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American Romantic Period

The American Romantic Period, also known as the American Renaissance, spanned from 1820 to 1865. It coincided with significant national events such as the Louisiana Purchase, the Texas annexation, and the California Gold Rush. This era emphasized emotion and individualism, reacting against rationalism. Prominent figures like Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne explored complex themes of nature and the human psyche. The period witnessed the development of genres highlighting imagination, and social reform, leading to the naivety of the American Hero archetype, epitomized by characters created by James Fenimore Cooper.

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American Romantic Period

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  1. American Romantic Period Also known as the American Renaissance

  2. 1820-1865 Expansion (Manifest Destiny…)

  3. 1800 - 1860 What’s going on in the world: • 1803 – Louisiana Purchase • 1810 – Mexico begins it’s war of independence from Spain • 1812 – British attempt to take back America in the War of 1812 • 1815 – Napoleon defeated at Waterloo • 1820-1821 – Missouri Compromise (free state/ slave state) • 1830 – Underground railroad begins • 1837 – Queen Victoria rules England • 1845 – United States annexes Texas (leads to war with Mexico, 1846) • 1849 – California gold rush • 1854 – Republican party formed (opposed extension of slavery) • 1859 – John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry

  4. Louisiana Purchase • From France • 4 cents an acre (15 million dollars total) • Doubled US Territory

  5. The Gold Rush • Helped to develop the West • Led to the building of railroads • California and Alaska were major rushes

  6. Romanticism Reaction to Rationalism and the age of reason

  7. Romanticism • NOT about love • Values feeling and intuition over reason • Romantics believed that imagination could discover truths that the rational mind could not • Nature is very important Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night. -Edgar Allan Poe

  8. Characteristics of the American Romantic period • Values feeling and intuition over reason • Places faith in the power of the imagination • Rejects the societal aspects of civilization and seeks unspoiled nature • Prefers youthful innocence to educated sophistication.

  9. Characteristics of the American Romantic period • Celebrated individual freedoms and the worth of the individual, NOT society • Sees nature’s beauty as a path to God and moral development • Looks backward to the past and distrusts progress

  10. Characteristics of the American Romantic period • Finds meaning in the imaginary realm and the inner world of the supernatural • Sees poetry as the highest expression of the imagination • Finds inspiration from myths, legends, and folklore

  11. What genres of literature? • Gets its basis in imagination • Has no use for facts, logic, and things that are actually possible • Deals with emotion and feeling • Novels, short stories, poems

  12. Early Romantics • William Cullen Bryant • Washington Irving • James Fenimore Cooper • Were inspired by the beauty of nature • Emphasized emotions and imagination over reason • Celebrated the individual spirit

  13. Fireside Poets • People liked to read their works by the fireside at night • Emphasized moral themes in their work • Were viewed as equals of British poets of the day • Stressed individualism and an appreciation of nature • Were committed to social reform • Often considered the most popular poets ever • Very un-Romantic in their style

  14. Fiction The American Hero: • Innocent and pure • Sense of honor higher than society’s honor • Has knowledge of people and life based on a deep understanding, not based on education • Loves nature • Quests for a higher truth

  15. The Hero • First American Hero – created by James Fennimore Cooper: Natty Bumppo(went by other names: Hawkeye,Deerslayer,Leatherstocking)

  16. The Fireside Poets • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow • John Greenleaf Whittier • Oliver Wendell Holmes • James Russell Lowell

  17. Subgroups: Extremists Romantics Transcendentalists Dark Romantics

  18. The Dark Romantics • Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe, Herman Melville • Believed what the Romantics did, but felt that at the core of everyone was a dark, sinister being • Has a lot of crazy or guilt-racked people in their stories

  19. Transcendentalists • One must go beyond (transcend) the everyday human experience in order to determine the ultimate reality of God • What is perceived by the senses is not necessarily true • Believed in human perfectibility • Ralph Waldo Emerson is best known

  20. The Over-Soul (by the Transcendentalists) God Individual Nature

  21. A Comparison…

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