1. UNIT 4 (1800-1870)

2. THE AMERICAN RENAISSANCE DEFINITION  Unrestrained growth in U.S.  1803-1853: area of U.S. increases from 846,000 to 2,181,000.  1800-1850: population of U.S. increases from 5 million to over 23 million  Westward expansion (Louisiana Purchase, The Gold Rush)  Technological advancements (i.e. steel plow, telegraph, cotton gin)  Transportation Improvements (canals, railroads)  Democracy

3. ROMANTICISM  During the Industrial Revolution an intellectual and artistic hostility towards the new industrialization developed. This was known as the Romantic movement.  Romanticism stressed, the self, emotion over logic, the imagination over reason, and subjectivity of approach, and nature, nature, nature!  “Romanticism” refers to a set of loosely connected attitudes toward nature and humankind, and NOT to romantic love.  The movement known as Romanticism sprang up in both Europe and America as a reaction to everything that had come before it:  The rationalism of 18th-century Age of Reason  The strict doctrines of Puritanism

4. DARK VS. LIGHT ROMANTICISM LIGHT  Humans are basically good.  Optimistic  The human soul is reflected in nature. DARK  Humans are basically cruel/corrupt.  Gothic  Suspension of disbelief

5. GOTHIC: CHARACTERIZED BY ELEMENTS OF FEAR, HORROR, DEATH, AND GLOOM, AS WELL AS ROMANTIC ELEMENTS, SUCH AS NATURE, INDIVIDUALITY, AND VERY HIGH EMOTION. THESE EMOTIONS CAN INCLUDE FEAR AND SUSPENSE. G: rotesque Characters (Physical & Psychological) O: ften violent T: he setting is beak and/or isolated. H: as a supernatural element I: mpending doom C: astles, cemeteries, mansions

6. ROMANTICISM AUTHOR’S & TITLES  Washington Irving: “The Devil and Tom Walker”  Nathaniel Hawthorne: “The Minister's Black Veil”  Edgar Allan Poe: “Hop Frog” / “Annabelle Lee”

7. THE FIRESIDE POETS  Popular poets of their time  Preferred conventional forms over experimentation.  Often used American legends and scenes of American life as their subject matter.  William Cullen Bryant: “Thanatopsis” Thantos=death; Opsis=view  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: “The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls”  James Russell Lowell: “The First Snowfall”

8. TRANSCENDENTALISM  Emerson first expressed his philosophy in his essay “Nature”.  Suggests that every individual is capable of discovering this higher truth through intuition; the human mind is the most important force in the universe.  No to government, religion, education, structure, materials  Always about self-discovering  Thoreau was Emerson’s protégé  Universal Spirit-God’s mind  Reject rules/laws of man  Experience through nature

9. TRANSCENDENTALISM AUTHOR’S & TITLES  Ralph Waldo Emerson- “Self-Reliance”  Henry David Thoreau- Civil Disobedience  Jon Krakauer (Chris McCandless)- Into the Wild

10. FAUSTIAN ARCHETYPE The Legend: German doctor who made a deal with the devil for eternal youth. Characteristics: 1.Tragic Hero 2.Shadow-Devil 3.Temptress-Deal 4.Sign in blood 5.Sell soul 6.Trick/The devil usually wins

11. EXAMPLES OF FAUSTIAN ARCHETYPE Ghost Rider “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” O Brother, Where art Thou?