1. American Romanticism

2. Industrialization, growth of cities, and factories
Founded on
Deism - belief in the existence of a god on the evidence of reason and nature only, with rejection of supernatural revelation
Logic
Inalienable rights
It also brought
Industrialization, growth of cities, and factories
American expansion (Lewis and Clark and Manifest Destiny)
More encounters with Native Americans
Albert Bierstadt

3. Romanticism: a reaction to the Age of Reason
Realism
Patrician Classicism
Dominion over the Native American
Logic, always facts to counter fear and doubt
Idealism/Utopia
Glorification of the common man
Recognition of the nobility of the primitive – the “noble savage”
Imagination to engender faith and hope

4. Characteristics of Romanticism
Contemplating nature’s beauty is the path to spiritual and moral development.
Values feeling and intuition over reason
Looks backward to the wisdom of the past, shuns progress

5. The City was a Place of
The Rationalists saw the city as a place of industry, success, self realization, and civilization.
The Romantics saw the city as a place of poor work conditions, moral ambiguity, corruption, and death.

6. Romanticism was often seen as a journey.
The Journey
Romanticism was often seen as a journey.
The journey from the city to the country
The journey from rational thought to the imagination

7. The Fireside Poets The Most Popular American Poets of Their Time
John Greenleaf Whittier, William Cullen Bryant, James Lowell, Oliver Wendell Holmes
Their poems were often read aloud at the fireside as family entertainment.
Themes: love, patriotism, nature, family, and religion
It is poetry that seeks a higher truth from the natural world.
The Fireside poets were the first group of American poets to rival British poets in popularity in either country.

8. Literature American Novel - The Romantic Hero Youthful Pure of Purpose
Sense of Honor – not based on society’s rules but a higher principle
Intuitive Understanding (not formal learning)
Loves nature and avoids town life
Quests for higher truth in the natural world
Modern day examples: Superman, Luke Skywalker, Indiana Jones

9. Literature
***American Novelists looked to westward expansion and the frontier for inspiration creating a break with European tradition.
***Folktales by regional writers offered glimpses of the supernatural

10. Satire: copy what is underlined
Washington Irving was a master of satire, a literary device in which people, customs, or institutions are ridiculed with the purpose of improving society.
Washington Irving
Satire is often subtle, so as you read, watch for its indicators: humor, exaggeration, absurd situations, and irony.