Romanticism Romanticism 1800-18601800-1860

Characteristics of Romanticism• Contemplating

nature’s beauty is the path to spiritual and moral development.

• Values feeling and intuition over reason

• Looks backward to the wisdom of the past, shuns progress

The Age of Reason or The Enlightenment

Founded on:• Deism• Logic• Observation as

means of obtaining Truth

• Inalienable rights

Contributed to: • Industrialization:

Growth of cities & factories

• Mobility and breakup of families and communities

• American expansion – (Lewis and Clark

and Manifest Destiny)

• More encounters with Native Americans

Albert Bierstadt

Romanticism: Reaction To The Age of Reason

Realism Idealism/UtopiaPatrician Classicism

Glorification of the common man

Dominion over the Native American

Recognition of the nobility of the primitive

Reliance on reason for truth

Credibility of intuition and reflection

Age of Reason Romanticism

Logic: Always facts to counter fear and doubt

Imagination to engender faith and hope

Man’s dominion over Nature: Manifest Destiny; bring to serve mankind

Man’s interdependence upon Nature: Generative, antidote; mystical unknown

Deism: De-emphasize organized religion

Transcendentalism: God always available-Over-Soul

Age of Reason Romanticism

The City was a Place of . . .

Industrial Revolution Success Self-realizationCivilization

Poor Work Conditions Moral Ambiguity CorruptionDeath

Age of Reason Romanticism

Romanticism: Often Seen As A Journey

--The journey from the city to the country

--The journey from rational thought to the imagination

The Fireside Poets

*John Greenleaf Whittier, William Cullen Bryant, James Lowell, Oliver Wendell

Holmes•Their poems were often read aloud at the fireside as family entertainment.

The Most Popular American Poets of Their Time

•It is poetry that seeks a higher truth from the natural world.

• Folktales - varied from region to region. Washington Irving was very popular.

Literature

•The “Noble Savage” was promoted through works such as James Fennimore Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans.

•American Novelists looked to westward expansion and the frontier for inspiration.

Two Schools of Philosophical Thought -

The Transcendentalists vs.

The Anti-Transcendentalist

s

The Transcendentalists(Continued)

• Optimistic view of the world

• The natural world is a doorway to the spiritual or ideal world

• Self-Reliance – Rely on your own thought– Seek not to follow others

Transcendentalists Beckon Us To Transcendentalists Beckon Us To Leave BehindLeave Behind

The The Hurried Hurried & & Technological Technological WorldWorld

*To venture forth to the natural world

*To find our inner peace

*To reconnect with all mankind & Nature

*Use intuition to find truth and connect with the spiritual realm

* Be a keen observer of Nature

* Stay Quiet & Be Still To Hear

Her Lessons

The Anti-The Anti-TranscendentalTranscendental

ists ists • Works of Hawthorne, Melville & Poe:– Acknowledged existence of sin– Pain & evil in human life – Formed counterpoints to the

optimism of the transcendentalists

– Regarded as “the dark side” in the eyes of Transcendentalists who use “the force”

The Force vs.

The Dark Side Transcendentalists Idealists/IndividualistIntuitionEverything is a reflection of the divine soulNature is good; even Man is goodMan & Nature in partnershipEmbraces science as part of nature

Anti-Anti-TranscendentaTranscendentalistslists RealistsExperienceSpirituality based on Puritanism/CalvinismNature is indifferent; Man is evilMan’s dark sideSuspicious of science and technology