1800 - 1870. historical background 1800 – 1870 = time of growth and expansion westward
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Historical BackgroundHistorical Background
1800 – 1870 = time of growth and 1800 – 1870 = time of growth and expansion westwardexpansion westward
Historical BackgroundHistorical Background
1803 - Thomas Jefferson negotiated 1803 - Thomas Jefferson negotiated the biggest land deal in American the biggest land deal in American history, the Louisiana Purchase.history, the Louisiana Purchase.
Historical BackgroundHistorical Background War of 1812 – put the United States War of 1812 – put the United States
on the world stageon the world stage 1828 – Andrew Jackson 1828 – Andrew Jackson elected presidentelected president
• The people’s president” The people’s president” ushered in the era of the ushered in the era of the common man as propertycommon man as propertyrequirements for voting requirements for voting began to be eliminatedbegan to be eliminated
Historical BackgroundHistorical Background 1845 – Texas was admitted to the
Union In 1848, gold was discovered in In 1848, gold was discovered in
CaliforniaCalifornia
Historical BackgroundHistorical Background Growth & expansion = new Growth & expansion = new
technologiestechnologies• RailroadsRailroads• Factories and advanced farming equipmentFactories and advanced farming equipment• Telegraph and Morse codeTelegraph and Morse code
Historical Background
Troublesome changesTroublesome changes Factories brought fierce competitions = child Factories brought fierce competitions = child
labor and unsafe conditionslabor and unsafe conditions Women’s right gaining a voiceWomen’s right gaining a voice Opposition to slavery began to grow and gain a Opposition to slavery began to grow and gain a
voice in abolitionists.voice in abolitionists.
A literary and artistic movement that placed an emphasis on imagination, emotion, nature and individuality.
Elevated the imagination over reason and intuition over fact
Reveled in nature
Before 1800, American writers were not widely read – Romantics changed this.
These writers defined the American voice – personal and bold
These writers defined one of the primary themes of American writing: the quest of the individual to define himself.
Often used American legends and scenes of American life as their subject matter.
“The Legend of Sleepy Hallow”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6O4Himch7g
1st American writer to achieve international reputation
Travel through Europe and a fascination with its folklore lead Irving to create his two most famous stories:
“The Legend of Sleepy Hallow” “Rip Van Winkle”
Wrote “The Devil and Tom Walker” at the same time Puritan beliefs were being replaced by materialism and the desire for personal gain.
In a powerful contrast, the critic Abrams showed that until the Romantics, literature was usually understood as a mirror, reflecting the real world, but for the Romantics, writing was more like a lamp: the light of the writer's inner soul spilled out to illuminate the world.
The theme of journey as a declaration of independence
Bryant, Homes, Whittier, Longfellow, and Lowell are Romantic poets
Irving is the Father of American Literature
Cooper is the Father of the American novel
Poe is the inventor of the American Short Story
Emerson is the Father of American Transcendentalism
Thoreau is a famous practical transcendentalist
Melville and Hawthorne are Anti-Romantics
Dickinson and Whitman are bridge poets between American Romanticism and the 20th century
The rationalistic view of urban life was replaced by the Romantic view
Rationalists saw cities as a place to find success and self-realization
Romantics saw the city as a place of moral corruption, poverty, and death
The Romantic journey is to the countryside
The Romantics associated the country with independence, moral clarity, and purity
The Gothic Romantic, E.A. Poe, saw the country as a place of phantasm
Irving saw the country as idyllic and as an escape
Romanticism: valuing feeling and intuition over reason
Romanticism: viewing life as we would like it to be, rather than how it really is
Romanticism began in Germany and influenced literature, music, and art
Romanticism is a reaction against Rationalism
The development of slums and poverty due to the Industrial Revolution turned people from Rationalism
Romantics believed that imagination, emotion, spontaneity, feelings, and nature were more important than rational thought
values feelings over intuition values the power of the imagination seeks the beauty of unspoiled nature values youthful innocence values individual freedom values the lessons of the past finds beauty in exotic locales, the
supernatural, and in the imagination values poetry as the highest expression of
the imagination values myth, legend, and folk culture
Romantic writing looked for comforting or exotic settings from the past
This was found in the supernatural, in nature, and/or in folk legends
Romantics believed in contemplating, or becoming one with the natural world
The Gothic novel emerged from Romanticism
The Gothic novel had wild, haunted landscapes
It had supernatural events in the plot It was often mysterious The Gothic concept had roots in
France, Germany, and England Edgar Allan Poe was Romanticism’s
great American writer
Romanticism also used lyrical poetry as a means to contemplate the beauty of nature
It focused on simple natural beauties Its intent was to seek truth through a
calm contemplation of a simple natural beauty
Romantics saw God in this contemplation
Most American Romantic writers imitated the European writing style
American Romantic novelists broke away from the European tradition and discovered uniquely American topics and settings
American novelists explored the vast unknown lands – something the Europeans could not do
James Fenimore Cooper was the first American novelist to break from European tradition
His novels were set in the American frontier
His central character, Natty Bumppo, was the first American literary hero
Bumppo appeared in a series of Cooper novels as other characters: Hawkeye, Deerslayer, Leatherstocking, etc.
He was virtuous, moral, distrustful of city life, one with nature, etc.
His skills were almost superhuman Cooper’s series of novels were called
The Leatherstocking Tales
American Romantic literature created this unique person
he was youthful he was innocent he was intuitive he was one with nature he was a loner – uneasy around women he was handsome he was brave he was moral and honorable
Most Romantic poets worked within conventional European literary structures
They proved that American poetry could reflect American subject matter, yet still hold to conventional poetic style
Most American Romantic poets wrote about the past