1. American Romanticism

2. Essential Question
What are the characteristics of American Romanticism?

3. Characteristics of American Romanticism
Values feeling and intuition over reason
Places faith in inner experience and the power of the imagination
Shuns the artificiality of civilization and seeks unspoiled nature
Prefers youthful innocence to educated sophistication

4. Characteristics of American Romanticism
Champions individual freedom and the worth of the individual
Reflects on nature’s beauty as a path to spiritual and moral development
Looks backward to the wisdom of the past and distrusts progress

5. Characteristics of American Romanticism
Finds beauty and truth in exotic locales, the supernatural realm, and the inner world of the imagination
Sees poetry as the highest expression of the imagination
Finds inspiration in myth, legend, and folklore

6. Romantics with a Darker Vision
Not all writers shared the strong optimism.
Examined the darker facets of humanity, such as greed, vanity, guilt.
Narrators who were criminals or insane.
Psychological effects of evil, terror, and grief on the human soul.

7. The American Romantics
Authors:
Washington Irving
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Edgar Allan Poe

8. Washington Irving
Short story writer, essayist, poet, travel book writer, biographer, and columnist
Has been called the father of the American short story
The first American to make a living solely from writing
Best known stories include The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

9. Nathaniel Hawthorne
Descendant of the “hanging judge” at Salem witch trials.
Unhappy childhood.
Worked in isolation for twelve years.
Major work: The Scarlet Letter 1850

10. Edgar Allan Poe
Tormented through-out his life with loss, bitterness, and depression.
Lived in poverty most of his life.
Married his 13-year-old cousin.
Dead in a gutter at 40, drunk or rabies?

11. Edgar Allan Poe
Brilliant talent for investigating the dark side of humanity.
Revenge, terror, lost love, and insanity were common themes.

12. Edgar Allan Poe Credited with defining the short story.
Father of modern detective fiction story and of the horror tale, as well.