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.

[Rachel Pierini]

Are most romantism stories sad and dark? The short stories we read so far have sad endings and are creepy.

[Gary Anderson]

For some reason, the poems and essays tend to be more optimistic than the stories. Edgar Allan Poe's poems would be the exception: they are gloomy too.

[Louisa Dimopoulos]

I think the romanticism era really made people think about something that many of us seem to take for granted- nature. Up until we studied this, I really didn't think about how much nature really influences our lives and how true Bryant's words are in "To Cole, Departing For Europe" when he describes Europe as beautiful but everywhere the trace of men and America's beauty as being that of untamed, wild and untouched by human hands. To me, I don't see one type of nature ( U.S. vs. Europe) as being more beautiful than the other but rather they are different wonders of the world that illustrate how culture and nature interact with each other in various ways...also, didn't many cultures during this era compose nationalistic songs as well? I think the beauty of America's nature and Europe's nature are forms of nationalism too- there is a sense of pride in how each hemisphere uses nature to enhance the lives of those that live there, whether its by embracing man's additon to nature or by letting nature run free. Romanticism is a very interesting era...who actually began the movement? : )

[Gary Anderson]

This thread has some perceptive questions and comments about Romanticism, our next unit.

[Gary Anderson]

If you would like to look at some resources to help you understand "Thanatopsis," here is a good site.