1. Romanticism Transcendentalism Anti-Transcendentalism

2. Romanticism Time Period: early to mid 1800s
Brought about as a reaction of the Age of Reason and the strict doctrines of Puritanism ()
A time when the natural world was glorified.
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3. Major Themes Importance of the individual
Values the imagination and emotional side of human nature rather than rational (logical) side of human nature
Some had a fascination with the supernatural.
Writers had an optimistic outlook.
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4. Famous Romantic Writers
Washington Irving
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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5. The Breakdown of Romanticism
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6. Transcendentalism ~optimistic offshoot of Romanticism
Time period: mid to late 1800s
Transcendent: not realizable in human experience
A belief that ‘transcendent forms’ of truth exist beyond reason and experience
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7. Values intuition as a means of gaining this higher truth
Communing with nature made possible an intuitive connection with the entire universe
This connection with all: God, mankind, and natural world was known as the Universal Oversoul.
Valued non-conformity.
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8. Famous Transcendentalist Writers
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Henry David Thoreau
Walt Whitman
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9. Anti-Transcendentalism (Gothic) ~a pessimistic offshoot of Romanticism
Time period: mid to late 1800s
Known as the Dark Side of Individualism
The focus on the imagination in Romanticism led to a focus on the demonic, the fantastic, and the insane for the Gothic
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10. Gothic writers took a pessimistic view of humans and saw the potential for evil in all people.
‘Essential truths’ about life were found in extreme situations or the darker side of human nature (greed, betrayal, fear, etc.)
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11. Famous Anti-Trans Writers
Edgar Allen Poe
Nathaniel Hawthorne (a descendent of the judge from The Crucible!!!!!)
Also, famous Southern Gothic writers include William Faulkner and Flannery O’Connor
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12. Gothic Elements
Settings- include large, drafty old houses that have "been in the family for years."
Atmosphere of mystery and suspense
A ghostly legend, an unexplainable occurrence, or a story about a horrible death or murder .
Omens, foreshadowing, and dreams usually play a large role in the mysterious air that is created within the story.

13. Gothic Elements
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.
Supernatural events: ghosts, doors that open themselves, unexplained sounds, etc.
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14. Gothic Elements
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.
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15. Gothic Elements
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.
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