Romanticism Era(1800-1860)

Hailey DakerJackie CastroDaniel Flores

Chris Kim Naja Brown

Colleen Blanco

Historical Context

• 1803: Louisiana Purchase• 1804: Lewis and Clark Expedition• 1823: Monroe Doctrine Created • 1830: The first steam powered train• 1838: Trail of Tears to Oklahoma• 1844: Samuel Morse invents the first telegraph line.• 1845: The Annexation of Texas• 1849: California Gold Rush• 1854: Matthew Perry opens two Japanese ports to US

trade.

Historical Context (cont.)

• The Second Great Awakening– New branches of Christianity– New ways of thinking

• Industrial Revolution– Factories and busy cities– “age of Revolutions”

• Manifest Destiny• Scientific Achievements

Values and Beliefs

• There is goodness in man, but civilization hinders him.

• They were influenced by strangeness and disorder.

• Democracy and individualism was important at this time.– Egalitarism- equality, democratic ideas– Capitalism- a competitive individualistic environment

• They were interested in religion but did not necessarily believe in it.

Genre and Style

• They mainly wrote poems, novels, and essays.– Creative and informal writing

• Celebrated strong emotions such as love, fear, horror, and sadness.

• Focuses:– Nature and the natural world’s ability to reveal beauty and

truth in the dull world.– Preferred situations of naturalism over the industrial,

noisy age.• Wrote about larger than life heroes and haunted,

alienated individuals.• Symbolic plots with an absence of tradition.

Romantic Characteristic Description of Characteristic

Interest in the common man and childhood

They believed that the savage is noble, childhood is good and the emotions inspired by both beliefs causes the heart to soar.

Strong senses, emotions, and feelings Romantics believed that knowledge is gained though intuition rather that dedication.

Awe of nature Romantics emphasized the awe of nature in art and language and the experience of sublimity through a connection with nature. Romantics rejected the rationalization of nature by the previous thinkers of the Enlightenment period.

Celebration of the individual Romantics often elevated the achievements of the misunderstood, heroic individual outcast.

Importance of Imagination Romantics legitimized the individual imagination as a critical authority.

The Dark side of Romanticism

• There was a focus on the supernatural.• Initiated the development of horror stories.• Medieval style of writings was big during this

era.• They wrote about the spiritual world.• Symbolism was used a lot in their writings.

Ralph Waldo Emerson(1803-1882)

• Writings:– “Nature”– “Self-Reliance”

• He believed “The less government we have, the better- the fewer laws, and the less confided power.”

• He wrote about humanity through his inspiration of nature.

• After the death of his wife he wrote more religious pieces.

Nathaniel Hawthorne(1804- 1864)

• Works:– “The Scarlet Letter”– “The House of the Seven Gables”

• He was influenced and wrote about guilt, isolation, and past sins.

• His works were gloomy.• He participated in Brooks Farm, which was a

utopian society at the time.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow(1807-1882)

• Works:– “The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls”– “The Cross of Snow”

• The death of his wife led to his writing of more religious works.

• Most of his works were poems.• He assured his audience that their beloved

values would prevail over this new industrial age.

Herman Melville(1819-1891)

• Writings:– “Moby Dick”

• He was in the navy and was a whaler for some time which influenced his semi biographical writings.

Edgar Allan Poe(1809- 1849)

• Writings:– “The Raven”– “The Pit and the Pendulum”– “The Fall of the House of Usher”

• Poe mainly wrote poems and short stories about mystery and suspense.– Psychological thrillers– Human mind– Irrationality

• He was an orphan and was given no real affection which influenced his writings.

Other Romanticism Writers

• Emily Dickenson• Washington Irving• William Cullen Bryant• Henry David Thoreau• Oliver Wendell Holmes

Objective

• To understand how rhetorical devices affect the mood in Romantic writing.

“The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls”The tide rises, the tide falls,The twilight darkens, the curlew calls;Along the sea-sands damp and brownThe traveler hastens toward the town,

And the tide rises, the tide falls.

Darkness settles on the roofs and walls, But the sea, the sea in the darkness calls;The little waves, with their soft, white hands, Efface the footprints in the sands,

And the tide rises, the tide falls.

The morning breaks; the steeds in their stallsStamp and neigh, as the hostler calls; The day returns, but nevermoreReturns the traveler to the shore,

And the tide rises, the tide falls.

Analysis of “The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls”• Rhyming pattern: unstressed stressed pattern

which makes the poem flow.• Personification: “The little waves with their

soft white hands, efface the footprints in the sands”– Emphasizes the waves of the tide

The RavenBy: Edgar Allan Poe

• Literature Book page 360-363• Interactive Reader page 103-108

Analysis

“And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtainThrilled me- filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;”

• Word Choice – “sad”– “uncertain”

• Imagery• Personification

Guided Practice

• The raven in Poe’s poem is used as a symbol of bad news. In old times raven feathers were seen as a sign of ill omen or bad luck. The fact that the raven can talk adds a supernatural element. Altogether the raven is meant to inspire mystery and fear. This relates back to Romantic authors who liked to explore abstract emotions like terror.

Guided Practice

• Poe refers to the night as the Plutonian shore. In Greek mythology Pluto is known as Hades. He is the ruler of the underworld which is the place of the dead. This allusion connects to the theme of the poem which is about the death of his love, Lenore. This refers back to the Romantic authors who wanted to explore the darker emotions in humans such as sadness.

Independent Practice

• Identify three rhetorical devices (such as symbolism, allusions, rhythm, alliteration, repetition, etc.) and explain how it affects the mood of “The Raven”. Explain how the mood embodies romanticism.

-OR-• Create a poem using similar rhetorical devices

and a similar style that was used in the Romantic Era.