Welcome To American Renaissance/Romanticism & Gothic Period ( )

Remember the Revolutionary Era?  It stated that from the time we are old enough to do things for ourselves we crave independence.  We want to have the freedom to try new things and to do them our own way.  The selections we read dealt with the efforts of individuals and groups to break free. WHERE WE WERE

 Rationalism—belief that we can understand the world by using reason rather than relying on authorities of the past (believe what your are told), faith (believe because God says so), or experience (believe because it’s happened before)  Stood in stark contrast to Puritan; believed that human beings play the vital role in the experiences of their lives— FREE WILL REVOLUTIONARY/RATION ALISM

American Romanticism & Transcendentalism  Think of a time when you had a flash of understanding and saw the deeper, hidden meaning of something.  Maybe you suddenly saw the logic behind a geometry proof, or discovered the perfect new ingredient to add to a recipe.  In either case you would have gained an insight, an understanding that goes deeper than the surface of things.  You will now get to read selections that reflect the writer’s insights- about themselves, about nature, and about humankind. WHERE WE ARE GOING

The theme of journey as a declaration of independence INTRODUCTION

 Longfellow is a Romantic poet  Irving is the Father of American Literature  Poe is the inventor of the American Short Story  Emerson is the Father of American Transcendentalism  Hawthorne: an American novelist and short story writer; ranks among America's major authors  Thoreau is a famous practical transcendentalist  Whitman is a bridge poet between American Romanticism and the 20 th century WHO YOU WILL MEET

 The rationalistic view of urban life was replaced by the Romantic view  Rationalists saw cities as a place to find success and self-realization  Romantics saw the city as a place of moral corruption, poverty, and death THEN AND NOW

 The Romantic journey is to the countryside  The Romantics associated the country with independence, moral clarity, and purity  Irving saw the country as idyllic and as an escape  The Gothic Romantic, Poe, saw the country as a place of phantasm

 valuing feeling and intuition over reason  viewing life as we would like it to be, rather than how it really is  began in Germany and influenced literature, music, and art  Romanticism is a reaction against Rationalism

WHAT IT LOOKED LIKE “Marriage license” Tall and proud

NOW, IT LOOKS LIKE Capturing a mood, feeling, or a moment. Note that the painter is no longer trying to make a photograph, but rather suggest the image.

 The development of slums and poverty due to the Industrial Revolution turned people from Rationalism  Romantics believed that imagination, emotion, spontaneity, feelings, and nature were more important than rational thought THE ROMANTIC SENSIBILITY

 values feelings over intuition  values the power of the imagination  seeks the beauty of unspoiled nature  values youthful innocence  values individual freedom  values the lessons of the past  finds beauty in exotic locales, the supernatural, and in the imagination  values poetry as the highest expression of the imagination  values myth, legend, and folk culture CHARACTERISTICS OF ROMANTICISM

 Romantic writing looked for comforting or exotic settings from the past  This was found in the supernatural, in nature, and/or in folk legends  Romantics believed in contemplating, or becoming one with the natural world  The Gothic novel emerged from Romanticism ROMANTIC ESCAPISM

 The Gothic novel had wild, haunted landscapes  It had supernatural events in the plot  It was often mysterious  The Gothic concept had roots in France, Germany, and England  Edgar Allan Poe was Romanticism’s great American writer

 Romanticism also used lyrical poetry as a means to contemplate the beauty of nature  It focused on simple natural beauties  Its intent was to seek truth through a calm contemplation of a simple natural beauty

 Most American Romantic writers imitated the European writing style  American Romantic novelists broke away from the European tradition and discovered uniquely American topics and settings  American novelists explored the vast unknown lands – something the Europeans could not do THE AMERICAN NOVEL

 Most Romantic poets worked within conventional European literary structures  They proved that American poetry could reflect American subject matter, yet still hold to conventional poetic style  Most American Romantic poets wrote about the past AMERICAN ROMANTIC POETRY

 The Fireside Poets, a Boston group of Longfellow, Whittier, Holmes, and Lowell, were widely read and loved in America  They were the TV of the American Romantic period and families gathered around the fireside to be entertained by their poetry  Their subject matter was comfortable and instructional AMERICAN ROMANTIC POETRY

Historical Note: in 1695 the king of England commissioned Captain William Kidd to arrest all pirates in the eastern seas. When Kidd arrived at the Comoto Islands, however, he joined the pirates instead of hunting them. Faust Legend/Tale Story where character sells their soul to the devil. The end result may be damnation or redemption, but both are Faust legends. LITERARY INFLUENCES NOTES

Washington Irving's tale of the Headless Horseman has become a Halloween classic, although few Americans celebrated that holiday when the story was new. In this unit, you will explore the artistry that helped make Irving our nation's first literary master and ponder the mystery that now haunts every Halloween -- What happened to Ichabod Crane? THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW

How does "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" still capture the imagination of readers today?

After completing this lesson, you will be able to: Analyze the characterization of Ichabod Crane and Brom Bones in "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." Offer an imaginative response to the conclusion of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." OBJECTIVES

Answer the questions you were given: 1-4, 1,3

Irving ends "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" with an air of mystery, leaving us to wonder if the Headless Horseman really did carry away Ichabod Crane. Few students, however, will doubt that the Headless Horseman was Brom Bones in disguise, and might consider Irving's conclusion an exercise in empty atmospherics. Yet there is a real mystery left unsolved at the end of the story: What happened to Ichabod Crane? After we see him knocked from his horse by a flying pumpkin, Ichabod vanishes without a trace, though Irving gives us a rumor that he went on to become a lawyer and eventually a judge (paragraph 69). To sharpen students' analysis of Ichabod's character, ask them to evaluate this rumor: How plausible is it? How well does it square with what they know about Ichabod Crane? CONCLUDING THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW

Discussion Have you ever made a decision that you later regretted? Have you ever made a commitment to do something that you later wished you had not made?

 To read and analyze a short story about the consequences of a man’s pact with the devil  To identify the elements of a tall tale OBJECTIVE

The Devil and Tom Walker  Author on pg 202  Building background WASHINGTON IRVING

 Read The Devil and Tom Walker  Work on questions;  get with table to discuss your responses

Discussion Imagine you are having a hectic day. Suddenly you have the chance to sit by the sea, by a mountain, or in a forest for an hour. How do you think that would make you feel? Why?

With Henry Wadsworth Longfellow POETRY

 Within your groups, you will be working with Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poems The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls and The Psalm of Life.  First, work with The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls. Work together in your groups but each person needs to fill in their own sheet.  Next, work with The Psalm of Life. Again, work together in your groups but each person needs to fill in their own sheet.  The point in groups is to have discussion making sure everyone understands. This is not copy time. WHAT TO DO

Discussion Have you ever enjoyed a song, movie, or story that dealt with extremes of emotion? Perhaps it was a sad song about lost love, a suspenseful film of high adventure, or an eerie, terrifying tale with unexplained events. Discuss for a minute reasons that stories involving extremes of emotion are popular.

The Raven, by Edgar Allan Poe… Romanticism’s great American writer

WHAT TO DO  Within your tables, follow the directions on the packet!  This is an excerpt of The Raven…we will view the rest. 