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Romanticism in America

Romanticism in America. Dan Walker Commonwealth Governor’s School. Part 1: Back to Nature!. “Go forth, under the open sky…. What’s it from?. And list to Nature’s teachings.”. Romanticism: early 1800’s. (1798  Lyrical Ballads, William Wordsworth & Samuel Taylor Coleridge

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Romanticism in America

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  1. Romanticism in America Dan Walker Commonwealth Governor’s School Part 1:Back to Nature!

  2. “Go forth, under theopen sky… What’s it from? And list to Nature’s teachings.”

  3. Romanticism: early 1800’s • (1798 • Lyrical Ballads, William Wordsworth & Samuel Taylor Coleridge • 1837? ) • Coronation of Queen Victoria • 1859/60? ) • Darwin’s On the Origin of Species

  4. Reaction against… • Enlightenment • Age of Reason • Rationalism • The old political order • (‘ancien regime’) • Saw subsurface im-balance in the Age of Reason.

  5. The old order first had to face… • Native American cultures. [See N.A. fables: EL 22.]

  6. Romanticism idealized: 18th c. (neoclassical) idealized: • Emotion (the irrational?) • Imagination • Freedom • energy • Movement/ change • nature (period!) • The individual • The Wilderness • (the wild rose) • Reason • Calculation • Order/control • Balance • Stability • Artifice: “nature methodized”(Pope) • The group • The “Garden”

  7. Percy Shelley: Oh, wild West Wind!… • I fall upon the thorns of life. • I faint! • I bleed!... Oh, rose, thou art sick!...

  8. Evolution of portraits & landscapes…

  9. The “Fireside Poets”(Homes, Lowell, Longfellow, Whittier) • Traditional forms (sonnets, ballads, etc.)— • Traditional themes, moral, narrative, (conventional, uncontroversial) • Sought a general audience—emphasis on pleasantness of sound and accessibility of meaning • Out of favor today.

  10. William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878) • Father a doctor (w/large library of English poets—and Plato!) • Most major poems written before age 21 • “Thanatopsis” pub. 1815 • Lawyer • Translator (Iliad, Odyssey)

  11. “Inscription for the Entrance to a Wood” …Thou wilt find nothing here Of all that pained thee in the haunts of men, And made thee loathe thy life. The primal curse Fell, it is true, upon the un-sinning earth, But not in vengeance. God hath yolked to guilt Her pale tormentor, misery. Hence these shades Are still the abodes of gladness.

  12. “Thanatopsis” (p.171) --William Cullen Bryant New—Romantic themes • Idealizes nature • Idealizes death • Idealizes loss of individuality • But: a classical / secular consolation • Cf. Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy

  13. CGS Lady Philosophy’s proof: (Boethius- 5th century) • One is happiest who possesses most valuable things. • The permanent/ timeless things are more valuable than the impermanent. • Most permanent things are those that cannot be taken from you. • Virtue cannot be taken (unlike property, life, etc.) • Therefore, one who has most virtue is most happy.

  14. “Thanatopsis” (p.171) --William Cullen Bryant • Traditional in form • Blank verse • Tone? • Olympian • Impersonal • Didactic

  15. Discuss the… • bad news • good news

  16. ROMANTICISM, PART Deux:Two Romantic Heroes (as opposed to tragic)

  17. The Romantic perspective…

  18. 2 Romanticheroes/heroines:Both … • adventurous • independent (not one of the crowd) • admirable / attractive

  19. Names for the 2 general romantic types: 1. Dark Romantic

  20. 2.Noble savage (see p.147-48) • moral perfection • double identity • natural wisdom (not from books) • solitary (except sidekick character) • Modern version ? • itinerant • “super powers”

  21. Karl May der noble savage!mit cowboys und Indians!) • Einstein and Schweitzer story

  22. James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851)--literary inventor of the American noble savage • Family—not literary (cf. Hawthorne) • Cooperstown • Story about the “dare” • America’s 1st popularly successful novelist. (“boys’ books”) • Higher international reputation (a la Poe) • Modern reputation low: verbose style & lack of realism

  23. Cooper’s achievements: 1. Invented the American frontier hero. 2. Instilled in ordinary Americans the romantic view of the wilderness– as a place of • beauty • majesty • mystery • eternal youth

  24. Sea Stories • The Pilot (best) • The Sea Lions Leatherstocking Tales • The Pioneers • Last of the Mohicans • The Prairie • The Pathfinder • The Deerslayer (Natty Bumppo)

  25. Easy to mock today: • mixture of slang/dialect & literary usage (metaphor, inversion • lack of realism • native stereotypes • trappings of Arthurian romance

  26. from The Deerslayer see handout—get volunteer? “After a suitable number of flourishes and gesticulations that promised much more than he could perform, the Raven let the tomahawk quit his hand. The weapon whirled through the air with the usual evolutions, cut chip from the sapling to which the prisoner was bound, within a few inches of his cheek, and stuck in a large oak that grew several yards behind him.”

  27. from The Deerslayer see handout “Throw away, Huron!” he cried, “or your tomahawk will forget its arr’nd. Why do you keep loping about like a fa’an that’s showing its dam how well it can skip, when you’re a warrior grown, yourself, and a warrior grown defies you and all your silly antics? Throw, or the Huron gals will laugh in your face.”

  28. “Fenimore Cooper’s Literary Offenses” — Samuel Clemens • satire—criticizes society or public individual(s), usually using humor • lampoon—criticizes an individual • parody—mocks by imitating • mock-serious tone • hyperbole

  29. “Fenimore Cooper’s Literary Offenses” — Samuel Clemens • Excerpts: use the book, dude. [124 in yellow book]

  30. Extension questions: • Is Uncle Mel a noble savage? • What is the effect of the child’s point of view? • What changes are there from the Cooper hero? • Are there modern American “noble savage” heroes? • Batman?? • Is George Bush a Noble Savage? • Is John Kerry a Dark Romantic? • What is Barry Lopez?

  31. Barry Lopez: 2 worlds diverged…? • “My Horse”

  32. From “My Horse”—which ½ of Lopez’ personality speaks here, the white/European or the Native American? I want to tell you about carrying those wolves, because it was a fine thing. …I could feel from the way the truck rolled along that its heart was in the trip. It liked the wolves inside it, the sweet odor that came from the crates. I could feel that same tireless wolf-lope developing in its wheels; It was like you might never have to stop for gas, ever again.

  33. …and which “half” is this? I had to fix a water pump in a blizzard in the Panamint Mountains in California once. It took all day with the Coleman stove burning under the engine block to keep my hands from freezing. We drifted into Beatty, Nevada, that night with it jury-rigged together with—I swear—baling wire….

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