The Romantic Era in American Literature

The Romantic Era in American Literature

c. 1830-1860

Period of development from 1770s – 1830s

Thirty years of dominance until the Civil War

Decade of decline and transition into Realism (Post-Civil War era)

Most Famous Works: “TheLegend of Sleepy Hollow”; “The Raven”; The Scarlet Letter; Moby-Dick

Literature often contained the following elements:

1. Idealization of the remote in time and/or place

1. literature had as its setting the long ago and/or far away
2. literature contained elements of exoticism (the unusual, picturesque, etc.)

2. Love of nature for its own sake

3. Interest in the eerie or mysterious, a focus on mystery and wonder

4. Predilection for strange and exciting adventure

5. Glorification of the national ideals of freedom and republicanism

6. A new optimism prevailed

a. society could ultimately achieve perfection

b. man could be free of his inhibitions and repressions

7. Stress was placed on feeling and emotion rather than reason; this can be seen as a partial revolt against the scientific/logical focus of the Enlightenment

8. Individualism becomes prominent

a. man in general no longer the central interest of writers

b. men could conduct their own affairs

9. Concern for issues in morality

a. rebellion against convention as a literary theme

b. desire for humanitarianism: Anti-slavery legislation, women’s rights, temperance, progressive education, universal peace

Also playing a role in this Era and its literature:

The Frontier Influence— writings showed the value of resourcefulness and individualism

Revolt against older values of past generations – BUT, this was not untempered, wild or meaningless, as in Romantic Europe, where writers, poets, etc. often led unconventional lifestyles

Nationalism — Americans creating new country but determined to cultivate the “refinement” of the Old World — at all costs, be genteel!!

Literature still had to teach as well as please, in many cases.

Rise of these two Protestant religious groups:

Unitarians — liberal, placed stress on human excellence

Methodists — pious, evangelical

Transcendentalism

1. Branch of Romanticism. Most famous authors: RW Emerson and HD Thoreau.

Also included: Margaret fuller and Bronson Alcott

2. May be seen as a violent reaction against Calvinism (Puritanism).

3. The Unitarians (Emerson had been one of these) had already rejected election and the Trinity (divinity of Christ, etc.), and they had stressed the belief that people were essentially decent. Transcendentalists went one step further and considered human nature divine.

4. Transcendentalists believed in the innate divinity of every human.

5. They had faith in man’s capability to understand immortality, the soul, and God through intuition, rather than through reason and the senses.

6. Transcendentalists believed that the secret voice of God was within each individual human, and that everything in the universe was connected by sharing the same soul, which they called the Over-Soul. The soul sets up an intuitive standard that distinguishes good from bad.

7. Transcendentalist writings concern many of the following points:

a. love of nature; belief that one should live close to nature, study it, and thereby know oneself better.

b. the dignity of manual labor

c. a spirit of tolerance and optimism

d. the essential unity of all religions

e. nonconformity and defiance of tradition

f. man’s personal relationship with God

g. a belief in democracy over more restrictive forms of government

h. a disregard for external authority

Transcendental Pessimists

Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville are often referred to as “Anti-Transcendentalists.” This does not mean that they opposed the Transcendentalists and believed we should all be conformists, persecuting people who were of different religions, etc. It means that while they thought that many of the Transcendentalist ideals were good, they thought of these indeed as simply ideals, and not practical, workable realities. The writings of Melville and Hawthorne lack the optimism of the writings of Emerson and (to an extent) Thoreau. Melville and Hawthorne chose to focus on the dark side of human nature, and how people may be shunned or destroyed when they listen to the voice within them instead of conforming to outside standards, how it is futile to disregard external authority in real societies, and so forth. Thus, a better term for Hawthorne and Melville is Transcendental Pessimists.