Unit 10 （ 1 ） New England Transcendentalism and Romantic Age I. Romanticism Definitions:

"The essence of romanticism is the ability to wonder and to reflect. In

searching the meaning of the known, the human spirit reaches for the

unknown; in trying to understand the present, it looks to the past and to the

future." ---------- Robert E. Spiller

Romanticism symbolized America's break away from traditional European literature. For the first time writers journeyed to nature. They let their imagination's run free. They created America's first literary hero Natty Bumpo. Romanticism dared to explore the supernatural. Americans were able to explore beyond rational thought. Romanticism was spontaneous. Writers and readers could explore individual feelings, wild nature and avoid rational thought, logic, planning, and cultivation.

Characteristics of Romanticism

emotions subjective original youth supernatural into nature innocent

pure of purpose heavy figurative language imaginative American heroes possibly: arabesque grotesque past subject matter

Elements of Romanticism 1. Frontier: vast expanse, freedom, no

geographic limitations. 2. Optimism: greater than in Europe

because of the presence of frontier. 3. Experimentation: in science, in

institutions. 4. Mingling of races: immigrants in large

numbers arrive to the US. 5. Growth of industrialization:

polarization of north and south; north becomes industrialized, south remains agricultural.

Romantic Subject Matter 1. The quest for beauty: non-didactic, "pur

e beauty." 2. The use of the far-away and non-normal

- antique and fanciful: a. In historical perspective: antiquarianism;

antiquing or artificially aging; interest in the past.

b. Characterization and mood: grotesque, gothicism, sense of terror, fear; use of the odd and queer.

3. Escapism - from American problems.

4. Interest in external nature - for itself, for beauty:

a. Nature as source for the knowledge of the primitive.

b. Nature as refuge. c. Nature as revelation of God to

the individual.

Romantic Attitudes 1. Appeals to imagination; use of

the "willing suspension of disbelief."

2. Stress on emotion rather than reason; optimism, geniality.

3. Subjectivity: in form and meaning.

Romantic Techniques 1. Remoteness of settings in time

and space. 2. Improbable plots. 3. Inadequate or unlikely

characterization. 4. Authorial subjectivity.

5. Socially "harmful morality;" a world of "lies."

6. Organic principle in writing: form rises out of content, non-formal.

7. Experimentation in new forms: picking up and using obsolete patterns.

8. Cultivation of the individualized, subjective form of writing.

Philosophical Patterns 1. Nineteenth century marked by the influe

nce of French revolution of 1789 and its concepts of liberty, fraternity, equality:

a. Jacksonian democracy of the frontier.) b. Intellectual and spiritual revolution - rise

of Unitarianism. c. Middle colonies - utopian experiments li

ke New Harmony, Nashoba, Fourierism, and the Icarian community

2. America basically middle-class and English - practicing laissez-faire (live and let live), modified because of geographical expansion and the need for subsidies for setting up industries, building of railroads, and others.

3. Institution of slavery in the South - myth of the master and slave - William Gilmore Simms' modified references to Greek democracy (Pericles' Athens which was based on a slave proletariat, but provided order, welfare and security for all) as a way of maintaing slavery.

The Renaissance in or the Flowering of American Literature

The decade of 1850-59 is unique in the annals of literary production. For a variety of reasons American authors, both African and European, published remarkable works in such a concentration of time that this feat, it is safe to say, has not been duplicated in this or any other literary tradition. Given below are the details:

Works by European American Writers Ralph Waldo Emerson Representative Men 1850 Nathaniel Hawthorne The Scarlet Letter 1850 Herman Melville Moby-Dick 1851 Harriet Beecher Stowe Uncle Tom's Cabin 1852 Henry David Thoreau Walden 1854 Walt Whitman Leaves of Grass 1855

William Cullen Bryant

James Fenimore Cooper

The Leatherstocking Tales The Pioneers, 1823; The Last of the M

ohicans, 1826; The Prairie, 1827; The Pathfinder, 1840; The Deerslayer, 1841.

Major Themes in Cooper's Writing

1.      The American Society.2.       The American History.3.       The Backwoods - Frontier.4.       The Sea.

Contributions of Cooper

The creation of the famous Leatherstocking saga has cemented his position as our first great national novelist and his influence pervades American literature. In his thirty-two years (1820-1851) of authorship, Cooper produced twenty-nine other long works of fiction and fifteen books - enough to fill forty-eight volumes in the new definitive edition of his Works. Among his achievements:

1. The first successful American historical romance in the vein of Sir Walter Scott (The Spy, 1821).

2. The first sea novel (The Pilot, 1824). 3. The first attempt at a fully

researched historical novel (Lionel Lincoln, 1825).

4. The first full-scale History of the Navy of the United States of America (1839).

5. The first American international novel of manners (Homeward Bound and Home as Found, 1838).

6. The first trilogy in American fiction (Satanstoe, 1845; The Chainbearer, 1845; and The Redskins, 1846).

7. The first and only five-volume epic romance to carry its mythic hero - Natty Bumppo - from youth to old age.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Reasons for Hawthorne's Current Popularity

1. One of the most modern of writers, Hawthorne is relevant in theme and attitude. According to H. H. Waggoner, Hawthorne's attitudes use irony, ambiguity, and paradox.

2. Hawthorne rounds off the puritan cycle in American writing - belief in the existence of an active evil (the devil) and in a sense of determinism (the concept of predestination).

3. Hawthorne's use of psychological analysis (pre-Freudian) is of interest today.

4. In themes and style, Hawthorne's writings look ahead to Henry James, William Faulkner, and Robert Penn Warren.

Major Themes in Hawthorne's Fiction 1. Alienation - a character is in a state

of isolation because of self-cause, or societal cause, or a combination of both. (See Appendix A for more discussion of Themes 1 & 2).

2. Initiation - involves the attempts of an alienated character to get rid of his isolated condition.

3. Problem of Guilt -a character's sense of guilt forced by the puritanical heritage or by society; also guilt vs. innocence.

4. Pride - Hawthorne treats pride as evil. He illustrates the following aspects of pride in various characters: physical pride (Robin), spiritual pride (Goodman Brown, Ethan Brand), and intellectual pride (Rappaccini).

5. Puritan New England - used as a background and setting in many tales.

6. Italian background - especially in The Marble Faun.

7. Allegory - Hawthorne's writing is allegorical, didactic and moralistic.

8. Other themes include individual vs. society, self-fulfillment vs. accommodation or frustration, hypocrisy vs. integrity, love vs. hate, exploitation vs. hurting, and fate vs. free will.

Influences on Hawthorne 1. Salem - early childhood, later

work at the Custom House. 2. Puritan family background - one

of his forefathers was Judge Hawthorne, who presided over the Salem witchcraft trials, 1692.

3. Belief in the existence of the devil.

4. Belief in determinism.