Literary Movement: Romanticism 1800-1860

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Literary MovementRomanticism1800-1860
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How Romantic are you?

• True or false?
• When making big decisions, I believe its best to
  go with your gut.
• I love it when Im free to use my imagination and
  express creativity.
• I believe that children are actually wiser than
  adults.
• Nature is a place of inspiration for me.
• I like to spend a lot of time alone.

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Introduction

• Partly as a reaction against rationalism,
  Romanticism had its beginnings in Germany, then
  spread throughout Europe and to the United
  States.
• Romanticism is the name given to schools of
  thought that value feeling and intuition over
  reason.
• --Elements of Literature p. 215

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Historical Context

• 1803 Louisiana Purchase
• 1812-15 War of 1812, Star-Spangled Banner
  written
• 1820-21 Missouri Compromise
• 1830 Underground Railroad is organized
• 1838 Trail of Tears
• 1846 Potato famine in Ireland
• 1846-48 U.S. annexes Texas war with Mexico
• 1848 First womens rights convention at Seneca
  Falls
• 1849 California gold rush

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Worldview

• 5 Is of Romanticism
• Intuition - Inspiration from nature
• Imagination - Individualism
• Innocence
• Other characteristics
• Favored remote/exotic settings
• (the past, the countryside)
• City perceived as a place
• of corruption
• Emphasis on the natural
• and the supernatural worlds
• Divinity found in nature

Life through rose-colored glasses
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Common Elements of the Literature

• Poetry was valued as the greatest embodiment of
  the imagination.
• Fireside Poets used traditional forms but
  introduced uniquely American subject matter.
• Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson later departed
  from traditional forms of poetry.
• American authors began developing novels.
• American novelists sought to produce literature
  that was uniquely American.
• The frontier gave America subject matter that set
  it apart from Europe.
• A new stereotype developed the American
  Romantic hero. (Ex. Natty Bumppo, Luke
  Skywalker, Indiana Jones, etc.)

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Famous Authors

• Fireside Poets Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, John
  Greenleaf Whittier, Oliver Wendell Holmes, James
  Russell Lowell
• William Cullen BryantThanatopsis
• James Fenimore CooperLeatherstocking tales
• Washington IrvingRip Van Winkle, The Legend
  of Sleepy Hollow
• Transcendentalists Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry
  David Thoreau
• Dark Romantics Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman
  Melville, Edgar Allan Poe

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• Painting Kindred Spirits by Asher Brown Duran
• Features William Cullen Bryant and Thomas Cole

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Tenets of Transcendentalism

• Everything is a reflection of the Divine Soul.
• Nature is a doorway to the spiritual world.
• Man should be true to himself rather than blindly
  submitting to external authority.
• Human nature is essentially good (optimistic
  view).

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Ralph Waldo Emerson

• Born in 1803 in Boston
• Went to Harvard at the age of 14 and graduated in
  1821
• Became a minister, like the eight generations of
  Emersons before him
• Questioned the doctrines of his religion and left
  the ministry to pursue a career in writing and
  public speaking

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Ralph Waldo Emerson

• Considered the leader of the Transcendentalist
  movement
• Emphasized trust in oneself and the experience of
  reality through intuition
• Became a popular writer and lecturer, as his
  ideas were well received by intellectuals and the
  general public

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Dark Romanticism Background

• Authors Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne,
  Herman Melville
• These authors transformed the European Gothic
  novel
• Development of the short story as a trend in
  American fiction

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Dark Romanticism Background

• Characteristics of Gothic Fiction
• Use of haunting, eerie settings and strange,
  chilling events
• Romantic interest in intuition, imagination, and
  hidden truths
• Reaction against the optimism of the
  Transcendentalists
• Exploration of evil and the irrational depths of
  the human mind

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The Fall of the House of Usher

• About the Author Edgar Allan Poe
• Abandoned by father mother died when he was 2
  years old
• Taken in by John and Frances Allan
• John Allan was disappointed in Poehis literary
  ambition and rejection of business life
• Left for college, got into debt, quarreled with
  John Allan
• Pursued literary career without much success
• Entered West Point Academy but had himself
  dismissed to devote his career to writing
• Moved in with his aunt, Maria Poe Clemm

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• Yes, he married his cousin Virginia. She was 13.
• Virginia died of tuberculosis.
• Mysterious death
• found on the brink of death
• in Baltimore tavern

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The RavenSummary

• The speaker is reading in his chamber when he
  hears a tapping.
• He opens his chamber door and sees no one.
• He opens the window, and a raven flies in and
  perches on a bust of Pallas Athena.
• He asks the raven its name. The response in
  Nevermore. The speaker, fascinated, wheels his
  chair in front of the raven.

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The Raven Summary(continued)

• He asks questions about his sorrow and his
  beloved, eventually asking if he will see his
  love Lenore again. The response is always
  Nevermore.
• The speaker orders the raven to leave, but the
  raven remains perched above the chamber door.