The Romantic Period
1830-1870
Introduction:
The Romantic period of literature began in the 19th century. It presented a shift from logical, Lockean thinking to thinking based off of emotion. It served as a critique of the Enlightenment and Puritan ages. This philosophical movement placed an importance on imagination, emotion, nature, and individuality. This period also had three major branches: Transcendentalism, Dark/Gothic Romanticism, and Sentimentalism.
During a time when the Industrial Revolution was sweeping across America and people were being replaced by machines, Romantic literature put emphasis on individuals. Romantics believed that people were inherently good and discovery came through intuition and feeling. A defining trait of the Romantic era, and the major critique of the Enlightenment, was that creativity was more highly valued over logic. Romanticism was also inspired by an awe and respect of nature.
Poetry was also popular during this time period. Some major poets of this time period were Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson was also a major figure in the Transcendentalist movement. Transcendentalists beliefs were very similar to that of Romantics. They believed that human senses were limited, and an individual could “transcend”, or move beyond the physical senses into another world through intuition. Transcendentalists often believed that humans, nature, and God were all connected, and that this "Oversoul" was the guiding force present in their lives.
Gothic literature was a little bit different. This branch of Romanticism is characterized by a preoccupation with gloom, mystery, and terror. It often also included supernatural elements. Gothics believed that evil manifested itself in an individual when they were isolated from other people. Notable Dark Romantic writers are Edgar Allen Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Washington Irving, and Herman Melville.
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The Romantic period of literature began in the 19th century. It presented a shift from logical, Lockean thinking to thinking based off of emotion. It served as a critique of the Enlightenment and Puritan ages. This philosophical movement placed an importance on imagination, emotion, nature, and individuality. This period also had three major branches: Transcendentalism, Dark/Gothic Romanticism, and Sentimentalism.
During a time when the Industrial Revolution was sweeping across America and people were being replaced by machines, Romantic literature put emphasis on individuals. Romantics believed that people were inherently good and discovery came through intuition and feeling. A defining trait of the Romantic era, and the major critique of the Enlightenment, was that creativity was more highly valued over logic. Romanticism was also inspired by an awe and respect of nature.
Poetry was also popular during this time period. Some major poets of this time period were Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson was also a major figure in the Transcendentalist movement. Transcendentalists beliefs were very similar to that of Romantics. They believed that human senses were limited, and an individual could “transcend”, or move beyond the physical senses into another world through intuition. Transcendentalists often believed that humans, nature, and God were all connected, and that this "Oversoul" was the guiding force present in their lives.
Gothic literature was a little bit different. This branch of Romanticism is characterized by a preoccupation with gloom, mystery, and terror. It often also included supernatural elements. Gothics believed that evil manifested itself in an individual when they were isolated from other people. Notable Dark Romantic writers are Edgar Allen Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Washington Irving, and Herman Melville.
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Ralph Waldo Emerson:
"Will you say, the disasters which threaten mankind are exceptional, and one need not lay his account for cataclysms every day? Aye, but what happens once, may happen again, and so long as these strokes are not to be parried by us, they must be feared." -Emerson's "The Conduct of Life"
Ralph Waldo Emerson was born on May 25, 1803, in Boston, Massachusetts. He was the son of William and Ruth Emerson. His father died when he was only eight, and after that event he began to keep journals. These journals provided him with a significant amount of material for his essays later on in his life. Many of the males in his family had been ministers, and he followed in their footsteps. He attended the Boston Latin School, and graduated from Harvard University in 1821. After that, he attended the Harvard School of Divinity and became a licensed minister in 1826. He was ordained to the Unitarian church in 1829.
Emerson got married to Ellen Tucker in 1829. Her death from tuberculosis in 1831 challenged his faith and caused him to resign from the clergy. After his wife's death, Emerson traveled to Europe. There he met people such as Thomas Carlyle, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and William Wordsworth. He returned home in 1833 and began to lecture on topics such as spirituality and ethics.
His lectures gained popularity, and he found a close circle of friends in his new home of Concord, Massachusetts. These friends were fellow writers and philosophers like Margaret Fuller and Henry David Thoreau. His lectures were soon published in essay form. These lectures, an example being "Nature", described his newly developed philosophy and views. In this essay, he describes nature as being the source of fulfillment and knowledge. This essay is often referred to as America's "Intellectual Declaration of Independence." The originality and logical appeal of Emerson's ideas that put emphasis on optimism and individuality was a main motivation of much of the intellectual development of Americans. Another one of his essays, "The American Scholar", encouraged American writers to find their own voice and not emulate the writers before them.
Emerson soon became known as the father of his new literary and philosophical movement that was now known as the Transcendentalists. The Transcendentalists believed that each person could go beyond the knowledge given to them by their five senses and achieve a deeper spiritual experience through emotion and intuition. They also believed that God was an "Oversoul", that was present in themselves and in nature.
During the 1840s, Emerson founded a literary magazine and published two more volumes of essays. Some essays he wrote during this time, like "Self-Reliance" and "Friendship", are regarded as his best work. He also had four children with his new wife during this time.
During his later life, Emerson was well known in the town of Concord. He advocated for the abolition of slavery and continued to lecture and lecture despite his declining health. He died on April 27, 1882 in his home in Concord. Through out his life, Emerson was an essayist, philosopher and poet who left a strong legacy and influenced numerous other great American minds like Herman Melville, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, and Emily Dickinson.
