Romanticism Love Stories?? Ewwwww!!!!

Prior to Romanticism All Puritan writing focused on religion They wrote to achieve spiritual insight and self- examination They wrote: Theological studies Hymns Histories Biographies and Autobiographies

Prior Romanticism Writing focused on politics and was mainly persuasive Revolutionary writing consisted mainly of newspapers magazines almanacs government documents What’s Missing???

What is Romanticism? Romanticism IS NOT a collection of love stories. Romanticism IS an artistic movement that dominated Europe and America during the 19th century.

What was it? Anti Age of Reason (Revolutionary Period) -Fewer instructional texts, increase in novels, short story, and poetry. Revolt against Industrial Revolution I.R.=overcrowding in cities. People wanted to escape to nature (Escapism)

What was it? Also, America was still young. The American people wanted to create their own identity

What Contributed to Romanticism? Independence from England New government “of, by, and for the people” National Expansion We gained territories out west, and people began to explore “new frontier” Economic Growth Transportation across the nation opened up trade Industrialism Factory mass production, steel plow and reaper, telegraph What’s common among all these? Change. And change can cause fear of the unknown.

Characteristics Imagination and Escapism Imagination gateway to truth Individuality Nature is a form of Spirituality Looking to the past for wisdom Common Man= Hero

Final Characteristics Obsessive interest in folk culture, national and ethnic cultural origins, and the medieval era. Loved the exotic, the remote, the mysterious, the weird, the occult, the monstrous, the diseased, and even the satanic.

Themes -Valued feeling and intuition over reason -Equality and Individualism -Nature of good and evil -Nature as symbol of the Divine -Dignity of the common man -Primitivism

Primitivism a belief in the value of what is simple and unsophisticated, expressed as a philosophy of life or through art or literature.

Famous Authors- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: of the famous Fireside Poets Wrote “Paul Revere’s Ride” Wrote “Song of Hiawatha” Wrote “Tide Rises, Tide Falls”

Wrote the book Rip Van Winkle Wrote the short story “Legend of Sleepy Hollow” Wrote the short story “The Devil and Tom Walker” Famous Authors- Washington Irving

Famous Authors- Edgar A. Poe The Raven Usher Alone Lenore Annabelle Lee Cask of Amontillado Fall of the House of Usher Pit and the Pendulum

Famous Authors- Nathanial Hawthorne From Salem Related to Judge Hawthorne Wrote House of 7 Gables Wrote The Scarlet Letter Wrote short story “Minister’s Black Veil”

Novels Showed the common man could be a hero Universe is uncomprehensible Foreshadowing using dreams or visions Plots demonstrate romantic love, honor and idealism of self

As you study this unit, you will be asked to think about three key question: What is the relationship between place and literature? How does literature shape or reflect society? What makes American literature American?

What is the relationship between place and literature? The greatest American writers were all profoundly involved in the American Landscape. Authors like Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthonre, and Herman Melville saw the dark side of the wilderness.

What is the relationship between place and literature? Writers such as Washington Irving, and Henry Wordsworth Longfellow helped to create an American mythology by setting their stories in areas in American landscapes

How does literature shape or reflect society? What social forces shaped America during the period? Technology- Bigger, better, stronger, faster everything in America was on the "Fast Track"

What makes American literature American? Most Americans came from the English colonists and spoke English. Gradually the "American" way of speaking and took on many interesting features. Americans began to have many Dialects. Becoming a mixture of French, Spanish, Dutch, English and Native American depending on where you lived.

What makes American literature American? Americans began to coin their own terms. Colloquial- American English is more colloquial or informal than British English.

What makes American literature American? British thought Americans were ruining the language. "Barbaric Yawp"- During this movement, American writers found their own voices.

What makes American literature American? Each of them contributing to the American style. But no one sounded quite like Walt Whitman His style was plain and elegant at the same time. Whitman's sound was the American sound.