1. AMERICAN ROMANTICISM

2. CHARACTERISTICS OF AMERICAN ROMANTICISM
Writers celebrated individualism, nature, imagination, creativity, and emotions
Interest in fantasy and supernatural
“deep”
Good triumphs over evil, usually
Strong focus on inner feelings
Imagination over reason/ intuition over fact
Short stories, novels, and poetry

3. EARLY ROMANTICS
The first imaginative/creative literature that was distinctly American
Washington Irving (folktales)
William Cullen Bryant (poetry)
James Fenimore Cooper (novels)

4. FIRESIDE POETS Most popular poets of the time.
Read at home by the fireside
Poems contained strong family values, patriotism, etc.
Often memorized in elementary schools
Representative Poets
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Oliver Wendell Holmes
James Russell Lowell
John Greanleaf Whittier

5. TRANSCENDENTALISM Philosophy that came to America from Europe
Occurred after Revolutionary War
Belief that man’s nature is inherently good
Man and society are perfectible (utopia)
Stresses individualism, self- reliance, and intuition
Representative Authors:
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Henry David Thoreau

6. DARK ROMANTICISM Also known as Gothic or Anti-transcendentalism
Man’s nature is inherently evil
Whatever is wrong with society—sin, pain, evil– has to be fixed by fixing the individual man first
Use of supernatural
Strong use of symbolism
Dark landscapes, depressed characters
Representative authors:
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Herman Melville
Edgar Allan Poe

7. THE SECRET TO UNDERSTANDING AMERICAN LITERATURE:
Every literary period is
a reaction to the
period that came before it.

8. SO WHAT CHANGED? Puritanism Rationalism Romanticism God
God directly influences and controls the world
Less emphasis on God
Less emphasis on God, there is only natural order
Things happen because
God’s intervention
Laws of nature
Destiny
Man’s Nature
Man is inherently evil
Man is inherently good
Man is good, civilization corrupts
Source of truth
Reason and Logic
Intuition and self-reflection
Fate
We are predetermined what we are going to do in life, nothing changes that.
God lets the world run its course without interfering
We can influence our own lives, but we are destined for certain things
Truth is available to
The elect
Everybody
Those who commune with nature

9. REMEMBER: EACH LITERARY PERIOD IS A REACTION TO THE PERIOD THAT CAME BEFORE IT.
Colonial Lit/Puritanism
God controls universe in mysterious ways
Holy Bible contains all truth
Diaries, journals, personal narratives
Revolutionary Lit/Rationalism
More logic/reason based
Mankind should seek further Truth/knowledge
Political/patriotic writings
Romanticism
Less emphasis on God, only a natural order
More idealistic
Truth comes from intuition and self reflection

10. VIDEO TIME Take notes on the following videos
Washington Irving: Bio, works, and style
Legend of Sleepy Hollow: Summary and Analysis

11. Charting the Literary Periods
On a sheet of copy paper, create a timeline of the literary periods we have covered so far (starting with the Native American Period and ending with Romanticism).
Within your timeline you must include:
A total of 4 Literary time periods
Dates of the time period
Label of the time period
At least 5 characteristics or focuses of each time period
At least 1 historical event of each time period
List at least 2 themes that exist and evolve throughout multiple time periods
Choose one theme and explain in 4-5 sentences how that theme exists throughout all of the time periods.
Your timeline needs to be neat and colorful. It is due at the end of the class period.
Use your notes over the literary time periods we have taken this year so far to help you connect each literary period together with theme.