Just as art and literature shifted away from European themes, American songs also drifted away from English, Irish, or Scottish tunes.
Over time, there emerged a wide variety of new American songs such as work songs and spirituals.
The most popular American songwriter of the 1800s was Stephen Foster, composer of “Camptown Races.”
Chapter 12 Section 4
American Literature and the Arts
Close Questions:
1.What is Civil Disobedience?
2.How did the idea of Civil Disobedience influence Martin Luther King Jr.?
Chapter 12 Section 4
American Literature and the Arts
Section Review
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