The Romantic Period in American Literature 1800 1860

The Romantic Period in American Literature 1800 -1860

Hudson River School of Art Hudson River School paintings reflect three themes of America in the 19 th century: discovery, exploration, and settlement. The paintings also depict the American landscape as a pastoral setting, where human beings and nature coexist peacefully

In the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson “For all men live by truth, and stand in need of expression. In love, in art, in avarice, in politics, in labor, in games, we study to utter our painful secret. The man is only half himself, the other half is his expression. ”

After the Bill of Rights and Before the Civil War

City vs. Country ► To the Romantic, the city is corrupt and ugly. ► To the Romantic, the country represents independence, moral clarity, and healthy living.

Imagination over Reason ► Romanticism is a reaction against rationalism which brought about the sooty, squalid cities of the Industrial Revolution. ► Imagination was able to apprehend truth the rational mind could not reach.

Romantics vs. Rationalists ►Imagination ►Spontaneity ►Individual feelings ►Wild nature Reason ► Logic ► Planning ► Cultivation ►

Gothic Novels ► Allowed Romantics to explore the exotic nature of the supernatural realm and the psychological exploration of the human mind.

The American Journey ► Takes reader to the literal countryside and the countryside of the imagination. ► A journey away from corruption of civilization and rational thought. ► A journey toward the integrity of nature and the freedom of the imagination.

Romantic Novels ► Looked to wilderness and westward expansion. ► “Geography of the Imagination”

Romantic Poets ► Believed poetry was the greatest witness to the power of imagination. ► Still modeled themselves after the European poets. ► Fireside poets known for their comfortable subjects appealing to families—love, patriotism, nature, family, God and religion. ► Their literary conservationism kept them from being truly innovative.

Romantic Hero ► Is innocent and pure of purpose ► Has a sense of honor based not on society’s rules but on some higher principle ► Has a knowledge of people and of life based on deep, intuitive understanding, not on formal learning ► Loves nature ► Avoids town life

SNIIIIIIPD ► Supernatural ► Nature § Intense feeling § Imagination § Independence § Intuition § Innocence § Inner Experience ► Nostalgia for the PAST ► Distrust of civilization

LIGHT Romantic Elements S – magic, fairies N – flowers, snow, lyrical nature poems I – happiness P – good memories D – freedom DARK Romantic Elements S – witches, castles N – swampy, wild landscapes I – nightmares, anger, alone P – bad memories D – trapped TRANSCENDENTAL Romantic Elements S – power of nature/God N – reveling in the purity of nature; seeking truth I – intensity, independent originality P – look to the past heroes to inspire the future D – criticism of conformity, etc

When I heard the Learn’d Astronomer When I heard the learn’d astronomer; When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me; When I was shown the charts and the diagrams, to add, divide, and measure the When I, sitting, heard the astronomer, where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room, How soon, unaccountable, I became tired and sick; Till rising and gliding out, I wander’d off by myself, In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time, Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars. (Walt Whitman)