American Romanticism

Refers to a set of attitudes toward art, nature, and humankind, not to romantic love.

Roughly 1820-1860 (19th c.)

Debunking Misconceptions About Romanticism

• It is NOT about romantic love (not romance novels)

• It is not about a “happy” view of the world– It is often

melancholic- Romantics find inspiration and beauty in loss and tragedy

Characteristics of Romantic Literature

• Turns to the past for subject matter

• Prioritizes imagination and intuition over fact and reason: the former bring one closer to truth and knowledge – not the latter. – Look for noble heroes/heroines who are intuitive,

imaginative, passionate, and creative

Characteristics Continued

• Prioritizes the senses and emotions over intellect: again, the former bring one closer to understanding the universe, God, human nature, other philosophical ideas, etc. The intellect is limited and can never fully enlighten. –Paints passion and emotion positively

Characteristics Continued• Encourages individualism and self

reliance: the individual experience is more important than the group or community (not that these don’t matter!). –Romantics distrust civilization –Romantics are skeptical of (and

commonly defy) tradition, rules, intellectualism, and the upper class

Characteristics Continued• Interested in the supernatural, mystic,

strange and mysterious (there is truth in these things)

• Represents nature positively (though paradoxically)–Nature is a refuge–Nature is a source of knowledge–Nature has healing powers–Nature nurtures the individual spirit

How is nature paradoxical?

• Can be dark and melancholic• Can lead one

astray

1) "The universe is a single unified whole." 2) "The universe is full of values, tendencies, and life." 3) Reason, objectivity, and analysis radically falsify reality by breaking it up into disconnected lifeless entities."

Characteristics continued

• Celebrates individual goodness of humans (do NOT think this means that all characters are good!)

Romantic Hero

How is Hawthorne unconventional for a Romantic?

• Darker than most• Rather preoccupied with sin

(because of his family history)oChanged his name from Hathorne to

Hawthorne to distance himself from an ancestor who was a judge at the Salem witch trials.

Conventional Romantic Literature

“Daffodils” (1804) William Wordsworth I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,When all at once I saw a crowd,A host, of golden daffodils;Beside the lake, beneath the trees,Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shineAnd twinkle on the milky way,They stretched in never-ending lineAlong the margin of a bay:Ten thousand saw I at a glance,Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:A poet could not but be gay,In such a jocund company:I gazed--and gazed--but little thoughtWhat wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lieIn vacant or in pensive mood,They flash upon that inward eyeWhich is the bliss of solitude;And then my heart with pleasure fills,And dances with the daffodils.