1. American Romanticism

2. Historical Context & Cultural Influences
Online textbook (my.hrw.com) Unit 2/Unit Introduction).
Historical Context (p. 305)  5 main ideas
Cultural Influences (p ) 5 main ideas
Background on Washington Irving (p )

3. American Cultural Development-
Search for cultural independence –
For nearly 200 years, American readers had been looking to Europe, mainly Great Britain, for most of their reading material.
The North American continent offered a vast and exciting vista for American artists of all types, including writers.

4. Sunset by Thomas Moran

5. Hudson River School
Recognized as the first coherent school of American Art
Helped shape the mythos of the American landscape
Focused on an awe of the majestic natural resources and the seemingly endless wilderness of the new world

6. Kindred Spirits by Asher Durand
This work pictures Thomas Cole and William Cullen Bryant, two prominent figures in American Romanticism.

7. Romanticism:
An artistic movement, or a state of mind, that favors imagination over reason, and intuition over facts

8. Major Authors
Edgar Allan Poe
Washington Irving
William Cullen Bryant

9. Imagination
Power of imagination: It can apprehend truths the rational mind could not reach; these truths were usually accompanied by powerful emotion and associated with natural, unspoiled beauty.
Faith in inner experience
Accent on mystery and the strange and fantastic aspects of human experience

10. Nature
Shuns the artificiality of civilization and seeks unspoiled nature
Contemplates nature’s beauty as a path to spiritual and moral development because nature reveals underlying beauty and truth
Finds beauty and truth in exotic locales and the supernatural realm

11. Individuality Prefers youthful innocence to educated sophistication
Champions individual freedom and the worth of the individual