1. 1830 – 1865 Romantics, Transcendentalists and Dark Romantics
The Romantic Period
1830 – 1865
Romantics, Transcendentalists and Dark Romantics

2. Romantics Believed in the individual as the center of life
Valued individualism and non conformity
Believed that mankind has intrinsic connection to the natural world
Saw violence as a possible means of social reform/renewal

3. Romantics
Valued Emotion over Reason
Believed in imagination as a path to knowledge and an expression of individuality
Believed in the basic innocence and goodness of Mankind
Romanticism can be seen as mainly a reaction against the rigidity and starkness of Realism, the preceding literary movement.

4. Transcendentalism
Began as a protest against the general state of culture and society at the time, and in particular, the state of intellectualism at Harvard 
Core beliefs: an ideal spiritual state which "transcends" the physical and empirical and is only realized through the individual's intuition, rather than through the doctrines of established religions.
(New World Encyclopedia)

5. Transcendentalism
Prominent Transcendentalists included Walt Whitman, Henry D. Thoreau, Ralph W. Emerson and Sophia Peabody
(New World Encyclopedia)

6. Dark Romanticism
Represented a response to the optimism of the ideology of Transcendentalism.
Did not fully believe in the essential goodness of human nature.
Focused on the dark side of the soul, the reality of evil and sin in the human heart.
Undercut the optimistic worldview of the Transcendentalists.

7. British vs. American
American Romanticism differed from European, or British Romantics in the emphasis placed on the novel form.
The Americans emphasized the novel as the chief romantic form.
The Brits emphasized the poem as the chief romantic form.

8. Inspiration The natural world Revolution/Patriotism Freedom
The principals of equality and justice
Exploration

9. Characteristics Less formal than previous literary styles
Prized simplicity of form and narration
Provided a literary revolution via the greater creative freedom afforded to authors

10. Gothic Can be seen as an off-shoot of dark romanticism
Focuses on exotic, supernatural, mystery and dread.
Often takes place in castles or spooky mansions in varying degrees of disrepair
Poe and Hawthorne were considered dark romantics
Radcliff, Walpole, Lewis were among the early Gothic writers

11. Top Authors Ralph W. Emerson Henry D. Thoreau Walt Whitman
Herman Melville
Nathaniel Hawthorne

12. “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Major Works
Essays: First Series
Self-Reliance
Nature
Experience
Friendship
The American Scholar
“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.”

13. Ralph Waldo Emerson 1803 – 1882 Married twice
Believer in the “Over Soul” or shared consciousness
Teacher, Pastor, Editor, Writer
Influences: Coleridge, Carlyle
Leader of the Transcendentalist movement

14. Henry David THoreau Major Works Walden Civil Disobedience
Slavery in Massachusetts
“The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think right.”

15. Henry David Thoreau 1817 – 1862 Author Philosopher Poet Abolitionist
Environmentalist

16. Walt Whitman Major Works Leaves of Grass (5 Editions) Drum Taps
Democratic Vistas
Passage to India
“Keep your face always toward the sunshine, and shadows will fall behind you.”

17. Walt Whitman 1819 – 1892 Teacher Journalist Abolitionist Radical Poet
Volunteer Nurse (Civil War)

18. Herman Melville MAJOR WORKS Typee Omoo Mardi: A Voyage Thither
Redburn: His First Voyage
White-Jacket
Moby Dick
Billy Budd, Sailor
“We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men.”

19. Herman Melville 1819 – 1891 Bank clerk Author Sailor Mutineer Lecturer
Customs Inspector

20. Nathaniel Hawthorne MAJOR WORKS The Scarlet Letter Twice-Told Tales
The House of Seven Gables
Tanglewood Tales
Our Old Home
The Marble Faun
“No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true.”

21. Nathaniel Hawthorne 1804 – 1864 Custom House Clerk Author Surveyor
Consul to Britain

22. Works Cited Photos courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
North Carolina State University: American Literature
Biography.com
New World Encyclopedia