Romanticism BY: BreeAnna &&& TK Ft. William Cullen Bryant

*Characteristics The characteristics of Romantic literature is that it was the first uniquely American literature. Based on the belief that nature is where all truths are found, as well as the belief that nature is equal to health and purity. Another aspect is that civilization means illness as well as corruption.

Washington Irving Irving was the first international best-selling author. He began writing publicly in Some of his works consist of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle.

William Cullen Bryant Bryant had a degree in Law. He wrote an oppositional piece about Thomas Jefferson in Some of his famous works are To A Waterfowl and Thanatopsis.

John Greenleaf Whittier Whittier’s first work was published in Whittier was a Quaker and an advocate of the abolition of slavery. Some of Whittier’s famous works were Snow Bound: A Winter Idyll and The Song of the Vermonters.

Oliver Wendell Holmes Holmes studied at Harvard, and he also studied law and medicine. He popularized the terms Boston Brahmin and Anesthesia. Some of his works include The Chambered Nautilus and his Breakfast Table series.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Longfellow was one of five Fireside Poets. He taught at Bowdoin and was offered a professorship at New York University. Some of his famous works include The Cross of Snow, Evangeline, and Paul Revere’s Ride.

Analysis of Rip Van Winkle Rip Van Winkle is good example of Romantic literature, because it shows several of the major characteristics. The townspeople (civilization) played a joke on Winkle when he fell asleep under a tree, thus representing the corruption. Rip Van Winkle is in nature, and he and the nature are representing purity (innocence).