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"Will you say, the disasters which threaten mankind are exceptional, and one need not lay his account for cataclysms every day? Aye, but what happens once, may happen again, and so long as these strokes are not to be parried by us, they must be feared." -Emerson's "The Conduct of Life"
Ralph Waldo Emerson was born on May 25, 1803, in Boston, Massachusetts. He was the son of William and Ruth Emerson. His father died when he was only eight, and after that event he began to keep journals. These journals provided him with a significant amount of material for his essays later on in his life. Many of the males in his family had been ministers, and he followed in their footsteps. He attended the Boston Latin School, and graduated from Harvard University in 1821. After that, he attended the Harvard School of Divinity and became a licensed minister in 1826. He was ordained to the Unitarian church in 1829.
Emerson got married to Ellen Tucker in 1829. Her death from tuberculosis in 1831 challenged his faith and caused him to resign from the clergy. After his wife's death, Emerson traveled to Europe. There he met people such as Thomas Carlyle, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and William Wordsworth. He returned home in 1833 and began to lecture on topics such as spirituality and ethics.
His lectures gained popularity, and he found a close circle of friends in his new home of Concord, Massachusetts. These friends were fellow writers and philosophers like Margaret Fuller and Henry David Thoreau. His lectures were soon published in essay form. These lectures, an example being "Nature", described his newly developed philosophy and views. In this essay, he describes nature as being the source of fulfillment and knowledge. This essay is often referred to as America's "Intellectual Declaration of Independence." The originality and logical appeal of Emerson's ideas that put emphasis on optimism and individuality was a main motivation of much of the intellectual development of Americans. Another one of his essays, "The American Scholar", encouraged American writers to find their own voice and not emulate the writers before them.
Emerson soon became known as the father of his new literary and philosophical movement that was now known as the Transcendentalists. The Transcendentalists believed that each person could go beyond the knowledge given to them by their five senses and achieve a deeper spiritual experience through emotion and intuition. They also believed that God was an "Oversoul", that was present in themselves and in nature.
During the 1840s, Emerson founded a literary magazine and published two more volumes of essays. Some essays he wrote during this time, like "Self-Reliance" and "Friendship", are regarded as his best work. He also had four children with his new wife during this time.
During his later life, Emerson was well known in the town of Concord. He advocated for the abolition of slavery and continued to lecture and lecture despite his declining health. He died on April 27, 1882 in his home in Concord. Through out his life, Emerson was an essayist, philosopher and poet who left a strong legacy and influenced numerous other great American minds like Herman Melville, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, and Emily Dickinson.
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Literary Themes:
The works of literature during The Romantic Period all contained similar themes. Common examples of these themes are nature, romanticism and self-reliance. As the idea of Manifest Destiny fueled American expansion in the western frontier, this inspired literature about the struggle between man and nature, like the story of Moby-Dick. The west was also frequently romanticized by the optimistic romantics who expected to find abundant riches, and war romanticized by those who expected to find abundant glory. Humanity was often romanticized by Transcendentalists who believed that everyone was inherently good, and dark romantics like Poe believed that evil existed in isolation. Self-reliance was also a main theme in the literature of this time period. From the Declaration of Independence to the essays of Emerson and Thoreau, Self Reliance was woven into American culture. It was this self-reliance that caused the success of America. As the Common Core Literature textbook says, "...it was extraordinary individuals who made it happen-self-reliant men and women who thought for themselves and refused to let social, political, religious, or cultural institutions overwhelm them."
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The works of literature during The Romantic Period all contained similar themes. Common examples of these themes are nature, romanticism and self-reliance. As the idea of Manifest Destiny fueled American expansion in the western frontier, this inspired literature about the struggle between man and nature, like the story of Moby-Dick. The west was also frequently romanticized by the optimistic romantics who expected to find abundant riches, and war romanticized by those who expected to find abundant glory. Humanity was often romanticized by Transcendentalists who believed that everyone was inherently good, and dark romantics like Poe believed that evil existed in isolation. Self-reliance was also a main theme in the literature of this time period. From the Declaration of Independence to the essays of Emerson and Thoreau, Self Reliance was woven into American culture. It was this self-reliance that caused the success of America. As the Common Core Literature textbook says, "...it was extraordinary individuals who made it happen-self-reliant men and women who thought for themselves and refused to let social, political, religious, or cultural institutions overwhelm them."
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Key Authors:
- Washington Irving: "The Devil and Tom Walker"
- William Cullen Bryant: "Thanatopsis"
- Nathaniel Hawthorne: "The Minister's Black Veil", The Scarlet Letter
- Edgar Allan Poe: "The Raven", "The Fall of the House of Usher", "The Tell-Tale Heart"
- Herman Melville: Moby-Dick
- Oliver Wendell Holmes: "Old Ironsides"
- Amos Bronson Alcott: "The Forester" and "Thoreau"
- Ralph Waldo Emerson: "Nature", "Self-Reliance", "Concord Hymn"
- Henry David Thoreau: "Walden", "Civil Disobedience"
- Emily Dickinson: "Because I Could not Stop for Death", "I Heard a Fly Buzz--When I Died", "There's a Certain Slant of Light", "My Life Closed Twice Before Its Close--", " The Soul Selects Her Own Society--", "The Brain--Is Wider than the Sky", " There is a Solitude of Space"
- Walt Whitman: "Leaves of Grass", "Song of Myself"
- Harriet Beecher Stowe: Uncle Tom’s Cabin
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Culture: Clothing, music, and art from this time period
Culture: Clothing, music, and art from this time period