American Romanticism

[Gary Anderson]

As The Age of Reason drew to a close, Americans had a pretty good handle of most of the pressing issues from the revolutionary era: America was separate from England; a government was in place, although it would evolve; and America's international relations were stable.

Americans began to realize that there is more to life than logic, and so we see the first flowering of American art based on emotion rather than simply a desire to convey empirical or political information. American artists--including musicians, painters, poets, fiction writers, and playwrights--began to produce work designed to have emotional effects. In many cases, this emotional effect was based on the power of America's natural landscape.

As we learn about American Romanticism, we will see how it took shape in poetry, painting, and the first American short stories. We will concentrate on three authors: William Cullen Bryant, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Edgar Alan Poe.

Here is a link to Bryant's "Thanatopsis" poem in an interactive format. Works studied in class by Hawthorne and Poe are easy to find online.

[Maia Kirch]

I am a little confused about the relationship between Edgar Alan Poe and Romanticism. Even though he is from that era I don't see how his shorts stories are related to natural things and nationalism, although is easy to see that emotions were important in his writings. I don't know, I thought that romanticism was based on beautiful and positive things (Maybe I got the wrong idea after reading Thanatopsis), which is pretty much the opposite of Poe's style. It intrigues me a little.

[Gary Anderson]

These are perceptive comments. Poe is known as a "Dark Romantic."

[Kevin Gosiewski]

I remember reading a bunch of Edgar Allen Poe stories in 7th or 8th grade. They were really dark as I remember. Tell Tale Heart was my favorite and still is!

[Ryan Kelly]

I thought the story "To Cole, the Painter, Departing for Europe," was a very strong story when we read it in class. I like the line, "A living image of our own bright land," because it is talking about our America and how great it is. It is also comparing Europe to America. It talked about all the nature in the land and how amazing it is. The painting really shows this well with the trees, mountains, and wide open sky. Finally it talked about the future and what it will hold. Hoping it will be a bright one. This story was cool because it really makes you appreciate all that we have and all our freedoms as well as a beautiful world.

[Tara Koepke]

I'm curious as to what the people from the romantic era thought about natural disasters like tornadoes, and hurricanes, etc. Do you think they still thought they were beautiful aspects of nature, or maybe they thought it was a punishment from God?

[Gary Anderson]

They would probably consider them as an example of the awesome power of nature--not necessarily aimed at humans in a providential manner.

[ivan horajsky]

i remember reADING the story about the beating heart under the floorboards of the house. this one was by edgar allan poe but i just cant remember the name. Can u te... its the Telltale heart!!! i remember

[Corinne Chapman]

I like how american romanticam has a lot of nature in it and I like how the stories really try to get to your emotions.

[Vince Farella]

The stories that we have read in class about this topic are really strong ones. They are very different to read for me because I dont ever read things that are so moving and inspiring.

[Allison Dunnington]

I was in mrs. Hill's English class last year, and we did learn a little about romanticism before reading the book Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Now that I'm learning more details about romanticism, I can see how the main ideas tied in, such as admiration of nature and science. However, I think Mary Shelley lived somewhere in Europe, was romanticism a worldwide era?

[Gary Anderson]

Romanticism may not have been a "world-wide" phenomenon, but it definitely was going on in America and Europe at the same time. European music from the Romantic era was particularly masterful: Beethoven, Strass, Mendelssohn, Chopin, Verdi, Wagner, Saint-Saens, etc.

[Jaimie Groot]

I really enjoy this section/chapter it makes me interpret each poem and story. It also requires me to analyze each very carefully and try to figure out what everything is saying. There are many meanings to a lot of these writings so it is a tad difficult, but I still enjoy it. In 8th grade we went to see a group of plays and a couple of them were Edgar Alan Poe's. The play definitely helped me understand the writing better.