1. American Romanticism 1800 - 1860 A Reaction to Puritanism and Rationalism

2. Swinging Pendulum  Each new movement in part a reaction to the previous  The rationalistic view of urban life (from Federal period) replaced by the Romantic view  Rationalists: cities as a place to find success and self-realization  Romantics: the city as a place of moral corruption, poverty, and death

3. Puritanism: c1620-1700  Purpose for Literature: Provide spiritual insight and instruction Mostly sermons, theological studies, and hymns  Puritan Style Simple, Spare, Straightforward

4. Neoclassic Rationalism: 1750-1800  Founding Fathers  Emphasized reason, harmony, and restraint

5. Introduction to Romanticism  An international movement arising as a response to Enlightenment ideals and the French revolution  Rationalism and materialism of Enlightenment rejected for an almost religious appreciation of nature and worship of the individual misunderstood hero.  The initial strongholds of Romanticism were England and Germany.  Nationalism was a key element in romanticism. ● English, German as well as American movements all had nationalistic trends.

6. Characteristics of Romanticism in General  Values feelings over intellect  Values the power of the imagination  Seeks the beauty of unspoiled nature  Values youthful innocence  Values individual freedom  Values the lessons of the past  Finds beauty in exotic locales, the supernatural, and in the imagination  Values poetry as the highest expression of the imagination  Values myth, legend, and folk culture

7. Rejection of Belief in Total Depravity  People naturally benevolent  Mind a tabula rosa at birth  Corrupted by institutions that sought to dehumanize individuals  Those closest to Nature best living examples “Noble savage” “Noble savage”

8. Journey to the Countryside  The Romantics: the country = independence, moral clarity, and purity  The Gothic Romantic: the country as a place of delusion (phantasm)  The Pastoral Romantic: the country as idyllic and an escape

9. American Literature Comes of Age with Romanticism  Finally, America had a literature worthy of international recognition  Finally, America had a distinctly American literature rather than an imitation of British literature  American Romanticism grew from Puritan visions and rhetoric of salvation and guilt; the wilderness; fiery rhetoric of freedom and equality  A Renaissance in the sense of a flowering, an excitement over human possibilities and a high regard for individual ego

10. Characteristics of American Romanticism  Places faith in inner experience and power of imagination  Shuns the artificiality of civilization; seeks unspoiled nature  Prefers youthful innocence to educated sophistication  Champions individual freedom and the worth of the individual  Contemplates nature’s beauty as a path to spiritual and moral development

11. American Romanticism  Traditional literary forms mattered much less than inspiration, enthusiasm, and emotion  Good literature should have heart, not rules  Immersion in nature and its wild aspect: Nature for itself, for beauty Nature as source for the knowledge of the primitive Nature as refuge Nature as revelation of God to individual  Frequent emphasis on fantastic aspects of human experience

12. The Romance as Prose Epic  Romance: Less formal version of epic poem Noble character on a series of adventures Pastoral setting Love interest and the idealization of women According to William Gilmore Simms, the romance does not confine itself to what is known or even probable: "it grasps at the possible."

13. Romance versus the Novel  Reality not as central as in a novel  Characters generally not as complex  Relationships narrowly or obsessively involved  Origins of characters irrelevant, often a mystery  Plot highly colored, featuring astonishing events of symbolic or allegorical import  Mythic, allegorical, or symbolic forms; heightened diction (more flowery language)

14. Gothic  Gothic writing used the supernatural in nature and/or in folk legends  Gothic novels wild, haunted landscapes  Gothic concept roots in France, Germany, and England  Edgar Allan Poe Gothic Romanticism’s first great American writer

15. American Romantic Poetry  Fireside Poets—Boston group composed of Longfellow, Whittier, Holmes, and Lowell– widely read and loved in America  Families gathered around the fireside to be entertained by their poetry  Subject matter comfortable and instructional  Praised during the time but not as highly regarded today

16.  The means of knowing Truth God reveals himself solely through Nature Nature becomes a moral teacher  Eden-like and untouched by Adam’s fall  A retreat for humanity U.S. literature different in the sense of wild Nature vs. Europe’s cultivated Nature Nature

17. Cultivated Nature

18. Wild Nature

19. Wilder Nature

20. Romantic Heroes  Dark Hero Dangerous Mysterious  Noble Savage Hero adventurous independent  Strong Silent Hero admirable/attractive

21. Romantic Heroines  Blondes Pure, innocent Virtuous Need protection  Brunettes Passion, experience Dangerous Sexy

22. Bibliography  Faber, Doris, and Harold Fabor. Great Lives. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1988. 179-185.  Woodlief, Anne. “An Introduction to American Romanticism”. 18 August 2001. 30 September 2007.