THE ROMANTIC PERIOD (1830-1870)
INTRO
The Romantic Period began in the late 1700s. It was a reaction against the Age of Enlightenment and Puritanism. Part of the reason for this movement was that people were trying to forget the evils of the French Revolution. Romantics hold imagination more important instead of fact. Transcendentalism on the other hand, is a branch of Romanticism that focuses on individualism. Transcendentalist attempt to use nature to gain a deeper understand of life and purpose. Gothic literature was the shadier version of writing that Romanticism often led to.
Romanticism embraced the individual and fed off human impulse and intuition. It focused on the good things. Romantics believed that people were inherently good. Imagination was a large part of Romantic ideology as well. They valued creativity over logic. Nature inspired them also. They believed nature would teach us truths about human nature and that we are all connected to the nature world.
Transcendentalism was a branch of Romanticism and they hold similar ideals. The term actually came from a German philosopher named Immanuel Kant. One of the key beliefs of Transcendentalism was that when attempting to discover God, universe, and self, one must transcend everyday human experience.
The Gothic tradition was firmly established in Europe before American writers had even made names for themselves. Gothic literature had elements such as large, drafty houses, unbelievable events, deaths, foreshadowing, dreams, anger, terror, and doom. The five most common Gothic themes were isolation, conscious vs, unconscious, body vs. mind, incest, and autobiographical. Edgar Allan Poe was a shining example of these elements. In his story, The Fall of the House of Usher, we see Roderick and Madeline’s minds have been destroyed due to isolation. Roderick represents the conscious, while Madeline represents the unconscious. He also represents the mind and Madeline represents the body. It could also have represented Poe’s mind vs. Poe’s body.
Romantic, Transcendental, and Gothic literature were reflections of the time period in which they were established. People were hungry for escape from war. Romantic and Transcendental authors took them to a place where it was easier to think clearly and focus on themselves.
Romanticism embraced the individual and fed off human impulse and intuition. It focused on the good things. Romantics believed that people were inherently good. Imagination was a large part of Romantic ideology as well. They valued creativity over logic. Nature inspired them also. They believed nature would teach us truths about human nature and that we are all connected to the nature world.
Transcendentalism was a branch of Romanticism and they hold similar ideals. The term actually came from a German philosopher named Immanuel Kant. One of the key beliefs of Transcendentalism was that when attempting to discover God, universe, and self, one must transcend everyday human experience.
The Gothic tradition was firmly established in Europe before American writers had even made names for themselves. Gothic literature had elements such as large, drafty houses, unbelievable events, deaths, foreshadowing, dreams, anger, terror, and doom. The five most common Gothic themes were isolation, conscious vs, unconscious, body vs. mind, incest, and autobiographical. Edgar Allan Poe was a shining example of these elements. In his story, The Fall of the House of Usher, we see Roderick and Madeline’s minds have been destroyed due to isolation. Roderick represents the conscious, while Madeline represents the unconscious. He also represents the mind and Madeline represents the body. It could also have represented Poe’s mind vs. Poe’s body.
Romantic, Transcendental, and Gothic literature were reflections of the time period in which they were established. People were hungry for escape from war. Romantic and Transcendental authors took them to a place where it was easier to think clearly and focus on themselves.
RALPH WALDO EMERSON
In the year 1803, Ralph was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He grew up and studied at Harvard University. Emerson was a teacher for a short time before he went into the ministry.
He was a Unitarian minister in his home town at Old Second Church. This did not last long, for when his nineteen year old wife, Ellen Tucker, died of Tuberculosis, young Ralph questioned why God would allow his wife to die. This was not the first loved one he had lost. All three of his brothers had died when he was young as did his father when he was only eight years old. He did not feel as though he could preform the Lord’s Supper with a clean conscience. Due to conflicting emotions, he quit the ministry in 1831.
Following this event, he went to visit his friends Thomas Carlyle and Samuel Taylor Coleridge in Europe for a much needed break from normal life. Thomas Carlyle had many Romantic beliefs and hated materialism. They had been friends for quite some time and his influence was great on Emerson. He helped Ralph formulate his own philosophies and ideas.
Shortly after, Emerson settled in Concord, Massachusetts with his new wife in 1835. Her name was Lydia Jackson and they had four children together. Emerson had joined “The Sage of Concord,” which was a local group that shared some of his beliefs. He had become known for challenging traditional thought and became the chief spokesperson for Transcendentalism.
Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote his first book in the year 1836. It was called Nature. Nature showcased Emerson’s transcendental beliefs. He wrote of the need to use nature to gain a deeper understanding of life. He believed that one could forsake materialism and through simplicity one could focus on the mind and the power it posses. Ralph wanted to use nature as a tool to reflect on life.
Emerson also had a concept of an “Over-Soul.” He believed that God and creation were one soul, known as the “oversoul.” In his story, Self-Reliance, he says “envy is ignorance; imitation is suicide….accept the place the divine providence has found for you.” This statement reflects his Transcendental views and belief that rational ideas and fact were more important that imagination. Emerson’s transcendental beliefs stemmed from the reform in the Unitarian church he was a minister in.
He spent much of his time writing essays and books and speaking. Some of his most famous are Nature, Essays, First and Second Series, Self-Reliance, Poems, The Conduct of Life, and English Traits. Each was a masterpiece, although not everyone enjoyed the opinionated Transcendental views.
