Romanticism andTranscendentalism
Romanticism and Transcendentalism
Where We'veBeen>FirstAmerican Literature(2000 B.C.-A.D1620).Native American LiteratureHistorical Narratives>BecomingaCountry(1620-1800).Puritanism.RevolutionaryWriting (persuasive rhetoric)
Where We’ve Been ➢ First American Literature (2000 B.C. – A.D. 1620) ⚫ Native American Literature ⚫ Historical Narratives ➢ Becoming a Country (1620-1800) ⚫ Puritanism ⚫ Revolutionary Writing (persuasive rhetoric)
Individualism（1800-1855)>RomanticismandTranscendentalism.Longfellow,Irving,Emerson,Fuller,Thoreau,Whitman>AmericanGothicPoeandHawthorne
Individualism (1800-1855) ➢ Romanticism and Transcendentalism ⚫ Longfellow, Irving, Emerson, Fuller, Thoreau, Whitman ➢ American Gothic ⚫ Poe and Hawthorne
Definitions>RomanticismsprangupinbothEuropeandAmerica as a reaction to everything that hadcome before it: the rationalism of the 18thcentury Age of Reason and, especiallyPuritanism.>Romantic artists,philosophers,andwriters sawthe limitations of reason and celebrated insteadthe glories ofthe individual spirit,the emotions.and the imagination as basic elements of humannature
Definitions ➢ Romanticism sprang up in both Europe and America as a reaction to everything that had come before it: the rationalism of the 18th century Age of Reason and, especially, Puritanism. ➢ Romantic artists, philosophers, and writers saw the limitations of reason and celebrated instead the glories of the individual spirit, the emotions, and the imagination as basic elements of human nature
Transcendentalism wasbased onafundamentalbelief in the unity of the world and God.>Theybelieved thatthe"macrocosm"(theuniverse)and the“microcosm”(theindivdual)weredirectlyconnected Emersonsaid that every individual is capable ofdiscovering higher truth (and identification withGod) on his or her own, through intuition Transcendentalists soughttohaveindividuals"transcend"to a higher spiritual level. To achieve this goal,the individual had to seekspiritual, not material, greatness and theessential truths of life through intuition
➢ Transcendentalism was based on a fundamental belief in the unity of the world and God. ➢ They believed that the “macrocosm” (the universe) and the “microcosm” (the indivdual) were directly connected. ➢ Emerson said that every individual is capable of discovering higher truth (and identification with God) on his or her own, through intuition. ➢ Transcendentalists sought to have individuals “transcend” to a higher spiritual level. ➢ To achieve this goal, the individual had to seek spiritual, not material, greatness and the essential truths of life through intuition