Why were the initial romantics and important milestone in American

Literature?

Blake Norton, Haley Fox, Stephanie Peters, and Richelle Miller

What is Romanticism?

• Represents some of the first known expressions of the artistic impulse

• A whole new way and style of expressing ones self• It gave people the ability to enlighten, reveal the

truth, and uplift human characteristics • Tended to have an optimistic outlook on life

Why did it appeal to so many people?

• At most basic, a new form of entertainment

• Satisfying• Pleasant• Bold• Dramatic• Emotional• Free emotions, allowed

imagination to soar

Romanticism

• A time where elite intellectuals and philosophers saw themselves leading others toward rational thoughts and ethics

• Revolutionaries who were breaking with established and artistic social rules

• Didn’t like the constraints of culture• Although their beliefs were considered

new and different they were based on ideas that have been around for centuries

What happened?

• Became a dominant force in politics, religion, and the arts

• A reaction against convention

• Marked an era characterized by an idealization of the individual

William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878)Primary Works:• “Thanatopsis” , 1817• “The Embargo”, 1808• “The Yellow Violet”, 1815• “Earth”, 1835• “The Burial Place”,1818• “The Odyssey”, 1871 (edited)• “Iliad”, 1868

Why was William Cullen Bryant important?

• He explored many different ideas in his poetry

• One of the first people to view death without a heaven, hell, or God involved

• Instead he based his view on death based off of nature

Washington Irving (1783-1859)• “Salmagundi”, 1808• “The Sketch Book”, 1819-1820(Contains Rip Van Winkle and The

Legend of Sleepy Hollow)• “Life of Washington”, 1855• “Astoria”, 1836• “Bracebridge Hall”, 1822• “The Crayon Miscellany”, 1835• “The Rocky Mountains”, 1837

Why was Washington Irving important?

• He was one of the first in American literature who wrote for pleasure during a time when writing was for practical and useful purposes

• First American literary humorist• Wrote the first modern short

stories• First to write history and

biography as entertainment• Introduced nonfiction as a

genre

James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851)

• “Precaution”, 1820• “The Spy”,1821• “The Pilot”, 1824• “The Last of the Mohicans”,1826• “The Prairie”, 1827• “The Water Witch”, 1830• “Homeward Bound”, 1838• “The Deerslayer”, 1841

Some of his major themes:- The American Society - The American History- The Backwoods-Frontier- The Sea

Why was James Fenimore Cooper important?

• The first successful American historical romance

• The first sea novel ( The Pilot, 1824)

• The first attempt at a fully researched historical novel

• The first trilogy in American fiction (Satanstoe, 1845; The Chainbearer, 1845; and The Redskins, 1846)

• The first and only five-volume epic romance to carry its mythic hero from youth to old age