1. So what is it? Brainstorm
Romanticism
So what is it? Brainstorm

2. It is not.

3. Or….

4. Or even….

5. Context This is a backlash to the Enlightenment and the Age of Reason
The Pendulum Swings
1700’s ’s
Head Heart
Romanticism began to take root as a movement following the French Revolution.
The publication of Lyrical Ballads by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1792 is considered the beginning of literary Romanticism

6. Definition
Romanticism refers to a movement in art, literature, and music during the 19th century.
Romanticism is characterized by the 5 “I”s
Imagination
Intuition
Idealism
Inspiration
Individuality

7. Imagination Imagination was emphasized over “reason.”
This was a backlash against the rationalism characterized by the “Age of Reason.”
Imagination was considered necessary for creating all art.
British writer Samuel Taylor Coleridge called it “intellectual intuition.”
Rip Van Winkle: escape wife into the woods

8. Intuition
Romantics placed value on “intuition,” or feeling and instincts, over reason.
Emotions were important in Romantic art.
British Romantic William Wordsworth described poetry as “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.”
Denied reason and celebrated emotion

9. Idealism
Idealism is the concept that we can make the world a better place.
Idealism :any theory that emphasizes the spirit, the mind, or language over matter – thought has a crucial role in making the world the way it is.
Mind over matter
Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher, held that the mind forces the world we perceive to take the shape of space-and-time.

10. Inspiration
The Romantic artist, musician, or writer, is an “inspired creator” rather than a “technical master.”
What this means is “going with the moment” or being spontaneous, rather than “getting it precise.”
Backlash to Puritanism: nature as unknown and evil vs. nature is where we find God.

11. Individuality Romantics celebrated the individual.
During this time period, Women’s Rights and Abolitionism were taking root as major movements.
Walt Whitman, a later Romantic writer, would write a poem entitled “Song of Myself”: it begins, “I celebrate myself…”
Proud of their differences vs. strict adherence to social norms.
Melting pot
Unique American Identity

12. Literature In America, Romanticism most strongly impacted literature.
Writers explored supernatural and gothic themes.
Writers wrote about nature – Transcendentalists believed God was in nature, unlike “Age of Reason” writers like Franklin and Jefferson, who saw God as a “divine watchmaker,” who created the universe and left it to run itself.

13. Fireside Poets Henry Wadsworth Longfellow William Cullen Bryant
John Greenleaf Whittier
James Russell Lowell
Oliver Wendell Holmes
Thus named because their poems were enjoyed by families around the fireside

14. The Romantic Hero Rational Hero Romantic Hero Worldly Intuitive
Educated; Honor is based on Social expectations
Devoted to higher purpose; Honor comes from principles
Sophisticated
Youthful and Innocent
Connected to Civilization
Loves nature; avoids town life (Idealized the Native Americans)
Ben Franklin: inventor, intellect
Natty Bumpo: first American Hero

15. When I heard the Learn’d Astronomer
When I heard the learn’d astronomer; When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me; When I was shown the charts and the diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them; When I, sitting, heard the astronomer, where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room, How soon, unaccountable, I became tired and sick; Till rising and gliding out, I wander’d off by myself, In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time, Look’d up in the perfect silence at the stars. Walt Whitman

16. Dark Romanticism Demonstrates emphasis of feelings
Focused on the dark side of humanity
Highlights how interfering with nature can lead to horrific results
Emphasized man’s fallibility and tendency toward sin and self-destruction

17. Edgar Allen Poe January 19, 1809- October 7, 1849
Short Stories:
“The Black Cat”
The Pit and the Pendulum”
“The Cask of Amontillado”
Poems:
“Annabel Lee”
“The Raven”
“Bells”
Fixated on exposing the Dark Side of Humanity when passion overtakes reason

18. Nathaniel Hawthorne: 1804-1864
Do you remember who his Great Grandfather was??
The Scarlet Letter
The House of Seven Gables
“Rappaccini’s Daughter”
“The Birthmark”
“The Minister’s Black Veil”
Examines how reliegious beliefs affect a person’s decision making
Good vs. Evil
Sinner vs. Saint
Guilt vs. Redemption

19. Herman Melville 1819-1891 Moby Dick Bartleby the Scrivner Billy Budd
Exposes the effects of obsession on humans – leads to madness and death