1. Romanticism

2. Leading up to the Romanticism Period:
Deism
Belief that God made it possible for all people at all times to discover natural laws through their God-given power to reason
Different religious backgrounds
Belief that universe is orderly and good
Best form of worship is to do good for others

3. Romanticism: Reaction against rationalism
Value feeling and intuition over reason
“A journey away from the corruption of civilization and the limits of rational thought and toward the integrity of nature and the freedom of the imagination”
Art = intuitive, “felt” experience
Poetry = highest and most sublime embodiment of the imagination
Attacked science

4. Characteristics of American Romanticism
Values feeling & intuition over reason
Places faith in inner experiences & the power of the imagination
Shuns the artificiality of civilization and seeks unspoiled nature
Prefers youthful innocence to educated sophistication
Champions individual freedom & the worth of the individual
Contemplates nature’s beauty as a path to spiritual and moral development

5. Characteristics of American Romanticism
(continued)
Looks backward to the wisdom of the past & distrusts progress
Finds beauty & truth in exotic locales, the supernatural realm, and the inner world of the imagination
Sees poetry as the highest expression of the imagination
Finds inspiration in myth, legend, and folk culture

6. Romanticism – Inspiration
Westward expansion / development of the frontier

7. Characteristics of the American Romantic Hero
Young, or possesses youthful qualities
Is innocent & pure of purpose
Has a sense of honor based not on society’s rules but on some higher principle
Has a knowledge of people & of life based on deep, intuitive understanding, not on formal learning
Loves nature & avoids town life
Quests for some higher truth in the natural world

8. “Fireside Poets” Poets: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
John Greenleaf Whittier
Oliver Wendell Holmes
James Russell Lowell
William Cullen Bryant
Subject matter: Love, patriotism, nature, family, God, & religion
Celebrations of American people, places, & events
Structured, standard meter, “pretty” style

9. stylistic tendencies: hard edges, clear colors, focused light
Classical (eighteenth century; “Enlightenment,” scientific revolution, “Age of Reason”)
stylistic tendencies: hard edges, clear colors, focused light
subject tendencies: historical figures, social and historical settings, human figures in foreground
Audubon, Gyrfalcon
Romantic painting
stylistic tendencies: softer edges and colors, diffuse light
subject tendencies: nature, human figures in background, human figures diminished, human figures not historical but fictional or “types”
Heade, Hummingbirds & Orchids

10. Indian Pass by Thomas Cole

11. Kindred Spirits by Asher Brown Durand

12. Landscape scene from the Last of the Mohicans by Thomas Cole

13. Niagara Falls by Frederic Edwin Church

14. The true beginnings of American Literature, true American style
Romanticism
The true beginnings of American Literature, true American style