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The Romantic Period in
American Literature
1800-1860
Hudson River School of Art
Hudson River School
paintings reflect three
themes of America in the
19th century: discovery,
exploration, and
settlement. The paintings
also depict the American
landscape as a pastoral
setting, where human
beings and nature coexist
peacefully
In the words of Ralph Waldo
Emerson
“For all men live by truth, and stand in need
of expression. In love, in art, in avarice, in
politics, in labor, in games, we study to utter
our painful secret. The man is only half
himself, the other half is his expression.”
After the Bill of Rights
and
Before the Civil War
City vs. Country
► To
the Romantic, the city is corrupt and
ugly.
► To
the Romantic, the country represents
independence, moral clarity, and healthy
living.
Imagination over Reason
► Romanticism
is a reaction against
rationalism which brought about the sooty,
squalid cities of the Industrial Revolution.
► Imagination
was able to apprehend truth
the rational mind could not reach.
Romantics vs.
►Imagination
►Spontaneity
►Individual
feelings
►Wild nature
►
►
►
►
Rationalists
Reason
Logic
Planning
Cultivation
Gothic Novels
► Allowed
Romantics to explore the exotic
nature of the supernatural realm and the
psychological exploration of the human
mind.
The American Journey
► Takes
reader to the literal countryside and
the countryside of the imagination.
► A journey away from corruption of
civilization and rational thought.
► A journey toward the integrity of nature and
the freedom of the imagination.
Romantic Novels
► Looked
to wilderness and westward
expansion.
► “Geography of the Imagination”
Romantic Poets
► Believed
poetry was the greatest witness to
the power of imagination.
► Still modeled themselves after the European
poets.
► Fireside poets known for their comfortable
subjects appealing to families—love,
patriotism, nature, family, God and religion.
► Their literary conservationism kept them
from being truly innovative.
Romantic Hero
► Is
innocent and pure of purpose
► Has a sense of honor based not on society’s rules
but on some higher principle
► Has a knowledge of people and of life based on
deep, intuitive understanding, not on formal
learning
► Loves nature
► Avoids town life
SNIIIIIIPD
► Supernatural
► Nature
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Intense feeling
Imagination
Independence
Intuition
Innocence
Inner Experience
► Nostalgia
for the PAST
► Distrust of civilization
LIGHT
Romantic Elements
S – magic, fairies
N – flowers, snow, lyrical nature poems
I – happiness
P – good memories
D – freedom
DARK
Romantic Elements
S – witches, castles
N – swampy, wild landscapes
I – nightmares, anger, alone
P – bad memories
D – trapped
TRANSCENDENTAL
Romantic Elements
S – power of nature/God
N – reveling in the purity of nature; seeking
truth
I – intensity, independent originality
P – look to the past heroes to inspire the
future
D – criticism of conformity, etc
When I heard the Learn’d Astronomer
When I heard the learn’d astronomer;
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns
before me;
When I was shown the charts and the diagrams, to add,
divide, and measure the
When I, sitting, heard the astronomer, where he lectured
with much applause in the lecture-room,
How soon, unaccountable, I became tired and sick;
Till rising and gliding out, I wander’d off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.
(Walt Whitman)