1. American Romanticism:
“Imagination and the Individual”

2. When you think of American romanticism, think of this:
“Where the Wild Things Are”

3. from the corruption of civilization and the limits of rational thought
Romanticism is…
A journey away
from the corruption of civilization
and the limits of rational thought
and toward the integrity of nature
and the freedom of the
imagination.

4. Origins of Romanticism
Reaction against the Enlightenment
and Rationalism (Age of Reason)
View of the city & progress as corrupt. Too systematic and fake.
Renouncement of materialism

5. Characteristics of the romantic journey:
to the countryside or to adventure
associated with…
independence
moral clarity
healthful living
flight away from something or
to something or
emphasis on something better

6. Romantic hero is Youthful Innocent and pure of purpose
Idealistic with a sense of honor based on some higher principle – not on society’s rules
Possesses singular (unique, remarkable) skills
Quests for some higher truth in the natural world
Has a knowledge of people and of life based on deep, intuitive understanding – not on formal learning
Rejects conformity
Loves nature and avoids the masses

7. Celebrating the imagination
Romanticism…
values feeling and intuition over reason
apprehends powerful truths that the rational mind cannot reach
associates strong emotions with natural, unspoiled beauty

8. Elements of Romanticism
NEED
SIN
Nature inspiring wisdom
Exotic setting
Emotion and feeling over reason
Distrust of civilization and progress
Supernatural
Intuition, individualism, imagination, innocence, independence
Nostalgia for the past

9. Nature (Elements of romanticism)
Path to moral and spiritual development
Preferable to civilization and progress
Doorway to ideal world
Romantics would say, “GO OUT AND EXPERIENCE NATURE!”
Learn from nature, not society
(Planet Earth)
On website, Click on trailer #2 to avoid BBC Advertisement

10. Exotic settings (Elements of romanticism)
Sources of truth and beauty
Examination of personality, moods, and mental potentialities
Focus on passion and inner struggles

11. Emotion (Elements of romanticism)
Trust of feelings is important
Literary themes emphasize emotion, not morality
Feelings over reason
Senses over intellect

12. Distrust (Elements of romanticism)
Avoids society/city life
Shuns artificiality of civilization
Questions progress

13. Supernatural (Elements of romanticism)
Supernatural realm
Exotic locales
Gothic
Wild, haunted landscapes
Strange events
Mysterious settings
Psychological exploration of the human mind*

14. The five “I’s” (Elements of romanticism)
Intuition
Individual
Imagination
Innocence
Independence

15. Nostalgia (Elements of romanticism)
Concern for and focus on the past
Myths
Legends
Folk culture

16. Additional romantic characteristics:
American settings
An attempt to establish authenticity
Sense of optimism

17. America’s Romantic writers… (preview – no need to write these down today)
James Fenimore Cooper (Last of the Mohicans)
Washington Irving (Rip Van Winkle)
William Cullen Bryant (Thanatopsis)
Nathaniel Hawthorne (The Scarlet Letter)
Edgar Allan Poe (The Telltale Heart, etc)
Herman Melville (Moby Dick)

18. *The Dark Romantics
focused on the grotesque, the gloomy, the morbid, the fantastic
valued intuition & emotion over logic and reason
saw symbols, spiritual truths, signs in nature and everyday events
acknowledged the evil of man & the horror of evil.

19. Dark romantics include… (“mph”)
Herman Melville ~ author of Moby Dick, the classic tale of good v. evil & man v. nature. Edgar Allan Poe ~ master of the psychological thriller & founder of modern detective story. Nathaniel Hawthorne ~ examiner of the human mind & the effects of sin & evil.
Melville, Hawthorne, Poe = mph (miles per hour)

20. Remember… Elements of Romanticism = “NEED SIN”:
Nature inspiring wisdom
Exotic setting
Emotion and feeling over reason
Distrust of civilization and progress
Supernatural
Intuition, individualism, imagination, innocence, independence
Nostalgia for the past

21. Remember, when thinking of romanticism…
"Where the Wild Things Are" or Planet Earth Trailer Earth Trailer

22. DREAMS (N.E.E.D. S.I.N.) by Mary Oliver
All night the dark buds of dreams open richly. In the center of every petal is a letter, and you imagine if you could only remember and string them all together they would spell the answer. It is a long night,
and not an easy one— you have so many branches, and there are diversions— birds that come and go, the black fox that lies down to sleep beneath you, the moon staring with her bone-white eye. Finally you have spent all the energy you can and you drag from the ground the muddy skirt of your roots .
and leap awake with two or three syllables like water in your mouth and a sense
of loss—a memory not yet of a word, certainly not yet the answer— only how it feels when deep in the tree all the locks click open, and the fire surges through the wood, and the blossoms blossom.

23. Elements of Romanticism… Nature
The Romantics valued the beauty and existence of nature. The Romantics wanted to go against society’s norms of work and routine.
What are we doing to show this?
An Inconvenient Truth Trailer
(video trailer)
(video trailer – an inconvenient truth) – trailer should play when site is open

24. billboard examples

25. Nature/environment billboard
Gore made a film to encourage Americans to care about what happens to our world.
What could we do? (

26. Nature/environment billboard
Compose a short slogan that reminds Americans of one of the following:
The value of nature
(or)
The importance of taking care of Earth
Draw the slogan billboard
Answer these questions on the back of the slogan billboard
Where should your billboard be placed?
Who needs to see your slogan?
What affect would you hope it would have?