Quarter 2Literary Period Focus: American Romanticism

Learning TargetsWhere are we going?

Page 170

Q2 Learning Targets“Snapshot” of the Quarter

I can read a nineteenth century text and analyze how it develops a universal idea that is characteristic of the time period(i.e., idealism, individualism, intuition, inspiration, imagination).

I can read a narrative text and analyze how it uses narrative elements (i.e., point of view, structure, figurative devices, diction) for specific purposes and effects.

I can use diction to create a specific tone: choose precise nouns, verbs, and adjectives (including phrases and clauses) – paying particular attention to the denotation and connotation of words.

I can write a body paragraph that supports a thesis (claim) by including a topic sentence, sufficient evidence, and commentary linked to a universal idea.

I can write phrases (i.e., appositive, infinitive, prepositional, participial) and clauses (adjective and adverb) that enhance descriptive passages but avoid errors (i.e., misplaced modifiers and dangling phrase).

I can craft an argumentative thesis statement.

I can write body paragraphs for an argument essay, including crafting a concession/refutation paragraph

• Diction• Narrative Techniques• 19th Century Texts • Body Paragraphs and

Commentary• Transitions• Argument Question (defend,

challenge, qualify)• Placement of Modifiers-dangling

(syntax), Verbals, Phrases

Literary Movements Enlightenment Romanticism (Pilgrims/religion & Patriots/politics) (Transcendentalism & Dark Romantics)

American Romanticism:The Spirit of Individualism“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.”

- Henry David Thoreau

Historical Context▪ Around the beginning of the 19th century, the

movement known as romanticism sprang up in both Europe and America.▪ As a reaction to everything that had come before it:

▪ the rationalism of the 18th century Age of Reason▪ the strict doctrines of the Puritanism

▪ MAJOR SHIFT in:▪ thinking/philosophy▪ writing▪ modes

Historical Context – cont’d

19th Century America:

▪ Unrestrained growth in U.S.▪ 1803-1853: area of U.S. increases from 846,000 to 2,

181, 000.▪ 1800-1850: population of U.S. increases from 5 million

to over 23 million

▪ Westward expansion

▪ Technological advancements (i.e., steel plow, telegraph, cotton gin)

▪ Transportation improvements (canals, railroads)

Literature and Literacy

▪ Newspapers/Magazines▪ With advancements in transportation and

education, more people were exposed to literature than ever before.

▪ Lyceum Movement▪ Part education, part entertainment▪ Debating societies▪ Issues of the day: manifest destiny, slavery,

voting rights.

Major Events and Historical Figures

▪ 1803 – Jefferson completes Louisiana Purchase – doubled the size of the U.S.▪ Exploration, Manifest Destiny, Lewis and Clark

▪ 1820 – Missouri Compromise prohibits slavery in western territory north of Missouri’s southern border and allows slavery in Arkansas territory and Louisiana.

▪ 1830 – Indian Removal Act authorizes relocation of southeastern Native Americans to territories west of Mississippi River. ▪ “Trail of Tears”

▪ 1848 – Gold discoveries in California lead to first gold rush

▪ 1850 – Congress passes Fugitive Slave Act, forcing officials in Northern states to return escaped slaves to owners.

Conditions that Influenced Romantic Writers:

▪ Frontier promised opportunity for expansion, growth, freedom; Europe lacked this element.

▪ Spirit of optimism invoked by the promise of an uncharted frontier.

▪ Immigration brought new cultures and perspectives

▪ Growth of industry in the north that further polarized the north and the agrarian south.

▪ Search for new spiritual roots.

Delineation of Movement

Romanticism

TranscendentalistsDark Romantics/Gothic

Writers

A movement across the arts

Romanticism

DefinitionRomanticism refers to a

movement in art, literature, and music during the 19th century: 1800 – 1890(ish)

Romanticism is characterized by the 5 “I”sImaginationIntuitionIdealismInspirationIndividuality

Imagination

▪ Imagination was emphasized over “reason.”

▪ This was a backlash against the rationalism characterized by the Neoclassical period or “Age of Reason.”

▪ Imagination was considered necessary for creating all art.

▪ Imagination was a gateway to transcendent experience and truth.

