Quickwrite

QuickwriteWhen you hear the term “American

Romanticism” what images do you think of?

What do you think the literature of this period will be like and what will it be about?

Take 5 minutes to jot down your notes for discussion.

American RomanticismLiterary Period 1800-1860

Genres RepresentedCharacter SketchesSlave NarrativesPoetryShort Stories

PhilosophyInfluenced by European Romanticism and Kant’s

Critique of Pure ReasonRomanticism is a reaction against the ideal of

pure reason representative in the Enlightenment period.

Romantics

Puritans Deists

Emerging Ideas

Deists believe that truth is found in nature and the scientific method.

Romantics believe that the site of knowledge is the individual and think that there is higher truth above the material world.

“Allegory of the Cave”Material Reality is imperfect – a higher reality exists

because it can be imagined and comes through inspiration.

Inspiration & ImaginationImagination Ideal

Nature

Individual Nature is deeper, purer, better, and the best place to stir imagination and elevate the soul.

The individual is inspired by nature,

activating the imagination, which leads to the ideal.

The ideal is supreme, and

can apply to love, nobility,

bravery, comradeship,

or terror.

Various SubjectsSince nature is a symbol of titanic forces, it is

not reasonable when it acts.Nature inspires both the beautiful and the awesome.

EXPERIENCE NATURE TO THE EXTREME!Keats (English Poet) said, “Truth is Beauty. Beauty is

Truth. That is all we need to know.”True romantics (idealists) are madmen because they will

not listen to reason.Gothic is borne out of the romantics in that it creates a

dangerous place where anything can happen, operating outside of expected laws.

American IndividualismRomantics embrace the idea of individualism in

that each person has their own ideal to achieve.

Separated into two sects:Optimists Pessimists

TranscendentalistsEmersonThoreauWhitmanAlcott

Dickenson

HawthorneMelvillePoe (mankind cut off from ideal, only achieve through death)Dickenson

Transcendentalism (1840-1860s)Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay “Nature” is the basis

for American Transcendentalism.God & Nature are in unity. Individuality & Self-RelianceUnlimited Human PotentialTranscendentalists wanted to transcend the material world to

the ideal (the oversoul). Both Emerson & Whitman see America as a symbol of the oversoul in practice in democracy.

Quickwrite: Poetry*handwrite on paper pleaseMany students today balk at the idea of

studying poetry. Is poetry something you enjoy or something you dread? Why do you think you have this opinion?

What type of music do you enjoy listening to? Does it contain any “poetic” elements? Explain how popular music (or music you listen to) is similar to or different from poetry.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)Most popular American poetLongfellow endorsed values that were positive

forces in the making of the American characterHis most celebrated poetry is based on

American legends: Evangeline (1847); The Song of Hiawatha (1855)

First American to be honored with inclusion in the Poet’s Corner in London’s Westminster Abbey

Key Poetry Terms Lyric Poetry: Poetry that does not tell a story but

expresses the personal feelings or thoughts of the speaker. (Unlike Epic Poetry)

Alliteration: The repetition of the same or similar consonant sounds in words that are close together.

Assonance: The repetition of similar vowel sounds followed by different consonant sounds, especially in words close together.

Consonance: The repetition of the same or similar final consonant sounds on accented syllables or in important words.

The Tide Rises, The Tide FallsLiterary Focus: Meter

Meter is a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry. Meter gives poetry rhythm. You can hear the meter of a poem when you read it aloud. Stressed syllables are emphasized more than unstressed syllables.

Analyzing the meter of a poem is called scanning. You can use special marks to scan a poem. The stress mark () is placed over each stressed syllable. The “short” mark (˘) is placed over each unstressed syllable.

Along / the sea- / sands damp / and brown