1. ROMANTICISM and TRANSCENDENTALISM (1800-1860)

2. Romanticism Love for nature Focus on individualism
Fascination with the supernatural, the mysterious, gothic (dark side of human nature)
Idealism
Passionate love of country
Yearning for picturesque and exotic

3. MORE CHARACTERISTICS Focuses on feelings and emotions
Revolt against Age of Reason
Revolt against Industrial Age
Two divisions (types)
-Dark Romantics: Edgar Allen Poe, Washington Irving, Herman Melville, Emily Dickinson
-Transcendentalism: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau
Romantic vs. romantic: Die Hard vs. Flowers

4. Edgar Allen Poe The Tell Tale Heart The Raven The Fall of the House
of Usher

5. OTHER MAJOR AUTHORS Nathaniel Hawthorne: The Scarlet Letter
James Fenimore Cooper: The Last of the Mohicans

6. FIRESIDE POETS Longfellow, Lowell, Holmes, Whittier
Easy to read, inspiring- read by families
Concerned with ordinary Americans
Romanticized American life
Romanticism began a major change for America; we started producing our very first FICTION:
-First published American Authors/Books
-Literature reflected life in the U.S.- our experiences (freedom, expansion, industrialization)

7. Transcendentalism: A philosophy that grew from the Romantic philosophy and believed that the truths about life and death could be reached only by going beyond the world of the senses. The term itself and some of its ideas came from the German philosopher Immanuel Kant.

8. TRANSCENDENTALISM Individualism
Believed democratically--every man/woman could transcend the material world
Knowledge comes from intuition
Nature is alive with “the spirit”
Human mind could read nature and find truths
Material success is source of corruption
Wanted to reform society and create utopia
“Oversoul”, “universal soul”
Even the smallest element of nature was a microcosm of the universe

9. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau
Religion is a barrier to God
Humanism is another term for Transcendentalism
Optimistic attitude/tone