American Romanticism: Embracing Nature and Imagination

1. AMERICANROMANTICISM LIVES OF GREAT MEN ALL REMIND US, WE CAN MAKE OUR LIVES SUBLIME, AND, DEPARTING, LEAVE BEHIND US, FOOTPRINTS ON THE SANDS OF TIME.HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW 1800 -1860

2. Answer the Following Questions • Do you think your state of mind or your environment are more important? • Which would you rather have, imagination or knowledge? • Do you follow facts or intuition more often?

3. If you answered that… • State of mind is more important than environment • Imagination is better to have than knowledge • You follow your intuition over the facts Then you are a Romantic!

4. Historical Perspective Romanticism began in Europe in the 1700’s. However, the American Romantic movement took place from about 1800 to 1860. What was happening in the United States during this time period?

6. Historical Perspective • The early to mid 1800’s was a time of dramatic change for the United States; these include: • Thomas Jefferson was elected president in 1800 • War of 1812 was fought against Great Britain, lasting 2 and a half years • Effects of the war: “Star Spangled Banner” was created, the U.S. had more solidarity after the war, the U.S. was better recognized by the rest of the world

7. Historical Perspective Dramatic Changes cont. • U.S. doubled in size with the Louisiana Purchase (Napoleon sold much of the western United States to Thomas Jefferson for about 11 million dollars) • As a result, western expansion increased in the U.S. • The first indicators of the industrial revolution began to occur; many canals, railroads and turnpikes were built • New York City began to grow into a city as we know it; many authors of the Romantic period spent part of their life writing there

8. Historical Perspective Dramatic Changes cont. • The United States began to establish their place in the world of literature • Washington Irving became, “the first professional author of the new nation and the first literary figure to win an international reputation” • Two groups of artists, the Knickerbocker Group (authors led by Washington Irving) and the Bread and Cheese Club (authors and other artists led by James Fennimore Cooper) began to express the modern, American experience

9. Romanticism is not… • What we now think of as “romantic” • Romantic literature is not about relationships or love stories • It is a reaction against the ideas of the time period: • Rationalization (or scientific explanation) of nature • And pursuit of reason

10. Romanticism • First grew in response to rationalism. • Rationalism had focused on reason and science. • Sparked the Industrial Revolution • With Industrial Revolution came filthy cities and terrible working conditions. • Romantics distrusted pure reason and instead turned to the imagination. • Claimed that the imagination could see and understand truths that the rational mind could not.

11. American Romanticism • For Rationalists – the city was a place of civilization and opportunity • For Romantics – the city was a place of immorality and death. • For these reasons, the Romantic Journey often leads into the countryside. • A place of independence, morality, and healthful living

12. Characteristics of American Romanticism • Values feeling over reason • Places faith in the imagination • Shuns civilization and seeks nature • Prefers innocence to sophistication • Fights for individual’s freedom and worth • Trusts past wisdom, not progress • Reflects on nature to gain spiritual wisdom • Finds beauty and truth in supernatural or imaginative realms. • Sees poetry as the highest work of the imagination • Is inspired by myth, legend, and folklore.

13. Major Ideas of Romanticism • The world within is more important than the external environment • Imagination is the most important part of the mind • Imagination is also important because it is the basis for all art • Authors emphasized emotion, intuition, and instinct over reason • Reality is not as interesting or important

14. Major Ideas of Romanticism • Idealized the individual and the “hero artist” • Romantic artists often separated themselves from “normal” society • Artists were sometimes considered isolated geniuses • Sometimes used folk legends and myths as inspiration for their work • Focused on the sublime (awe inspiring) aspects of nature • Some artists (such as Edgar Allan Poe) focused on the supernatural in their work and tried to create terror in their readers

15. Romanticism • Romantics valued imagination, feeling, and nature over reason, logic, and civilization. • Romantics valued poetry above all other works of the imagination. • They contrasted poetry with science, which they viewed as a destroyer of truth. • Edgar Allen Poe once called science a “vulture” with wings of “dull realities” that preyed upon the hearts of poets.

