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Instructor:
Ms. Kim An
What is romanticism?
A style and movement in art, music and literature (18th- 19th)
strong feelings, imagination and a return to nature >>> reason, order and intellectual ideas
Conditions Influenced American
Economy
The rise of materialism: Industrial Revolution (1790-1850)
Growth of industry in the North that further polarized the North and the agrarian South
Cultural and Social Background
Immigration brought new cultures and perspectives.
American’s deserts, mountains, tropics: fresh concepts and ideals
Readers (women) often expand their minds.
Religions
Its kind of pantheistic religion (the view that God and Nature are identical)
Rationalistic Unitarianism and Deism: search for new spiritual roots
CHARCTERISTICS
WRITING STYLES
TRANSCENDENTALISM AND DARK ROMANTICISM
Romantic period

Characteristics:
Imagination and Escapism
Individuality
Nature as a source of spirituality
Looking to the past for wisdom
Seeing the common man as a hero
Politics
A heritage of optimism about man’s possibility and perfectibility
The lofty ideals of democracy asserted the values of individuals: “white males”
Inequalities: women & slaves => American Civil War and Women’s Rights Movement
The Westward expansion (1807-1912)
Frontiers promised opportunity for expansion, growth, freedom
Spirit of optimism invoked by the promise of an uncharted frontier

Expressiveness: the writers like to express their emotions, feelings, impressions, intuition, or their beliefs in their works instead of imitating the classical writers
Imagination
Worship of nature: nature including human nature as a source of instruction, delight and nourishment for the soul; return to nature as a source of inspiration and wisdom
Simplicity: turned to the humble people and the everyday life, adopted the everyday language
(1820-1850)
Characteristics
A celebration of the simple life
Individual
The traditional American values of optimism, freedom and self-reliance
Dark Romanticism
(1840-1860)
Characteristics
Themes
Lots of dark and creepy symbol
Horrific themes
Psychological effect of guilt and sin
The struggles of human nature
Surrounding could be filled with evil
Themes of horror and tragedy
Major Writers and Famous Works
Washington Irving
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Emily Dickinson
Walt Whitman
Washington Irving(1783-1859)
An American writer, essayist, biographer,
historian, and politician
Referred to as “ the father of American
literature”
He gained his first recognition as a writer in
1802, wring under the pseudonym, Jonathan
Old style.
Irving served as the US ambassador to Spain from 1842 to 1846.
From1848-1859, he was the president of Astor Library, later New York Library.
Works
The sketch book
Genre: short stories and essays
Was published serially throughout 1819 and 1820
Included 34 essays and short stories
"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow ( March 15, 1820 )”
"Rip Van Winkle (June 23, 1819)

Rip Van Winkle
Publication date: June 23, 1819
Main Characters: Rip Van Winkle
Themes:
Imagination and Reality
Change With Continuity and Preservation of Tradition
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Publication date: March 15, 1820
Main Character: Ichabod Crane
Themes:
Greed and gluttony
The supernatural
Man and nature
Appearance
Truth
Wealth

Attached a video
Romantic elements:
The supernatural
Escapism
Imagery
Ralph Waldo Emerson(1803-1882)
An American essayist, lecturer and poet, who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century
At age 14, Emerson was sent to Harvard Divinity
School to study.
In 1830, he became full minister of Second
Church.
Was seen as champion of individualism and a
prescient critic of the countervailing pressure of
society
Selected Works
Collections
Individual Essays
Poems
Nature
Nature published by James Munroe and Company in 1836.
Genre: essay
Themes: Spirituality
Unity of God, Man, and Nature
Relationship of Man and Nature
Matter and Spirit
Attached a video
Emily Dickinson(1830-1836)
A reclusive American poet
After she studied at the Amherst Academy for
seven years, she spent a short time at Mount
Holyoke Female Seminary before returning to
her family’s house.
Considered an eccentric by the locals, she
became known for her penchant for white
clothing and her reluctance to greet guests.
Works
Almost 1800 poems were published
Many of her poems deal with themes of death and immortality.
They contain short lines, lack titles, and use slant rhyme as well as unconventional capitalization and punctuation.