Ralph was a brilliant man. He had challenged the way so many people thought. Emerson died in 1882 on pneumonia. He left behind many great works of literature that contained his Transcendental ideals. Ralph Waldo Emerson is still known today as the leader of the Transcendental movement. His influence on other great authors such as Henry Thoreau and Walt Whitman paved the way for more Transcendental works from other perspectives. He truly was a brilliant mind.
He was a Unitarian minister in his home town at Old Second Church. This did not last long, for when his nineteen year old wife, Ellen Tucker, died of Tuberculosis, young Ralph questioned why God would allow his wife to die. This was not the first loved one he had lost. All three of his brothers had died when he was young as did his father when he was only eight years old. He did not feel as though he could preform the Lord’s Supper with a clean conscience. Due to conflicting emotions, he quit the ministry in 1831.
Following this event, he went to visit his friends Thomas Carlyle and Samuel Taylor Coleridge in Europe for a much needed break from normal life. Thomas Carlyle had many Romantic beliefs and hated materialism. They had been friends for quite some time and his influence was great on Emerson. He helped Ralph formulate his own philosophies and ideas.
Shortly after, Emerson settled in Concord, Massachusetts with his new wife in 1835. Her name was Lydia Jackson and they had four children together. Emerson had joined “The Sage of Concord,” which was a local group that shared some of his beliefs. He had become known for challenging traditional thought and became the chief spokesperson for Transcendentalism.
Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote his first book in the year 1836. It was called Nature. Nature showcased Emerson’s transcendental beliefs. He wrote of the need to use nature to gain a deeper understanding of life. He believed that one could forsake materialism and through simplicity one could focus on the mind and the power it posses. Ralph wanted to use nature as a tool to reflect on life.
Emerson also had a concept of an “Over-Soul.” He believed that God and creation were one soul, known as the “oversoul.” In his story, Self-Reliance, he says “envy is ignorance; imitation is suicide….accept the place the divine providence has found for you.” This statement reflects his Transcendental views and belief that rational ideas and fact were more important that imagination. Emerson’s transcendental beliefs stemmed from the reform in the Unitarian church he was a minister in.
He spent much of his time writing essays and books and speaking. Some of his most famous are Nature, Essays, First and Second Series, Self-Reliance, Poems, The Conduct of Life, and English Traits. Each was a masterpiece, although not everyone enjoyed the opinionated Transcendental views.
Ralph was a brilliant man. He had challenged the way so many people thought. Emerson died in 1882 on pneumonia. He left behind many great works of literature that contained his Transcendental ideals. Ralph Waldo Emerson is still known today as the leader of the Transcendental movement. His influence on other great authors such as Henry Thoreau and Walt Whitman paved the way for more Transcendental works from other perspectives. He truly was a brilliant mind.
KEY AUTHORS
Washington Irving - The Devil and Tom Walker
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - The Song of Hiawatha and The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls
William Cullen Bryant - Thanatopsis
Oliver Wendell Holmes - Old Ironsides
Nathaniel Hawthorne - "The Minister's Black Veil"
Edgar Allan Poe - "The Raven" and "The Fall of the House of Usher"
Joyce Carol Oates - Where Is Here
Herman Melville - Moby Dick
Ralph Waldo Emerson - Self-Reliance, Nature, and Concord Hymn
Henry David Thoreau - Walden and Civil Disobedience
Emily Dickinson - "Because I Could Not Stop For Death," "I Heard A Fly Buzz -- When I Died," "There's a certain Slant of light," "My Life Closed Twice Before Its Close," "The Soul Selects Her Own Society," "The Brain-- Is Wider Than The Sky--," "There Is A Solitude Of Space," and "Water Is Taught By Thirst"
Walt Whitman - "Leaves of Grass," "Song of Myself," "When I Heard The Learn'd Astronomer," "By The Bivouac's Fitful Flame," "I Hear America Singing," "A Noiseless Patient Spider"
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - The Song of Hiawatha and The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls
William Cullen Bryant - Thanatopsis
Oliver Wendell Holmes - Old Ironsides
Nathaniel Hawthorne - "The Minister's Black Veil"
Edgar Allan Poe - "The Raven" and "The Fall of the House of Usher"
Joyce Carol Oates - Where Is Here
Herman Melville - Moby Dick
Ralph Waldo Emerson - Self-Reliance, Nature, and Concord Hymn
Henry David Thoreau - Walden and Civil Disobedience
Emily Dickinson - "Because I Could Not Stop For Death," "I Heard A Fly Buzz -- When I Died," "There's a certain Slant of light," "My Life Closed Twice Before Its Close," "The Soul Selects Her Own Society," "The Brain-- Is Wider Than The Sky--," "There Is A Solitude Of Space," and "Water Is Taught By Thirst"
Walt Whitman - "Leaves of Grass," "Song of Myself," "When I Heard The Learn'd Astronomer," "By The Bivouac's Fitful Flame," "I Hear America Singing," "A Noiseless Patient Spider"
TIMELINE
LITERARY THEMES
The main theme in this unit is a focus on the individual. People moved towards this Romantic movement that embrace the individual and was fed off human impulse and intuition. They were coming out of the French Revolution and were weary of war. People just wanted to get out of their own mind. This is why the clung to the Romantic and Transcendental works by authors such as Irving, Poe, Melville, and Emerson. Using Romantic and Transcendental principles they could focus on the individual instead of war and other issues.
EDGAR ALLAN POE: BIO - VIDEO
CRASH COURSE: EMILY DICKINSON - VIDEO
Information gathered from: Poet.org, Transcendentalism-legacy.tamu.edu, and Wiggins, Grant P. Prentice Hall Literature. Common Core ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2012. eBook.