American Romanticism 1800-1860 The Raft of the Medusa, 1819 Théodore Géricault (1791–1824) Source: www.metmuseum.org

What is Romanticism? Romanticism is a school of thought that values feeling and intuition over reason. Imagination can uncover truths that reason cannot. Natural, unspoiled beauty often accompanies powerful emotion.

Romanticism was a reaction against Rationalism. Romantics Rationalists Imagination Reason Individual feelings Logic Wild nature Cultivation (e.g., worldly experience, education, and sophistication)

How Did We Get Here? The Puritan Connection Puritans saw answers to life’s big questions in nature. These answers brought them closer to religion. Example: Natural disaster (house fire) in Anne Bradstreet’s poem brings the speaker closer to God. Romantics also saw the answers to life’s questions in nature, but these answers dealt with personal emotions and intellectual thought.

Ben Franklin (Rationalist Hero) American Romantic Hero This was also when a distinct American style began to emerge. Up until now, American literature had modeled European writers. Ben Franklin (Rationalist Hero) American Romantic Hero Worldly, sophisticated Youthful, innocent, intuitive Educated Close to nature Bent on making a place for himself in civilization Uneasy with women (when a woman symbolized a domestic life)

Transcendentalism Transcendentalists believed that to determine the ultimate reality of God, the self, and the universe, one must transcend, or go beyond, every day experience in the physical world. This belief created optimistic works of literature. Key authors: Ralph Waldo Emerson; Henry David Thoreau

Dark Romantics Lacked Transcendentalist optimism Examined effects of physical and psychological nature, and often found that these natures could be dark and dangerous Key authors: Edgar Allan Poe; Nathaniel Hawthorne

Authors & Genres We Will Study Washington Irving Short Story Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Poetry Nathaniel Hawthorne Edgar Allan Poe Short Story; Poetry

Read “Snow-Flakes,” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. First draft reading: Read for literal understanding.  Paraphrase each stanza; look up unfamiliar words; check with partner for understanding. Second draft reading: Circle Romantic ideas/qualities throughout the poem (based on our notes about American Romanticism). Answer the question: In what way does this poem reflect ideals of the Romantic movement? To answer this, look for one or two patterns among all of the individual details and data you found in step two.