Intuition

▪ Romantics placed value on “intuition,” or feeling and instincts, over reason.

▪ Intuition and a reliance on “natural” feelings as a guide to conduct are valued over controlled, rationality

▪ British Romantic William Wordsworth described poetry as “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.”

Idealism

▪ the concept that we can make the world a better place.▪ A sense of “optimism”

▪ refers to any theory that emphasizes the spirit, the mind, or language over matter – thought has a crucial role in making the world the way it is.▪ Continually striving for “betterment”

▪ Romantics idealized a country life and believed that many of the ills of society are a result of urbanization.

Inspiration

▪ The Romantic artist, musician, or writer, is an “inspired creator” rather than a “technical master.”

▪ “going with the moment” or being spontaneous, rather than “getting it precise.”

Individuality

▪ celebrated the individual

▪ During this time period, Women’s Rights and Abolitionism were taking root as major movements.

▪ Walt Whitman, a later Romantic writer, would write a poem entitled “Song of Myself”: it begins, “I celebrate myself…”

▪ The artist was an extremely individualistic creator whose creative spirit was more important than strict adherence to formal rules and traditional procedures

▪ Romantics were attracted to rebellion and revolution, especially concerned with human rights, individualism, freedom from oppression

Modes/Style Markers▪ Modes:

▪ Short stories▪ Novels▪ Poetry▪ Essays

Imagination over reason; intuition over fact

Focused on the fantastical elements of human experience

Writing that can be interpreted 2 ways: surface and in depth

Focus on inner feelings

Gothic literature (sub-genre of Romanticism)

1. Use of the supernatural

2. Characters with both evil and good characteristics

3. Dark landscapes; depressed characters

Transcendentalists Sub-genre of Romanticism

Rise of Transcendentalismlate 1820s/1830s

A religious and philosophical movement

Emphasized living a simple life

Celebrate truth found in nature and emotion and imagination

Stressed individualism and self-reliance

Intuition leads to knowledge

People are inherently good

Spiritual well-being trumps financial well-being

Mode/Rhetorical Devices

Mode/Authors

▪ Mode: mainly essays

▪ Ralph Waldo Emerson▪ Considered “the father” of

transcendentalism

▪ Henry David Thoreau

Rhetorical Devices

▪ Imagery

▪ Metaphor

▪ Analogy

▪ Hyperbole

▪ Rhetorical Questions

▪ Allusions

A Brief HistoryGothic Horror

It explored:• the joys of extreme emotion, • the thrills of fearfulness and awe inherent in the sublime, •and the inevitable decay and collapse of human creations•human fallibility and proneness to sin and self-destruction• the difficulties inherent in attempts at social reform

• combined elements of both horror and romance.

• aimed for ‘a pleasing sort of terror’

• combined melodrama and parody

• opposition to the perfectionist beliefs of Transcendentalism

The Birth of a Genre

Prominent Features: Stock Characters:• tyrants• villains•maniacs• persecuted maidens•madwomen•magicians• vampires and werewolves•monsters and demons• the Devil himself.

• terror (both psychological and physical)

•mystery• the supernatural• ghosts• haunted houses and Gothic

architecture (castles)• darkness• death and decay•madness• secrets• hereditary curses

Key Ingredie

nts

The term "Gothic" often applied to buildings

Castles, mansions, and monasteries, often remote, crumbling, and ruined.

This fascination inspired the first wave of gothic novelists.

Gothic Architecture

An important and innovative re-interpreter of the Gothic in this

period was Edgar Allan Poe

He believed 'that terror is…of the soul’.

His story "The Fall of the House of Usher" (1839) explores these 'terrors of the soul' whilst revisiting classic

Gothic ingredients of decay, death and madness.

The legendary villainy of the Spanish Inquisition is revisited in "The Pit and the Pendulum" (1842)

American Gothic

"Annabel Lee" by Edgar A. Poe

• Imagery

• Details

• Figurative Language

• Characterization

• Allegory

• Tone

• Setting

• Point of View

• Persona

• Organization and Structure

• Metaphor

• Symbol

• Foreshadowing

• Irony

Rhetorical Devices/Elements of a Narrative