1. 1820 - 1860 Romantic Period

2. Origins The Romanticism movement began around the late 18 th - early 19 th century Started in Europe and then spread to America

3. Definition Romanticism can be seen as a rejection of the precepts of order, calm, harmony, balance, idealization, and rationality. It was a reaction to the Enlightenment movement and Rationalism (during the Revolutionary period), which advocated reason as the highest authority.

4. Characteristics Celebrated the individual spirit rather than God Some Romantic writers had a fascination with the supernatural. The Gothic movement was born out of Romanticism. One of the most noted American Gothic writers is Edgar Allan Poe. The modern horror novel and woman's romance are both descendants of the Gothic romance. Examples: Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre and her sister Emily's Wuthering Heights; Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

5. Notable Romantic Writers Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: “Paul Revere’s Ride” and The Song of Hiawatha Washington Irving: “The Devil and Tom Walker” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” Nathaniel Hawthorne: The Scarlet Letter, “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment”

6. Transcendentalism Distinctly American offshoot of Romanticism. Focuses on the belief that transcendent forms of truth exist beyond reason and experience. Transcendentalists believed that every individual was capable of discovering higher truth on his own through intuition, rather than established religion

7. Notable Transcendentalist Writers Ralph Waldo Emerson: Self-Reliance, Nature Walt Whitman: Leaves of Grass Henry David Thoreau: Civil Disobedience, Walden