Introduction
American literature, to my eyes, like American history, although short, however, still full of glories and shining masterpieces and writers. Those American writers, while conquering this wild America, also had conquered the great field of American literature. From its first imitative activities to innovative attempts nowadays, American literature gradually gains its unique style, theme and form, and I¡¯m always excited to see their works are more and more America in its true sense. American literature is part of world¡¯s literature, however, it always has its unique flavor that cannot be easily ignored.
Most critics hold that the history of American literature can be divided into six parts, orderly, colonial period,
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2. Development
Romanticism developed from its early stage to its high stage with changes both in style and theme.
Early romanticism was more or less imitative of British literature of Romanticism. They were experimental and conformist. At that time, the new United States of America was in a period of development, growth, experimentation and search. Above all, it was a time of extension of the American nation and the American identity. During this period, some American writers did begin to attract notice abroad and their books drew attention of important foreign figures. Although English literary models were still admired, the American writers soon turned to the American civilization and found their materials in the culture and history of their native land.
American Romanticism reached its peak with some literary giants in Romantics ©€ Poe, Whitman, Dickinson, Hawthorn and Melville. They created for themselves a new personality. High Romantists lived in a period of vast commercial expansion when Americans had more opportunities, more freedom and believed that United States was the greatest nation on earth. However, romantic writers, otherwise, tended to depict the darkness of the country, and therefore, their works endure deeper power.
3.Characteristics
The characteristic of romanticism can be summed up
The period of Romanticism, occurring between the years 1800 and 1860, left a significant impact on not only the literature of that time, but the literature of today as well. Prior to romantic writings, the world focused on society and logic. Romanticism allowed people to start valuing individualism and to appeal to emotional responses. This new way of thinking brought new literary styles, themes, and genres that were never explored before and are still found today. The literature of Romanticism allowed people to escape the harshness of reality and enter a different world.
American Romanticism illustrates the first purely American literary movement that began alongside the beginning of a new nation. American Romanticism appeared in response to the rationalists, such as Ben Franklin, which the American Romantics believed to be too single-minded and not as expressive. Therefore, this literary movement turned away from the corruption of cities and the physical world and focused on nature and imagination. Washington Irving, in his stories “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van Winkle”, displays characteristics of American Romanticism and creates American Romantic heroes.
American History, it has done so much in time that has affected how we live life today and how we interpret things. American Literature reflects that and all it has left us with. Throughout the stories and passages we’ve read this course all of them have left a impact on how and why the writers wrote about what they did. It was all because of American History which later went on and fathered American Literature. American Literature has made society how it is today and painted a vivid picture of how American’s and people live and many of these writers had that in mind when they took these notes.
As the new world struggled to gain impendence from its mother country, Britain, native authors also try to develop their own style of writings. It quickly became evident that the search for a native literature became a national obsession. Then with the triumph of American independence, many at the time saw this as a divine sign that America and her people were destined for greatness. Greatness came with a strong nation and thousands of poems and stories that still shape our nation. The recent revolution greatly expressed the heart of the American people. However, it would take another fifty years of development throughout American before it produced the first great generation of American writers such as, Washington Irving, Ralph
American Romanticism fell between the years of 1800 and 1860. America had just gained its independence from Great Britain followed by a war that ended just 17 years prior to the start of the Romantic period in writing. With America just getting on its feet and finding their voice in literature, they went through what seems to be a more odd stage in literature during this time period. This period in literature could be described as a time of finding idealism, and a time which writing was very subjective and imaginative.
The American Romantic period of American literature propagated itself throughout the United States and multiple artistic medium from 1800 to 1850. Despite possible confusion caused by the name’s Western implications, this particular literary style originated in Germany with the publication of Goethe’s “Sorrows of Young Werther”. (11. http://www.westga.edu/~mmcfar/american%20ROMANTICISM%20OVERVIEW.html) Stories originating from this period were typically about improbable feats of adventure which provided readers with euphoric experiences not typically common in everyday life. (11. http://www.westga.edu/~mmcfar/american%20ROMANTICISM%20OVERVIEW.html) Eventually spreading throughout English culture, romanticism soon infected the colossal talents
Romanticism was a period time 1750 to 1870 in Europe, Latin America and The United States. Romantic Movement didn’t reach to France until the 1820’s. Romanticism main spirit was against of rule, law and formulas that classicism the different characterized of general in 18th century. Imagination, Subjectivity of approach, freedom, Expression and the idealization of nature will be focused in movement of Romantic Literature. In this period industrial revolution with the social and political norms form as age of enlightenment and against of scientific rationalization of nature. Some Literature element of that period will be emotional, imagination and suspense. Romanticism movement brings some of different writes such as John Keats, Blake William, Wordsworth William and other. They came with the different illustrated, poetry that expresses the language, emotion and imagination. Romanticism is a phenomenon characterized by subjectivity of approach and reliance on the imagination, An Idealization of nature and freedom of though and expression.
