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    Romanticism Unit Overview

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    This unit covers American Romanticism between 1800 and 1865. It explores how Romanticism rejected Enlightenment values by embracing imagination, individuality, and nature. It highlights major Romantic authors like Irving, Bryant, Poe, Emerson, Thoreau, Dickinson, and Whitman. Their works reflected Romantic ideals like escaping industrial realities through imagination and revering nature. The unit also examines the historical context including the Industrial Revolution, urbanization, and social reforms. Dark Romanticism is discussed as a pessimistic offshoot focused on human limitations, while Transcendentalism was an optimistic offshoot stressing spiritual unity. Key literary terms and genres are also defined.

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    Romanticism Unit Overview

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    This unit covers American Romanticism between 1800 and 1865. It explores how Romanticism rejected Enlightenment values by embracing imagination, individuality, and nature. It highlights major Romantic authors like Irving, Bryant, Poe, Emerson, Thoreau, Dickinson, and Whitman. Their works reflected Romantic ideals like escaping industrial realities through imagination and revering nature. The unit also examines the historical context including the Industrial Revolution, urbanization, and social reforms. Dark Romanticism is discussed as a pessimistic offshoot focused on human limitations, while Transcendentalism was an optimistic offshoot stressing spiritual unity. Key literary terms and genres are also defined.

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    This unit covers American Romanticism between 1800 and 1865. It explores how Romanticism rejected Enlightenment values by embracing imagination, individuality, and nature. It highlights major Romantic authors like Irving, Bryant, Poe, Emerson, Thoreau, Dickinson, and Whitman. Their works reflected Romantic ideals like escaping industrial realities through imagination and revering nature. The unit also examines the historical context including the Industrial Revolution, urbanization, and social reforms. Dark Romanticism is discussed as a pessimistic offshoot focused on human limitations, while Transcendentalism was an optimistic offshoot stressing spiritual unity. Key literary terms and genres are also defined.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    174 views2 pages

    Romanticism Unit Overview

    Uploaded by

    api-262774252
    This unit covers American Romanticism between 1800 and 1865. It explores how Romanticism rejected Enlightenment values by embracing imagination, individuality, and nature. It highlights major Romantic authors like Irving, Bryant, Poe, Emerson, Thoreau, Dickinson, and Whitman. Their works reflected Romantic ideals like escaping industrial realities through imagination and revering nature. The unit also examines the historical context including the Industrial Revolution, urbanization, and social reforms. Dark Romanticism is discussed as a pessimistic offshoot focused on human limitations, while Transcendentalism was an optimistic offshoot stressing spiritual unity. Key literary terms and genres are also defined.

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    UNIT 3:

    Romanticism: 1800 to 1865

    UNIT OVERVIEW
    Essential Questions for Class Discussion:
    How does American Romanticism mark a radical rejection of the American Enlightenment?
    What were the values of the Romantics, and how did these values affect the American imagination?
    How does Dark Romantic literature reflect the limitations and potential destructiveness of the human spirit?
    Who were the Transcendentalists, and how do their beliefs still influence American life?
    Unit Literature
    Year

    Author

    Text

    Genre

    Pages

    2005

    ----

    A Growing Nation

    Non-Fiction

    1819

    Washington Irving

    Rip Van Winkle

    Short Story

    5.5

    1819

    Washington Irving

    The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

    Short Story

    11.5

    1824

    Washington Irving

    The Devil And Tom Walker

    Short Story

    1838; 1879

    Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

    A Psalm of Life; The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls

    Poetry

    1817

    William Cullen Bryant

    Thanatopsis

    Poetry

    1830; 1858

    Oliver Wendell Holmes

    Old Ironsides; The Chambered Nautilus

    Poetry

    1847

    James Russell Lowell

    Auspex; The First Snowfall

    Poetry

    1866

    John Greenleaf Whittier

    Snowbound: A Winter Idyll

    Poetry

    1839

    Edgar Allan Poe

    The Fall of the House of Usher

    Short Story

    1845

    Edgar Allan Poe

    The Raven

    Poem

    1843

    Edgar Allan Poe

    The Tell-Tale Heart

    Short Story

    1842

    Edgar Allan Poe

    The Masque of the Red Death

    Short Story

    2.5

    1846

    Edgar Allan Poe

    The Cask of Amontillado

    Short Story

    2.5

    1842

    Edgar Allan Poe

    The Pit And The Pendulum

    Short Story

    5.5

    1836

    Nathaniel Hawthorne

    The Minister's Black Veil

    Short Story

    1835

    Nathaniel Hawthorne

    Young Goodman Brown

    Short Story

    1851

    Herman Melville

    Moby Dick (excerpt)

    Novel

    8.5

    1837

    Ralph Waldo Emerson

    The American Scholar

    Speech

    4.5

    1836

    Ralph Waldo Emerson

    Nature

    Essay

    5.5

    1841

    Ralph Waldo Emerson

    Self-Reliance

    Essay

    3.5

    1836; 35

    Ralph Waldo Emerson

    Concord Hymn; The Snow-Storm

    Poetry

    1854

    Henry David Thoreau

    Walden; or, Life in the Woods (excerpt)

    Non-Fiction

    1849

    Henry David Thoreau

    Civil Disobedience

    Essay

    c. 1860

    Emily Dickinson

    Select Poems

    Poetry

    1.5

    1892

    Walt Whitman

    Leaves of Grass: Select Poems

    Poetry

    American Literature with Mr. Brennan: Unit 3

    ELEMENTS of ROMANTICISM

    HISTORICAL CONTEXT

    Imagination, Imagery, and Escapism: as a result of the


    industrial revolution and urbanization, turned to the
    imagination and supernatural, as well as the mystery and
    beauty of nature, to escape the harsh realities of life.