16. Romantic Escapism: From Dull Realities to Higher Truths • Romantics – explored exotic settings • In the more natural past or in locations far from civilization and industry. • Romantics – explored supernatural worlds • Explored legends and folktales

17. Romantics • Tried to reflect on the natural world in order to see truth and beauty. • This approach is found in many lyric poems • In these poems, the speaker discovers in ordinary scenes or objects (flower by a stream, bird flying overhead) some important deeply felt understanding about life. • Like the Puritans, Romantics found truth in nature • But rather than finding moral lessons, Romantics found a more general feeling of mental and emotional health.

18. The American Novel and the Wilderness Experience • Some American writers imitated English and European models of writing. • Others believed that America should develop a literary style of its own. • The great American frontier provided a sense of unlimited possibilities that was not available in Europe. • The first truly American novels looked westward.

19. James Fenimore Cooper (1789 -1851) • Wrote about unique American settings and characters. • Frontier communities • American Indians • Backwoodsmen • Created the first American hero: Natty Bumppo • This character’s simple morality, love of nature, and almost superhuman inventiveness make him a true Romantic hero.

20. A New Kind of Hero • The typical Romantic hero is youthful and innocent. • He relies on common sense rather than book learning and is close to nature. • Because women represented marriage and civilization (to many writers), Romantic heroes are often uncomfortable around them.

21. Characteristics of the American Romantic Hero • Is youthful and innocent • Has a strong sense of honor • Has knowledge that comes from experience • Loves nature and avoids town life • Seeks truth in the natural world.

22. Romantic Heroes • In contrast to Romantic heroes, Ben Franklin represents the rationalist hero. • He looks to the city to better himself. • Romantic heroes look to nature to better themselves. • Today Americans still create Romantic heroes in the form of Superman, Luke Skywalker, and Indiana Jones, along with dozens of other western, detective, and fantasy heroes.

23. American Romantic Poetry: Read at Every Fireside • Goals of American Romantic poets were different from those of Romantic novelists. • Novelists looked for new subject matter • Poets wanted to prove that Americans were not ignorant hicks. • To do this, they wrote poems in a style much like the poems of England.

24. Fireside Poets • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, John Greenleaf Whittier, Oliver Wendell Holmes, William Cullen Bryant, and James Russell Lowell were known as the Fireside Poets. • Poems often read aloud by the fireside • In their time period and for a long time after, they were the most popular poets America ever produced.

25. Fireside Poets • Because they preferred the old, established styles of poetry, the fireside poets were unable to recognize the American poetry of the future. • In 1855, Whittier read the work of a young poet, Walt Whitman, and promptly threw it into the fire. • After reading the same poetry, Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote the young poet a letter. “I greet you,” Emerson wrote to Whitman, “at the beginning of a great career.

26. The Dark Romantics • Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, and Edgar Allen Poe are known as the Dark Romantics. • Because of their gloomy view of the world, some people see these writers as anti-Transcendentalists. • Dark Romantics had much in common with Ralph Waldo Emerson and his followers. • Both groups valued feeling over reason. • Both groups saw the events of the world as a signs or symbols that pointed beyond.

27. The Dark Romantics • To create a greater balance, the Dark Romantics explored both good and evil. • Looked at the effects of guilt and sin on the mind, body and soul, including madness. • Behind the pasteboard masks of polite society, they saw the horror of evil. • From this vision, the Dark Romantics shaped a new, truly American literature.

28. Influences on other Artists • Romanticism also influenced art and music • One example is the Hudson River School: a group of painters who depicted the wild landscape of the United States • Depicted nature in a realistic, but idealized way • Would often travel long distances in order to gain inspiration for their paintings • Would combine multiple sites to create their perfect landscapes