1. American Romanticism
Enter imagination

2. Shift from Classicism to Romanticism
Classicism = the belief that reason dominates nature and human nature & both are ruled by fixed and unchanging laws
The United States came together as a nation during this period (Classicism = roughly )
Well known Classicists:
Thomas Paine
Ben Franklin
Patrick Henry

3. ROMANTIC
NON-ROMANTIC/CLASSICAL
Emotional                      
Reasonable and Practical
Individualistic               
  Public Responsibility
Revolutionary
Conservative
Loves Solitude & Nature
  Loves Public, Urban Life
Fantasy/Introspection
External Reality
The Particular
The Universal
Subjective Perception
Objective Science

4. ROMANTIC
NON-ROMANTIC/CLASSICAL
Right Brain
Left Brain
Satisfaction of Desire
Desire Repressed
Organic
Mechanical
Creative Energy/Power
Form
Exotic
Mundane
"Noble Savage"/Outcasts
Bourgeois Family
Idealist Philosophy
Materialist/Empirical
Philosophy

5. A Period of Great Cultural Change
Romanticism focused on emotions and the individual
Writers in this time period (roughly ) emphasized…
Intuition
Imagination
Human potential for social progress and spiritual growth
The Humanitarian Reform was a mark of this time period

6. Well-known Romanticists
Edgar Allan Poe
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Walt Whitman
Herman Melville
Washington Irving
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

7. Characteristic Subject: Nature
Nature: beauty, strangeness, & the mystery of nature
Washington Irving, author of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” & “Rip Van Winkle,” explored nature through legend and folklore
James Fennimore Cooper (1st major American novelist), author of Last of the Mohicans, explored nature on the frontier
He created the 1st national literary hero, Natty Bumppo
Edgar Allan Poe explored nature in the depths of his imagination

8. Characteristic Subject: The Past
The Past: rise in nationalism = interest in American past
Irving and Cooper deal with the past directly
Irving uses legend and folklore as history
Cooper wrote about great historical events: Revolution, Indian border wars, & the conquest of the wilderness

9. Characteristic Subject: Inner World of Human Nature
Inner World of Human Nature: emotion, intuition, individual, & exploration of the private inner being
William Cullen Bryant (poet) focuses in the inward observations and psychological reactions of people to aspects of life
Poe takes exploration of the inner self to great depths