    Industrial Revolution: the developments in technology and


    machinery led to a rapid development of industry during the
    late 18th and 19th centuries; characterized by the use of
    steam power, the growth of factories, and the mass
    production of manufactured goods. (e.g. steamboats,
    railroads, spinning mills, cotton gin, clipper ship, telegraph)

    Individuality and Intuition: stressed subjectivity, feeling, and


    emotion over reason as a source for meaning; optimistic
    approach against European Enlightenment, or Age of Reason.
    Americans journeying into the frontier vast expanse, freedom,
    no geographic limitations and immigrants arriving on
    Americas shores sought to create a unique identity; America
    as a country also sought to culturally distance themselves from
    Europe and establish a unique American identify.
    Reverence for Nature (as a source of spirituality): nature is
    respected as supremely beautiful, immensely mysterious, and
    all-powerful; something that can be looked to for spiritual
    insight, knowledge of the primitive, and a way to become
    closer to God; goes against machine-driven industrial world.
    Looking to the Past (for wisdom): many Romantic writers
    took inspiration from great European writers (i.e. form,
    technique), but aimed at making the content purely American.
    Many Romantic texts are also set in times past (i.e. escapism)
    Common Man as the Hero: European heroes were educated
    and sophisticated (i.e. Franklin), Romantics embraced the
    everyday man as a hero while embracing Romantic values.
    ELEMENTS of DARK ROMANTISISM
    * Combines fiction, horror and Romanticism.
    * Setting is threatening, rundown, isolated; away from civilization.
    * Protagonist is physically/emotionally alone; may be self-imposed
    or the result of circumstances beyond his/her control.
    * Characters are in psychological and/or physical torment
    * Plot involves macabre or violent incidents.
    * Decay, process of decline, conveyed in community or individual.
    * Supernatural or otherworldly elements are often present.
    * Characterized by elements of fear, terror, supernatural, darkness.
    * Unique characters (vampires, demons, heroes, heroines, villains).
    Transcendentalism is an optimistic offshoot of Romanticism.
    Promoted the essential unity of all creation, the innate
    goodness of man, and the supremacy of insight over logic
    and experience for the revelation of the deepest truths.
    They also stress non-conformity, the importance of nature,
    and that all forms of being (God, nature, and humanity) are
    spiritually united through a shared universal soul. The
    Dark Romanticism, also known as Anti-Transcendentalism or
    Gothicism, is a pessimistic offshoot of Romanticism.
    Focused on the limitations and potential destructiveness of
    the human spirit rather than its possibilities. Believed
    essential truths about life were found in extreme situations
    or the darker side of human nature (e.g. greed, fear).
    Believing that people have the potential to do bad things in
    their life, God should be on a higher level than society.

    Urbanization: the increasing number of people that migrate


    from rural to urban areas. This applies to the growth of US
    cities as a result of both rural America, and rural Europe, as
    immigrants in large numbers arrive to the US.
    Social and Political Changes: (rise of the common man)
    Andrew Jackson's unsuccessful bid for presidency in 1824,
    when he won the plurality of votes but lost to John Quincy
    Adams when the election was decided in the House of
    Representatives. Jackson, a man of common beginnings,
    was the first candidate of the new states. In 1828 election,
    Jackson convincingly defeated Adams bringing to an end
    the domination of the eastern establishment.
    Polarized America: The industrial revolution resulted in the
    division of north and south; north becomes industrialized,
    south remains agricultural. The success of northern industry
    made slavery appear unusual, and to the free labor of the
    North slavery became revolting.
    Social Reform Movements: abolition of slavery, the rights of
    women, improvement of working conditions; reformism
    was, according to Whittier, "moral steam-enginery" and it
    was fed by two impulses - the idea of evolution even before
    Darwin and the idea of the "perfection of the social order."
    Utopian Experiments: to counter the negative effects of the
    industrial revolution, communities were created to reflect
    social perfectibility (rather than religious purity); founded on
    notions of self-reliance, optimism, individualism and a
    disregard for external authority and tradition.
    Frontier: the uncultivated wilderness of the western US before
    Pacific settlement; many saw the vast expanse of unsettled
    land with no geographic limitations as a symbol of freedom,
    opportunity, and optimism.
    LITERARY TERMS
    Allegory: a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a
    hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one
    Allusion: a reference designed to call something to mind without
    mentioning it explicitly
    Objective: judgment not influenced by personal feelings or opinions
    Personification: attributing human qualities to something nonhuman
    Style: the ways that the author describes events, objects, and ideas
    (e.g. use of word choice, sentence structure, figurative language,
    sentence arrangement to establish mood, images, and meaning)
    Subjective: judgment influenced by personal feelings or opinions
    Symbolism: a person, place, thing, event, or pattern in a literary work
    that figuratively represents or stands for something else.

    American Literature with Mr. Brennan: Unit 3

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