American literature has been evolving since the dawn of the Puritan exploration and colonization in the early 1600s. From John Smith's books and descriptions of Native American life to the revolutionary ideas of Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson, literature has had many forms and has taken many ideas across time to interpreted by scholars of today. The early Americans were very successful in creating a style of literature that has a complete web of genres to be examined, as well as some genres being sourced more than others. These distinctions only help to prove the diversity of American literature from 1607 to the present day.
Imagine a candle-lit dinner on a starry night in Paris, the Eiffel Tower just in view with dazzling lights shining into the night. This image is probably what you think of when you hear the word “romantic,” correct. However, this image is a stumbling block when people think of the “Romanticism Period” in literature. Where “romantic” means having a lovely time with the person you love the most, “Romanticism” is a piece of literature written with key themes in mind. Those themes tend to be a strong emotion, imagery or worship of nature, and individuality and subjectivity. The peak of inspiration for these pieces was in the years 1800-1850, and there are famous poems that are well loved today from this period. Many of the poets that you enjoy reading and know are, in actuality, Romanticism writers, and instill the themes above in our minds.
The period of Romanticism, occurring between the years 1800 and 1860, left a significant impact on not only the literature of that time, but the literature of today as well. Prior to romantic writings, the world focused on society and logic. Romanticism allowed people to start valuing individualism and to appeal to emotional responses. This new way of thinking brought new literary styles, themes, and genres that were never explored before and are still found today. The literature of Romanticism allowed people to escape the harshness of reality and enter a different world.
American literature 1865-1914 is an American literary time period that began in 1865 and ended in 1914. This time period was flourished by three distinct features and the first of these features is: The Aftermath of the Civil War. It is estimated that a total of 620,000 Americans were killed in the Civil War, and for what? At the time, we were an America that was divided by one huge issue that ran supreme and it was slavery and the unequal treatment of African Americans. At this time the nation needed to figure a way to unite the North who were against slavery and the South who were for slavery. As Abraham Lincoln says in our Bedford Anthology of American Literature: “No one man has authority to give up the rebellion for any other man, we simply must begin with, and mould from, disorganized and discordant elements,” (4). He is saying that we must not start a new, but rather we need to start from what we had and mould and shape our country into one. Prior to the Civil War, America was not a whole, it was ruled by states’ rights and was divided on countless issues, and when referring to America, people said the United States are… It wasn’t until under President Lincoln, and concluding the Civil War that the United States began to be referred to as the United States is.. Honest Abe, brought our nation together as one, but the racial tension that remained was something one man can never fix. The literature around this time period was dominated by ideas and feelings circled
The Romantic Movement, or period, was from the year 1828 to about 1865. The main feature of the American Romantic period was the celebration and praise of individualism. This time is also considered to be the first period of genuine American creativity. Emotion, instead of reason, became the largest source of inspiration and creativity during this period. All of this was a reaction to all of the constraints that were forced on people during the era of Realism. At this time in history, America was in a great period of expansion, the writers of the American Romantic period were discovering that could create a new and vastly different voice for this new era in
Romanticism took place in the early 1800's, it focused on the evolution and the effects nature has upon the universe. This time period helped grasp imagination, emotions, symbolism, and focus on the individual of one's self. I will be evaluating the authors, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne to demonstrate how their works relate to the time era of the 18th century.
In this assignment I am going to focus on the origin of American fiction and specifically, I am going to talk about two famous authors who are characteristic of this type of literature. The purpose of this essay is comparing these two writers through their works: Rip Van Winkle and The last of the Mohicans. These writers are Washington Irving and James Fenimore Cooper.
The Romantic period developed in America in the 19th century, with the Gothic/Romantic stories of Edgar Allan Poe and the quasi-religious, transcendentalist poetry of Ralph Waldo