1. American Romanticism
Approximate years:

2. Romantic Escapism Two Types of Romantics in America
Type II: Natural Romantics
Consisted of Romantic Poets, James Fenimore Cooper and Transcendentalists
Typical romantic poem: speaker focuses on some object in nature which brings about some insight for the speaker
Cooper introduces the American Romantic Hero—The Frontiersman
Transcendentalists were philosophers who believed Nature was the doorway to the spiritual world

3. Fireside Poets
Wanted to prove that American poets were as capable and sophisticated as European poets
Proved this by copying European literary traditions
Used English themes, meter and imagery
Who were the Fireside Poets?
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, John Greenleaf Whittier, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and James Russell Lowell

4. Fireside Poets Most popular group of poets in American History
Traditionalists who relied on past literary forms
Subject Matter of Poetry?
Love, patriotism, nature, family and religion
Why called Fireside Poets?
Poems were read aloud at the fireside for family entertainment

5. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807-1882
Most popular American Poet of the 1800s
Experimented with adapting traditional European poetic forms to uniquely American topics
Ex: “Song of Hiawatha”, “Paul Revere’s Ride”
Idealized America’s early history and democratic ideals

6. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
“The Song of Hiawatha”
Long, narrative poem (tells a story) based on the legend of the Ojibway Tribe
Historically, Hiawatha was an Iroquois chief who helped to unite the Iroquois
Contains over 20 sections telling of the adventures of Hiawatha

7. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Literary Devices
Meter: the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry
Foot: basic unit of meter; consists of one stressed syllable and one or more unstressed syllables
Iamb—one unstressed syllable, followed by one stressed syllable
u ` u `
Be/hold; de/stroy
Trochee—one stressed syllable, followed by one unstressed syllable
` u ` u
Ha/ppy; dou/ble
One stressed syllable per line=monometer
Two stressed syllables per line=dimeter
Three stressed syllables per line=trimeter
Four stressed syllables per line=tetrameter
Five stressed syllables per line=pentameter
What is the meter in “Song of Hiawatha”?

8. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
The meter of a poem can affect the mood of the poem
Mood: the emotional quality that a reader feels when reading a poem
How does the meter (trochaic tetrameter) add to the intensity of the poem?
Trochees create a drum like rhythm, which reflects Native American subject

9. Oliver Wendell Holmes 1809-1894
Descendent of first American poet, Anne Bradstreet
During medical school, wrote “Old Ironsides”—saved USS Constitution from destruction
Wrote poetry for fun; worked as a physician

10. Oliver Wendell Holmes Content of his poetry Literary devices
Generally light and comic
Patriotic
Observations/Musings on Nature
Literary devices
Apostrophe: a direct address to an object or to someone who is not present

11. William Cullen Bryant 1794-1878
Inspired by European Romantic Poets William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Also inspired by Deist belief that God can be found in Nature
Wrote “Thanatopsis” at age 16, after the death of a friend

12. William Cullen Bryant “Thanatopsis”
Subject: the natural cycle of life—birth, growth, death, rebirth
Title origins
Thanatos—Greek for death
Opsis—Greek for seeing

13. William Cullen Bryant “Thanatopsis” Original poem was only lines 17-72
Lines 1-17 and were added 10 years after original publication
Lines 1-17: Address the subject of death and tells how the reader can find the answers
Lines 17-30: Speaker changes—THE VOICE OF NATURE: those who die become part of nature's rebirth
Lines 31-72: we are not alone in death; our resting place will be magnificent; and we will lie down with the great of past generations
Lines 73-81: returns to original speaker who advises the reader to live life so that they will be able to accept death