I.
The Early
Romantics
a.
Romanticism first
emerged in Europe in reaction to neoclassicism
b.
Neoclassists
valued reason
c.
Romantics
celebrated nature for inspiration
d.
Romanticism
writers saw the limits of reason and instead celebrated the glories of the
individual spirit, the emotions, and the imagination
e.
The splendors of
nature inspired romantics more than the fear of God
f.
William Cullen
Bryant wrote “Thanatopsis” in 1817 and went a very long way towards making
romanticism a major writing theme
g.
Washington Irving
wrote short stories and put America on the literary map and influenced other
writers like Hawthorne
h.
James Fenimore
Cooper is said to have written the first truly American novel known as “The
Leatherstocking Tales”
II.
The Fireside Poets
a.
The Fireside
poets were a group of New England poets who wrote morally uplifting and
romantically engaging pieces
b.
Their name came
from the family custom of reading by the fire
c.
With their poetry
they were finally on equal writing terms with the British
d.
Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow was the best known of this group
e.
He stressed
individualism and an appreciation of nature in his work
f.
He wrote many
poems about more colorful parts of America’s past
g.
“Evangeline” was
about the lovers being separated during the French and Indian war and “The Song
of Hiawatha” was from Native American folklore
h.
Longfellow was
honored with a plaque in Poets’ Corner of Westminster Abbey in London- he is
the only American to have achieved this
i.
The other Fireside
Poets, James Russell Lowell, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and John Greenleaf Whittier
wanted strongly to bring out social reform
j.
They also
championed the common person, they wrote about many farmers, lumberman,
migrants, and the poor
III.
The
Transcendentalists
a.
Transcendentalism
is a philosophical and literary movement that emphasized living a simple life
and celebrating the truth found in nature and in personal emotion and
imagination.
b.
Transcendentalism
means a knowledge that exists beyond reason and experience.
c.
Thought people
were inherently good and should follow their own beliefs.
d.
Ralph Waldo
Emerson said that every individual is capable of discovering this higher truth
on their own.
e.
Henry David
Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” addresses this faith in the integrity of the
individual.
f.
The Puritans did
not like this
g.
Their optimism
faded when they realized the persistence of slavery and the difficulty in
abolishing it
IV.
America Gothic:
The “Brooding” Romantics
a.
Includes Edgar
Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Herman Melville
b.
Their philosophy
was filled with darkness and a deep awareness of the human capacity for evil
c.
Their stories
were characterized by a probing of the inner life of their characters and
examination of the mysterious forces that motivate human behavior
d.
Romantic in their
emphasis on emotion, nature, the individual, and the unusual
e.
Uses gothic
elements such as grotesque characters, bizarre situations, and violent events
f.
Edgar Allen Poe
explored human psychology by using first-person narrators. His plots were
extreme, involving not only murder, but live burials and also physical and
mental torture.
g.
Nathaniel
Hawthorne’s works, such as The Scarlet Letter, focus on the darker facets of
the human soul.
h.
Herman Melville
explored issues such as madness and conflict of good and evil.
