American Romanticism Literature

Characteristics and Elements of Romanticism and Dark Romanticism. Techniques for authors. List of representative writers

1. EARLY 1800’S TO 1865
American Romanticism
Know this time
frame!!!

2. We will walk with our own feet. We will work with our own
hands. We will speak our own minds -Ralph Waldo Emerson
What types of
values were
embraced???
What is a non-
conformist???

3. What Romanticism is NOT!
Despite the name of the literary period,
Romanticism does not deal with sappy love
stories.
Is this
reality???
Or is this
just
fantasy???

4. What IS Romanticism???
Followed the Age of Reason (The Revolutionary
Period) in America.
Established country- writers moved their focus
away from political matters and revolutionary
governmental ideas
began to focus on other aspects of life (emotions,
possibilities, imagination etc.…)
Some may call them
tree-hugging hippies,
and they are. Lol
They’re #done

5. Characteristics of American Romanticism
Values feeling and
intuition over reason
Places faith in inner
experience and the
power of the
imagination
Shuns the artificiality
of civilization and
seeks unspoiled
nature
Prefers youthful
innocence to educated
sophistication
Champions individual
freedom to the worth of
the individual
Contemplates nature’s
beauty as a path to
spiritual and moral
development
What might some
writing topics be???

6. Characteristics Continued
Look backward to the wisdom of the past and
distrusts progress
Finds beauty and truth in exotic locals, the
supernatural realm, and the inner world of the
imagination
Who needs logic
when you have
trees and
feelings?

7. A sample of American Romantic art- What do you
notice?

8. Types of Prevalent Literature in Romanticism
Short stories
Novels
Poetry
Essays
So much
writing to
analyze!!!

9. Elements of Romanticism
Frontier: vast expanse, freedom, no geographic
limitations.
Optimism: greater than in Europe because of the
presence of frontier.
Experimentation: in science, in institutions.
Mingling of races: immigrants in large numbers
arrive to the US.
Growth of industrialization: polarization of
north and south; north becomes industrialized,
south remains agricultural.

10. Subject Matter
Because sappy love plots do not count
The quest for beauty and does not tell people how to
live their lives
Escapism - from American problems. The use of
the far-away and non-normal
Interest in external nature - for itself, for
beauty:
Nature as source for the knowledge of the
primitive.
Nature as refuge.
Nature as revelation of God to the individual.

11. IMPORTANT Side Note
There is a big difference between religion and
spirituality
Our authors are more spiritual. While they may believe in God,
it is not used, referenced, or reflected upon in the same
manner as our previous authors.

12. Romantic Techniques
Remoteness of settings in time and space.
Improbable plots.
Inadequate or unlikely characterization.
Socially "harmful morality;" a world of "lies."
Organic principle in writing: form rises out of
content, non-formal.
These techniques are for the
Dark Romantics
Creepy stories
written by lonely
and creepy men.

13. The Happy Boys and Girls
The sad…well…they’re
mostly boys.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow
Emily Dickenson
Margaret Fuller
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Herman Melville
Edgar Allan Poe
Washington Irving
Representative Writers
Who will
get this
author???
She makes
Hillary look
like a burger
flipper

14. Look at the BIG Picture.
Romantic VIEW OF MAN: Focus on the individual
and his inner world (imagination and emotions).
ommm

15. Outside the Human Form
Romantic VIEW OF NATURE: Nature is beautiful,
mysterious, and symbolic. God can be seen in
nature.
Are we noticing
a theme here???

16. BIG Picture- Again, Outside the Human form
Romantic GUIDE TO TRUTH: Intuition (inner
voice or gut feeling) and imagination guides each
individual to understanding.
An
understanding
of what?
Do we need to
return to the
era of
Romanticism?

17. Dark Romantics- aka: Anti-transcendentalists
Edgar Allen Poe with Hawthorne and Melville
known as anti-Transcendentalists or Dark
Romantics
Had much in common with Transcendentalists
Explored conflicts between good and evil,
psychological effects of guilt and sin, and madness
Known as anti- T
because of their
pessimism.
Shocking…I
know.

18. Nathaniel Hawthorne
Herman Melville
Edgar Allan Poe
The Sad Boys-aka: Dark Romantics- aka:
Anti-transcendentalists