UNIT 4 (1800-1870)

THE AMERICAN RENAISSANCE DEFINITIONUnrestrained growth in U.S.1803-1853: area of U.S. increases from 846,000 to 2,181,000.

1800-1850: population of U.S. increases from 5 million to over 23 million

Westward expansion (Louisiana Purchase, The Gold Rush)Technological advancements (i.e. steel plow, telegraph, cotton gin)Transportation Improvements (canals, railroads)Democracy

ROMANTICISM

During the Industrial Revolution an intellectual and artistic hostility towards the new industrialization developed. This was known as the Romantic movement.

Romanticism stressed, the self, emotion over logic, the imagination over reason, and subjectivity of approach, and nature, nature, nature!“Romanticism” refers to a set of loosely connected attitudes toward nature and humankind, and NOT to romantic love.

The movement known as Romanticism sprang up in both Europe and America as a reaction to everything that had come before it: The rationalism of 18th-century Age of ReasonThe strict doctrines of Puritanism

DARK VS. LIGHT ROMANTICISMLIGHTHumans are basically good.

Optimistic

The human soul is reflected in nature.

DARK

Humans are basically cruel/corrupt.

Gothic

Suspension of disbelief

GOTHIC: CHARACTERIZED BY ELEMENTS OF FEAR, HORROR, DEATH, AND GLOOM, AS WELL AS ROMANTIC ELEMENTS, SUCH AS NATURE, INDIVIDUALITY, AND VERY HIGH EMOTION. THESE EMOTIONS CAN INCLUDE FEAR AND SUSPENSE.

G: rotesque Characters (Physical & Psychological)

O: ften violent

T: he setting is beak and/or isolated.

H: as a supernatural element

I: mpending doom

C: astles, cemeteries, mansions

ROMANTICISM AUTHOR’S & TITLESWashington Irving: “The Devil and Tom Walker”

Nathaniel Hawthorne: “The Minister's Black Veil”

Edgar Allan Poe: “Hop Frog” / “Annabelle Lee”

THE FIRESIDE POETS

Popular poets of their time

Preferred conventional forms over experimentation.

Often used American legends and scenes of American life as their subject matter.

William Cullen Bryant: “Thanatopsis” Thantos=death; Opsis=view

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: “The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls”

James Russell Lowell: “The First Snowfall”

TRANSCENDENTALISM

Emerson first expressed his philosophy in his essay “Nature”.

Suggests that every individual is capable of discovering this higher truth through intuition; the human mind is the most important force in the universe.

No to government, religion, education, structure, materials

Always about self-discovering

Thoreau was Emerson’s protégé

Universal Spirit-God’s mind

Reject rules/laws of man

Experience through nature

TRANSCENDENTALISM AUTHOR’S & TITLESRalph Waldo Emerson- “Self-Reliance”

Henry David Thoreau- Civil Disobedience

Jon Krakauer (Chris McCandless)- Into the Wild

FAUSTIAN ARCHETYPE

The Legend: German doctor who made a deal with the devil for eternal youth.

Characteristics:

1. Tragic Hero

2. Shadow-Devil

3. Temptress-Deal

4. Sign in blood

5. Sell soul

6. Trick/The devil usually wins

EXAMPLES OF FAUSTIAN ARCHETYPE Ghost Rider

“The Devil Went Down to Georgia”

O Brother, Where art Thou?