There may be a quiz tomorrow… Please answer the following questions using the information found on pages 297-305 in your textbook. You may read in groups of 3. There may be a quiz tomorrow…

Celebrating the Individual American Romanticism ______-_____ Celebrating the Individual The Early Romantics The Transcendentalists The Fireside Poets American Gothic

Romanticism: Historical Context The Spirit of Exploration Writers saw that ________was growing, but Native Americans were being pushed from their homes “__________”: “the idea that it was the destiny of the United States to expand to the Pacific Ocean and into Mexican territory.” Mexican-American War. Many Americans found the war to be immoral.

Growth of Industry Writings reflect the shift in _______ and working habits. Industrial Revolution began, changing the country from an ________ (one that is based on agriculture as its prime means for support) to an industrial powerhouse. Americans’ lives were changed- they left their farms for the cities, working long hours in harsh conditions for low pay. Writers of this period reacted to the negative effects of _____________ the hectic pace, commercialism, and lack of conscience (slavery) by turning to nature and to the self for ____________________, truth, and beauty.

Cultural Influences From 1793 to _____, cotton production rose greatly. Plantation owners felt that slavery had become necessary for increasing profit. For slaves, life was _______________ They rose before dawn and worked in the fields until bedtime. Many were beaten or otherwise abused. Family members were sold away from one another. Escapes were rarely successful. ______ over slavery increased between the North and the _____. Many poets wrote antislavery poems. “Perhaps the greatest social achievement of the romantics was to create awareness of slavery’s cruelty.”

By the mid 1800’s, many Americans joined together to fight slavery. At first, the slavery abolition movement began by advocating the resettlement of AA in Africa; most AA were born in America and resented the idea of being forced to leave. Abolitionists worked together to work for ____________. They formed societies, spoke at conventions, published newspapers, and swamped Congress with petitions to end slavery. Workers began to protest the low wages and deteriorating working conditions. Many workers went on strike, but immigrants were always available to take their places, so nothing changed. Workers began to join unions, and slowly conditions improved.

________ began to protest in the 1800’s. They could not vote or sit on juries. Their education rarely extended beyond elementary school. When they were ________, their property and money became their husband’s. Many women lacked guardianship rights over their children. Women worked for change and met in 1848 at Seneca Falls, New York, to continue their long fight for women’s rights. First Women’s Rights Convention.

Ideas of the Age ___________ vs. Sectionalism Nationalism= belief that national interests should be placed ahead of regional concerns or the interest of other countries. Writers of this age reflected the national pride and optimism of the American people and created a literature entirely the nation’s own. Writers listened to their own voices and wrote with a distinctly American _______ instead of imitating European writings.

Nationalism was challenged by the idea of slavery. Until 1818, the U.S. consisted of 10 free states and 10 slave states. As new territories tried to enter the Union, the North and South wrestled over the balance of power between free and slave states ________________ was challenged by economic interests. Tariffs on British imports forced Southerners to buy expensive Northern-made goods. From the South’s P.O.V., the North was getting rich at the South’s expense. ____________ or the placing of the interests of one’s own region ahead of the nation as a whole- began to take hold.

Romantic Literature

The Early Romantics Romanticism first emerged in Europe in the late 1700’s in reaction to neoclassicism of the period that proceeded it. Neoclassical writers admired and imitated classical forms and ________ reason. Romantics looked to _______ for inspiration and celebrated emotions of the imagination. American Romanic writers were reacting to __________ and the Age of Reason.

As the U.S. population increased, writers aimed to capture the energy and character of their growing country. They saw the limits of _________ and instead celebrated the glories of the individual spirit, the emotions, and the imagination as basic elements of human nature. Beauty of _______ inspired the romantics more than the fear of God.

William Cullen Bryant’s 1817 poem “Thanatopsis” helped establish romanticism as the major force in the literature of mid 19th century America. He often celebrated nature in his works. Edgar Allan Poe, Washington Irving, and James Fenimore Cooper were also romantic writers.

Fireside Poets A group of New England poets whose work was morally uplifting and romantically engaging. Group’s name came from ____________ ___________________________________. For the first time, the poetry of American writers was equal to that of British writers. Interested in issues such as abolition, women’s rights, improvement of factory conditions, temperance, and championing the common person.

Transcendentalist Poets By the mid 1800’s, Americans were taking new pride in their emerging culture. ____________________: philosophical and literary movement that emphasized living a simple life and celebrating the truth found in nature and in personal emotion and imagination. Believed people were inherently good and should follow their own beliefs, even if those beliefs went against the norm. Stressed optimism, freedom, self-reliance, and spiritual well-being in their works.

American Gothic: The “Brooding” Romantics “Anti-transcendentalism” Not all American romantics were optimistic or had faith in the innate goodness of humankind. Once the romantics freed the imagination from the restrictions of reason, they could follow it wherever it might go. American Gothics were filled with dark currents and a deep awareness of the human capacity for evil. They are romantic in their emphasis on emotion, nature, the individual, and the unusual.

Use gothic elements such as grotesque characters, bizarre situations, and violent events in their fiction. Edgar Allan Poe was the master of the gothic form in the United States. He explored human psychology from the inside. His plots involved extreme situations- murder, live burials, physical and mental torture, and retribution from beyond the grave.

Nathaniel Hawthorne agreed with the romantic emphasis on emotion and the individual. He examined the darker facets of the human soul. Herman __________ explores madness and the conflict of good and evil. These three writers- Poe, Hawthorne, and Melville- profoundly affected the development of the American literary voice throughout the remainder of the 19th century.