1. Romanticism A school of thought that values feeling and intuition over reason Different from the modern definition of romantic

2. Principles of Romanticism A reaction against rationalism The Declaration of independence is based on rationalist principles The imagination can reach truths that the rational mind cannot!!!!!

3. Principles of Romanticism Emphasis on powerful emotion, natural unspoiled beauty “felt” vs. “logic” Highest form of imagination: poetry Lowest form of imagination: science

4. Romantic Heroes The Rationalist HeroThe American Romantic Hero WorldlyYouthful EducatedInnocent SophisticatedIntuitive Wants to be in civilizationWants to be in Nature Example

5. Romantics implied that virtue is in American innocence, not European sophistication Huge influence over literature, music and art Edgar Allan Poe: referred to science as a “vulture” with wings of “dull realities”, preying on hearts of poets Romantic Heroes

6. Purposes of Romanticism Romantics searched for exotic settings in a more “natural” past, or a world away from the industrial age Romantics wanted to reflect on the natural world until the dull reality fell away to reveal underlying beauty and truth This is how Romantics created poetry: Sees the object → brought to deeply felt insight → recorded feelings

7. Purposes of Romanticism Same as the Puritans, but the Puritans found God in the Bible, where as the Romantics found God in nature Contemplation of the natural world led to a more emotional and intellectual awakening

8. Dark Romanticism As opposed to the perfectionist beliefs of Transcendentalism, the Dark Romantics emphasized human fallibility and proneness to sin and self- destruction, as well as the difficulties inherent in attempts at social reform. The Dark Romantics adapted images of anthropomorphized evil in the form of Satan, devils, ghosts, werewolves, vampires, and ghouls to help display humans inherit negatives. Nathanial Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Edgar Allen Poe (coincides with Gothic)

9. The Dark Romantics  The “Anti-Transcendentalists”  However, still had much in common with the Transcendentalists  Value of intuition over logic and reason  Nature is not necessarily good  Emphasis on Original Sin  Combination of mystical and the melancholy of Puritan thought  Good vs. evil  Psychological effects of guilt and sin  Madness and the human psyche

10. Allegory A story or poem in which characters, settings, and events stand for abstract ideas or moral qualities, yet can also strictly represent another time overall.