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Early American Romanticism

Early American Romanticism. Another Change in Our Thinking?. Ben Franklin v. Arthur Mervyn : Showdown in Early America Journey into the city (“civilization”) Franklin: “independence, prosperity, and commerce” Mervyn (C.B. Brown): “decay, corruption, and evil”

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Early American Romanticism

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  1. Early American Romanticism

  2. Another Change in Our Thinking? • Ben Franklin v. Arthur Mervyn: Showdown in Early America • Journey into the city (“civilization”) • Franklin: “independence, prosperity, and commerce” • Mervyn (C.B. Brown): “decay, corruption, and evil” • What caused these varied perspectives?

  3. Romanticism: Location, Location, Location • City: corruption, greed, death, moral ambiguity • Countryside: health, moral certainty • Frontier: Endless possibility and potential • “In nineteenth century America, this geography of the imagination – town, country, frontier – played a powerful role in American literature and life…” (116)

  4. America: No Longer About the Benjamin (Franklin) • Ben Franklin v. Rip Van Winkle: Antithetical figures; both have mythical/symbolic qualities • Freedom is relative (Franklin found it in “civilization”; Van Winkle found it in nature) • Question: At this point, do Americans want to be more like Rip or more like Franklin?

  5. Tenets of American Romanticism • A distrust of “civilization” • A nostalgia for the past • A concern with individual freedom • An interest in the supernatural • A profound love for the beauties of the natural landscape

  6. Romanticism: Something Borrowed • Origins in Europe (go figure) • Strong influence on music, literature, and painting • Rational thinking is inferior to the imagination • The Age of “What if?” • “The Romantics believed that the imagination was able to discover truths that reason could not reach…” (119) – Example of this?

  7. An Important Tip: Romantic = Romance

  8. Faith and Romanticism • Puritans and Romantics found divinity in nature • A great deal of Romantic poetry focused on “the contemplation of the natural world” (119) • “Romantics found in nature a far less clearly defined divinity…[a generalized] emotional and intellectual awakening” (119).

  9. Romantic Heroes: No Cape Required • Youth (or childlike qualities) • Innocence • A love of nature/distrust of town life • A corresponding uneasiness with women • The need to engage in a quest for some higher truth in the natural world • Examples?

  10. The “Fireside Poets” • Longfellow, Holmes, Whittier • Works appealed to “the ordinary, literate man or woman” • Subject matter focused on love, patriotism, nature, family, God, and religion • “Their attempts to create a new American literature relied too reverently on the literature of the past” (122)

  11. Questions?

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