Because I can’t stop for Death
Publication in 1890.
Genre: lyric poem
Theme:
Death
While we are never prepared for death, it is not to be feared but should be embraced because it is a part of endless circles of life.
Circle of life
Time
Attached a video
Walt Whitman(1819-1892)
An American poet, essayist, journalist and
humanist
At the age of twelve, he began to learn printer’s
trade, and fell in love with the written word.
His occupations during his lifetime included:
printer, teacher, reporter, and editor.
During the civil war, he worked as a clerk in
Washington, DC.
He is labeled as the father of free verse.


Works
His work breaks the boundaries of poetic form and is generally prose-like.
He used unusual images and symbols in his poetry.
He openly wrote about death and sexuality and death, including prostitution.
Leaves of Grass
Publication date: 1st edition on July 4, 1855 ; final edition in 1892
Genre: Poetry
The last edition includes over 400 poems.

Main themes:
The Self
The Body and the Soul
Nature
Time
Personalism
Attached a video of Poem
Question Time
It is one main theme of the American Early Romantic period:
a. A trickster god interferes
b. Symbolism
c. Imagination
d. Worlds are created
It is a movement, a reaction against 18th-century rationalism:
a. Modernism
b. Puritan Writing
c. Realism
d. Transcendentalism
3. He is known as the father of American literature:
Rip Van Winkle
Washington Irving
Henry David Thoreau
Walt Whitman
4. Famous female transcendentalist:
a. Anne Bradstreet
b. Emily Dickinson
c. Sylvia Plath
d. Mary Jane Watson
5. It is not a characteristic of Dark Romanticism:
a. Lots of Creepy Symbols
b. Imagination
c. Horrific Themes
d. Psychological Effects
BIOGRAPHY
Born: 15/9/1789, Burlington, New Jersey
In 1791: moved to Cooperstown, New York
At the age of 13, attended Yale university but was expelled in his third year


At 18, Cooper joined in the United State Navy.
In 1820s, Cooper lived in New York and participated in its intellectual life and politics.
Served as U.S. Consul at Lyons, France from 1826 to 1833
In 1833, returned to US and wrote for income.






Cooper died in 1851, and is buried in the cemetery of Cooperstown, NY

INFLUENCES
Cooper grew up in Cooperstown.
Spent a great deal time exploring the frontier, which had a significant impact on his writing
Roamed through the forests and developed a love of nature


WRITING STYLES
Plot construction
Landscape description
A rich imagination
COOPER’S MAIN WORKS
The Spy, 1821
The Pilot, 1823
The Leatherstocking Tales
Central character: Natty Bumppo
a typical frontier man: honest, simple, innocent, generous
represents brotherhood of man, nature and freedom
Theme: modern civilization advancing on the wilderness and the contradiction between them
A clip ( 1.30 minute)
The Last of the Mohicans
The most popular work of “The Leatherstocking Tales”
Year Published: 1826
Type of Work: Novel
Genre: Adventure, Historical Fiction, Romance
Original Language: English
Country of Origin: United States of America

Summary
Major Characters

Themes
Heroism
The consequences of interracial love and friendship
Literal and metaphorical nature
The role of religion in the wilderness
The changing idea of family
A clip (1.30 minute)
William Cullen Bryant
(1794-1878)
BRYANT ‘S HOUSE
BRYANT ‘S GRAVE
BIOGRAPHY
Bryant began writing early and his first poem was published at 10.
His first book was published at the age of 13, a satire of an embargo put in place by Thomas Jefferson.
At 16, he entered Williams College.
Two years later, he began studying for the Bar, he was accepted after three years.


He worked as a lawyer until 1825.
In 1825, he worked for the New York Review and Evening Post in 1829.
In 1855, he helped in the information of the new Republican party.
He was a fervent supporter of Abraham Lincoln’s presidential bid in 1860.
In his later years, Bryant focused on translating and analyzing Ancient Greek and Latin works .
MAIN THEMES

believed in the unity of humanity
the natural world
the season
the rights of slaves
the death of President Lincoln

MAJOR WORKS
Thanatopsis
by William Cullen Bryant

Thanatos: death
Opsis: view
a view of death: a view of optimism
Genre: Poetry
Published in 1818

Structure: Blank Verse
- Each line has five ("penta") "feet."
- Those feet are generally iambic.
- The lines do not rhyme.
For example:
To him | who in | the love | of Na|ture holds
Commun|ion with | her vis|ible forms, |she speaks
A var|ious lang|uage; for | his gay|er hours



A clip
THEMES
Death
Man and The Nature World
Time
Sadness
Spirituality