19th Century Entertainment Fireside Poets 19th Century Entertainment

Romantic Poetry Commonly lyrical Commonly dealt with learning life lessons by observing nature and then applying those lessons to humanity Radical at the time of inception—1790’s—in England

Fireside Poets Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Oliver Wendell Holmes John Greenleaf Whittier James Russell Lowell

Common Ideas and Themes Folklore and folk tales Sudden, unexpected and constant death Patriotism/Nationalism American language “Supernatural” or “spooky” elements

William Cullen Bryant Bryant explored nature and the nature of death in “Thanatopsis, which is his best-known poem Bryant, a romantic poet, also carefully observed nature and used it in his poetry.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Used episodes in American history as basis for quasi-epic poetry, such as The Wreck of the Hesperus, Evangeline, and The Courtship of Miles Standish Also wrote lyrical romantic poetry

The Song of Hiawatha The Song of Hiawatha (1855) Should you ask me, whence these stories? Whence these legends and traditions, With the odors of the forest With the dew and damp of meadows, With the curling smoke of wigwams, With the rushing of great rivers, With their frequent repetitions, And their wild reverberations As of thunder in the mountains?