Romanticism

Early Nineteenth CenturyHawthorne & Poe

Elements

Frontier: vast expanse, freedom Optimism: no geographic limits Experimentation: in science, in

institutions Growth of industry: North becomes

industrial, South remains agricultural

Romanticism

A literary, artistic, and philosophical movement originating in Europe in the 18th century and lasting until

the mid 19th centuryA reaction against the

Enlightenment and Age of Reason

Romanticism

Emphasis is on emotion instead of reason

Seek reality through intuitive perception

Feeling and imagination

Expression of self is the most important

Uniqueness: Each person should be himself and pursue happiness in his own way

Romanticism

Belief in divinity of humans: God is in every person• Individuals have divine power of

creation• Individual spirit creates its own world

Emphasis on feeling, love, the heart, youth

Romanticism

Romantic is engaged in a quest for a higher truth• cannot be found through scientific

method, but through emotion and perception

• poet or writer tries to present ordinary things of life through imagination

Subject Matter

The American Past

Death Quest for Beauty Escapism The use of the far-

away and non-normal

Individual vs Society

Nature:• for its beauty• source of

knowledge• refuge• revelation of God

Writing Techniques

“Willing suspension of disbelief” Improbable plots Unlikely characterization Subjective narrator Remote settings (time and place) Experimentation in new forms

(short story, detective story)

Flowering of American Literature

1850 Hawthorne• The Scarlet Letter

1851 Melville• Moby-Dick

1852 Stowe• Uncle Tom’s Cabin

1853 Douglass• Heroic Slave

1853 Brown• Clotel: Or, The

President’s Daughter

1859 Wilson• Sketches from the

Life of a Free Black

Hawthorne

Born July 4, 1804, in Salem, MA Died May 9, 1864 Wrote historical fiction, mostly

17th c. Puritain life Emphasizes the darker side of

human nature Most important work: SL

Hawthorne

The Unpardonable Sin:• To sin against the human heart by

attempting to judge it• Judgement comes from reason:

scientists, intellectuals, clergy• One should be content to identify and

study wickedness in humanity

Edgar Allen Poe

Jan. 19, 1809 to Oct. 7, 1849

Last words: “God help my poor soul”

Mother and foster mother died of T.B.

First publication in 1827

1833 story won $50 1835 editor of

Southern Literary Messenger

1845 published “The Raven”

Edgar Allen Poe

“Father” of the short story• creation of a singular or unique effect

1841 “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” begin the genre of the detective story

Obsession with death and contacting the dead