American Romanticism: The Transcendentalists and the Dark Romantics

1. American Romanticism:The Transcendentalists and the Dark Romantics (1840-1860)

2. America: coming of age • Landscape and _______ were developing and finding a place in a literature distinct from European models • This literary period is often described as a renaissance or _________ (in comparison to the European Renaissance of the 14th-16th centuries) because of the cultural development between ________.

3. New England was experiencing a period/movement of ________________ Goals of this movement: _______, establishing ______, and instituting _________ ______ provided a series of lectures on self-improvement. Emerson’s _____ group became known as “The Transcendental Club”. Other reformers: Horace Mann (improve public education), Dorothea Dix (relieve horrible conditions in institutions for the mentally ill), William Lloyd Garrison (abolish slavery), Elizabeth Peabody, Margaret Fuller and Emma Willard (women’s rights). Many utopian projects were created in an attempt to perfect society. Utopia = _______________ Social improvement:

4. What does Transcendentalism mean? Definition: in determining the ultimate reality of _____, the ______, the _____ and other important matters, one must transcend, or _________, everyday human experience in the physical world.

5. Key Ideas/Beliefs of Transcendentalism “Oversoul”- ________ each individual soul as it is connected to the ________and ______. Spontaneous feelings and intuition are superior to deliberate reasoning and rationality. (_______ OVER ______). Nature is not only beautiful but is literally the _______ _______; individuals can discover ________ in Nature. Organized religion should be _______; individuals should find _____ within themselves and Nature. To be fully human is to express oneself completely without embarrassment or thought to ___________________________.

6. Ideas/Beliefs continued… Think ________! Don’t let other people bias you! Trust _______ and your _______; do not compromise your individuality or sense of self by ________ with others! Take ______in order to ________ or ________your life. Human-beings develop their fullest _______ by immersing themselves in the __________ and leading lives of __________. It is okay to be _________; speak what you feel now even if you change your mind the next day. ________________________________ __________________ is an achievable goal!

7. Most well-known Transcendentalist authors: • Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau

8. Emerson was the best-known and most influential transcendentalist. He viewed the world based on ________- the capacity to know things spontaneously and immediately through our ______ rather than through ______ and ________. He possessed an intense feeling of __________that stemmed from the belief that God could be found directly through nature (even tragic natural events such as death, disaster and disease). The most famous Transcendentalist…Ralph Waldo Emerson

9. Emerson’s beliefs continued… • God is ______ and works through __________. • Death, disease and disasters have a spiritual explanation. • One must know God directly to realize that they are a part of the ________ (oversoul), which is the source of all ______.

10. The appeal of Emerson’s optimism and transcendentalism was a result of what was happening in society at the time: ________________, regional strife,_________ over ____________.

15. Anti-Transcendentalists aka Dark Romantics • Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville • Unlike Emerson and transcendentalism, their view of the world _______. They saw a ____ side to human existence and recorded this aspect of human nature in their works. • Similarities to transcendentalism: valued _______over _____, spiritual facts lie beyond physical appearances, finding _____ in Nature. • Differences: spiritual facts are not necessarily good or harmless. • Their view developed from the mystical and melancholy aspects of ______. • Their works explored the conflict between ____ and _____, psychological effects of ____and ____, and madness and derangement of the human psyche. • They saw the ________________ within humanity.

16. Where does Edgar Allen Poe fit in? • Although often considered a Dark Romantic, Poe can be viewed more as a ______________ • Poe’s works strongly represent Gothic elements more so than examining the natural world for God and spiritual truths. “I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity”

17. Settings- include large, drafty old houses that have "been in the family for years."  Settings were often a _________________1 room, vault, house, etc.) Atmosphere of ______ and _________ A ghostly legend, an unexplainable occurrence, or a story about a horrible death or murder . Omens, _______, and dreams usually play a large role in the mysterious air that is created within the story. Include highly charged emotional states like:  terror, a feeling that one is on the brink of insanity, anger, agitation, an exaggerated feeling of some impending doom, and obsessive love. ____________:  ghosts, doors that open themselves, unexplained sounds, etc. Damsels in distress are frequent.  Women who are frightened and confused, wandering around lost, or dying due to a slow and unexplainable ailment. Words designed to evoke images of gloom and doom: dark, foreboding, forbidding, ghostly, etc. Romantic themes often involve the death of a man or woman in the throes of some great passion, the obsessive nature of a man or woman in love, or excessive grief one feels upon the loss of a loved one. Gothic literature…

18. Common Devices/Conventions in Poe’s work • Characters dominated by emotions rather than logic • Characters are often unnamed- an “Every person” idea. It is more important to sense the narrators’ _____ than to know their ____________. • _________ All words, images, plot, narration, tone, etcetera should focus on creating a singular effect • Poe often used ______ as his singular effect • Effect is produced in one sitting (poem, short story) TERROR • Arabesque: __________________________________________ • Grotesque: __________________________________________