American Romanticism: 1800-1860

American Romanticism: 1800-1860Light Romanticism, Dark Romanticism, Transcendentalism

Romanticism as a JourneyAway from

Corruption of civilization

Limits of rational thought

Romanticism as a JourneyToward

Integrity of nature Freedom of

imagination

Source The Deerslayer N. C. Wyeth

Which are you?Romantic• Intuitive• Nature-

loving

Rational• Practical• Worldly

Imagination

Beauty

Truth

Big Ideas of Romanticism

Intuition Experience Individual Nature Ideal

source: Skipp, Francis in American Literature

Characteristics of American Romanticism Values feeling over reason Places faith in inner experience and

imagination Shuns artificiality of civilization; seeks

unspoiled nature Prefers youthful innocence to educated

sophistication Emphasizes individual freedom and worth Believes nature’s beauty can lead to

spiritual an moral developmentElements of Literature (145)

Characteristics of American Romanticism Looks backward to the wisdom of past

and distrusts progress Finds beauty and truth in

Exotic locales Supernatural realm Inner world of the imagination

Sees poetry as the highest expression of the imagination

Finds inspiration in myth, legend, and folk culture

Elements of Literature (145)

A New Hero Young or youthful Innocent and pure of purpose Sense of honor based on principle

higher than society’s rules Understanding of the world is intuitive,

not based on formal learning Loves nature Quests for higher truth in the natural

world

Elements of Literature 149

LegacyLasting Effects of American Romanticism Humanitarian reform

Abolitionism Feminism

Liberal religious movements Unitariansim Universalism

Economic experiments Communal living (Brook Farm, New Harmony)

James D. Hart, The Oxford Companion to American Literature, 6th ed. (572).

Light Romanticism Emily Dickinson

“Some Keep the Sabbath Going to Church” Walt Whitman

“Learn'd Astronomer” Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Each & All” Focus on the inherent inner light of humans, the beauty

of nature, and the perfection of the universe.

Dark Romanticism Nathaniel Hawthorne

“The Birthmark” (packet 131) “Dr. Heidegger's Experiment” (packet

124) Washington Irving

“Devil and Tom Walker” (packet 93)

Focus on the inherent inner darkness of humans, the perverseness of spirit,

and the flaw of the universe.

Dark Romanticism Key Beliefs:

Romantics see value in unspoiled nature and shun artificiality (things that are not natural)

Show the inner darkness in humanity-man’s potential for evil

See nature as a powerful and punishing force

Uses gothic or grotesque imagery (think dark or threatening)

Quiz: “The Birthmark” In a well-developed paragraph(s),

discuss the four elements of dark romanticism. Use examples from “The Birthmark” to explain and further your analysis.

Quiz is worth 25 points.

Transcendentalism Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Self Reliance” (packet 67) “Each and All” (packet 66)

Henry David Thoreau “Civil Disobedience” (packet 69) Walden

Solitude (packet 80) Conclusion (packet 84)

Built on the idea of the inner light, but believed that this was the divine spark, that humans carry God inside us. And because we all carry the divine, we are all capable of

perfection.

Transcendentalism Immanuel Kant“…concerned not with objects but with our mode of knowing objects."

source

Transcendental Beliefs the spark of divinity lies within man; everything in the world is a microcosm of

existence the individual soul is identical to the world soul

(Emerson’s Over-Soul)

By meditation, by communing with nature, through work and art, man could transcend his senses and attain an understanding of

beauty and goodness and truth.

source

Transcendentalists Belief in the Inner Light Authority of

Self Walt Whitman's I Ralph Waldo Emerson’s doctrine of Self-

Reliance Henry David Thoreau's civil

disobedience, Utopian communities at Brook Farm

source

Hudson River Painters

Art as an agent of moral and spiritual transformation

Kindred Spirits, Asher B. Durand, 1849