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The Oxbow , Thomas Cole, 1836. American Romanticism. Imagination and the Individual. 1800 - 1860. “I unsettle all things. No facts are to me sacred; none are profane; I simply experiment, an endless seeker, with no Past at my back.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson. Forging a Cultural Identity.
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The Oxbow, Thomas Cole, 1836. American Romanticism Imagination and the Individual 1800 - 1860 “I unsettle all things. No facts are to me sacred; none are profane; I simply experiment, an endless seeker, with no Past at my back.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Forging a Cultural Identity • By the beginning of the 19th century, America had established itself has an independent nation; however, they were only just beginning to establish their own cultural identity. • A new generation of writers, who called themselves Romantics and Transcendentalists, created a new kind of literature that emphasized imagination, feelings, individualism, and enthusiasm for nature. • Think of this new writing as the first truly “American” literature. Birch and Maple, Asher Brown Durand, 1855.
Romanticism • Romanticism was, in large part, a reaction to rationalism. • Romanticism values feelings over logic and reasoning. • Romanticism also emphasizes the power of the imagination and the individual spirit as well as the beauty of nature. Kindred Spirits, Asher Brown Durand, 1849.
Characteristics of Romanticism • Romanticism is marked by these characteristics: • a conviction that intuition, imagination, and emotion provide a clearer route to truth than reason alone; • a conviction that poetry is superior to science; • a belief that contemplation of the natural world is a means of discovering truth; • a distrust of industry and city life; • an interest in the supernatural.
Transcendentalism • Transcendentalism refers to the idea that in determining the ultimate reality of God, the universe, the self, and other important matters, one must transcend, or go beyond, everyday human experience. Cascade, William Stanley Haseltine.
Characteristics of Transcendentalism • Transcendentalism is marked by these beliefs: • God is in every aspect of nature, including every human being; • everyone is capable of understanding God through intuition; • nature is a reflection of divine spirit.
Important Authors of the Period • William Cullen Bryant • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow • Ralph Waldo Emerson • Henry David Thoreau • Washington Irving • Nathaniel Hawthrone • Edgar Allen Poe • Herman Melville Landscape. River Running Between Pastures, Christopher Pearse Cranch c. 1850.
William Cullen Bryant(1794-1878) William Cullen Bryant, c. 1876.
Ralph Waldo Emerson(1803-1882) • b. in 1803 in Boston, Mass. • Harvard education (to become a minister) • Accept a post at a church in Boston and marries, only to have his wife die seventeen months later. • Resigns his post and travels to Europe • Meets up with the English Romantic poets Ralph Waldo Emerson, Southworth & Hawes, c. 1857.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, cont. • Returned to American in 1833 • Founding member of the “Transcendental Club” (1836) • Best know for his essays • “Nature,” “The American Scholar,” “Divinity School Address” & “Self-Reliance” • In “The American Scholar,” Emerson calls for American’s to create a writing style of their own. Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Nature Reading Assignment • Given in class. Woodland Interior,Asher B. Durand, c. 1855.
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) • b. July 12, 1817 in Concord, Mass. • Harvard educated • Moved to the shores of Walden Pond in 1845 • This move began his two year experiment of reconnecting with nature • Walden is a record of Thoreau’s experience. Henry David Thoreau in June 1856 (Aged 39), 1856.
Walden Reading Assignment • Given in class. The Old Pine, Darien, Connecticut, John Frederick Kensett .
American Gothic Fiction • Characteristics of Gothic Fiction: • Use of haunting, eerie settings and strange, chilling events; • Romantic interest in intuition, imagination, and hidden truths; • Reaction against the optimism of the Transcendentalists; • Exploration of evil and the irrational depths of the human mind. Abbey in an Oak Forest, Caspar David Friedrich,1809.
Nathaniel Hawthrone • b. July 4th, 1804 in Salem Mass. • Ancestor: Judge Hathrone from The Crucible • His writing is “fueled by an awareness of the guilt that accompanies a Puritan conscience” (302). • Twice-Told Tales (1837) • The Scarlet Letter (1850) • The House of Seven Gables (1851) • d. 1864 Portrait of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Charles Osgood, 1840.
