Dear 11th Grade Student, You may of heard of a time called the American Romanticism Period, but i’m sure you don't know the whole story. The Romantic period was a time in history that symbolised Romance and different Characteristics you might of felt in the stories. Some of the Characteristics might be Focus on an Individual, Supernatural, Intuition over Fact, Imagination over Reason, Emphasis on Emotion, Love of Childhood, Awareness of Past, Belief in Democracy, and Love of Nature. There were many books in this period that had these kinds of characteristics. Some of the Books might of been “The Devil and Tom Walker” , “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment” , and “Old Ironside”. In this letter I will tell you all you need to know about these stories and the Romantic Period. The first book i'm going to tell you about is “ The Devil and Tom Walker” . The name of the Author was Washington Irving’s. Washington had a lot of Characteristics in his story, like Love of Nature, Supernatural, and him Focusing on an Individual. The way he symbolised his love of nature in the story was when he said “Beautiful dark Grove”, in that line he talked about how beautiful the trees and bushes appeared in that moment. Another way he show’d romanticism was when he talked about supernatural things, these things could be the Devil or something that could really never happen. The way he show’d supernatural was when he said “ The Devil presided at the hiding of the money, and took it under his
During the early 1700s, a traveler met a man in the Massachusetts forest. However, this was no mortal man, but the devil. “Young Goodman Brown” and “The Devil and Tom Walker,” two short stories, both start out in this way. Washington Irving wrote the latter in 1824, which tells how Tom Walker profited through working for the devil. In 1835, Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote “Young Goodman Brown,” which describes Goodman Brown’s woodland encounter with the Devil. The two stories share specific ideas regarding the devil, overpowering minor deviations between each other.
In the nineteenth century, growing industrialization led people to impersonal, greedy, and selfish lives. As a reaction against this situation, romanticism emerged; this artistic movement offered people the place away from the corrupted society. During this era, people favored untamed nature instead of unscrupulous society. Upon a people’s encounter with Romanticism, they enjoyed an enthusiastic burst of feelings. This era is characterized by not only an outpouring of emotions but also themes of imagination, fantasy, emotion, nature, superstition, individuality, mystery and the supernatural. Among them, nature, imagination, and superstition theme were the most beloved theme during this period, particularly demonstrated by give stories of The Most Sublime Spectacle on Earth, Nature, The Fall of the House of Usher, and The Devil and Tom Walker.
The Romantic era began in 1770, with its peak being from 1800 to 1850. With emphasis on the imagination and emotion, Romanticism emerged as a result of the Enlightenment period, which heavily placed values upon reason and order. Thus, Romanticism depends heavily on “the practical accomplishments of the prior un-Romantic era— a relationship between material wealth and scientific knowledge on one hand, and personal, spiritual, or emotional transcendence on the other, that twenty-first century Americans continue to manage.” The simplest explanation for what is Romantic is “‘anything but the here and now’ or whatever is not realistic” (“Romanticism”). The
Romanticism is the involvement of emotion, fantasy, and intuition in a story. It happens to be the opposite of rationalism which involves logic, reason, and rationality in a story. There happens to be five romantic elements to choose from. They include: dissatisfaction with city life, desire to connect with nature, concern of individualism, nostalgia for the past, and supernatural interest. Of the six stories we could choose from all of them have some part of romanticism in them in one way or another. I chose to express a desire to connect with nature in “Rip Van Winkle”, “Thanatopsis”, and Walden.
The Romantic Period is characterized as an artistic and intellectually stimulating literary movement. Writers of this genre and time are considered to be those who fused the elements of romance in their writings to enhance the human experience. Edgar Allan Poe, known as the father of the modern short story, epitomizes this notion in his writings. In “Annabel Lee,” and “The Oval Portrait,” Edgar Allan Poe uses romance to illustrate the essence of death and misery and to illustrate elements in which the reader can actually feel that was is happening in the story is happening to them.
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.
Romanticism, the genre of literature and art that predominated the European world in the eighteenth century, directs its focus towards ideas of rebellion, individualism, and the natural beauty of the world. Guiding the spirit of the French Revolution, romanticism introduced Europe to a new set of values that give more power to the individual and offer a new hope of freedom. Frankenstein, a horror fiction novel written by Romantic author Mary Shelley, serves as one of the most notable examples of this literary field. Remarkably, although Romanticism concluded around the late nineteenth century, more recent novels appear to be influenced by Romantic values. One example of a Romantic themed novel is Ethan Frome, written by early twentieth century author Edith Wharton. The protagonist of the story, Ethan, becomes trapped in the tensions created by the opposing forces of desires and morality. Although these two novels were written almost one hundred years apart, Ethan Frome and Frankenstein contain similar aspects of Romanticism in the way that both novels address the forces of nature and emotions.
When we visualize a Romantic Hero we think of love, or a paradigmatic hero such as a Disney hero, or Prince Charming riding on his horse to save the princess. In fact, most believe that a Romantic Hero’s main intent is love. Consequently, they do not strive for love, they actually fear domestication; however, this undesirable interest is often a reward for the Hero at the end. Romantic writers are considered Romantic because they emphasized emotion, nature, and individualism. An American Romantic Hero is purer in motivation, they pursue the thrills from an adventure instead of compensation, compared to a European Romantic Hero.
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
In both of the short stories The Devil and Tom Walker by Washington Irving, also The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan Poe, were written in the romantic time period. Romanticism typically contains the ideals of nature worship, nature imagery, as well as nature having a healing effect. Gothic Literature stemmed off of romantic literature which leads to many of the contradictory ideas in both. An example could be that romantics saw imagination while gothic writers saw the darkness in the supernatural. Both the authors used very similar elements to make each literary work different but strong in their own way.
Ever since the invention of language, humans have been obsessed and intrigued with the aspect of storytelling. Each story, whether written or spoken, holds an important theme within its creative words and exciting plot. While each story is special and unique, over the course of history, different periods of literature have formed where authors tend to focus on similar themes and messages. One of which was the American Romantic era, where authors used their stories to challenge the boundaries of society, and delve deeper into what makes people inherently human, both the flaws and perfections. Some of America’s greatest works of literature were born in this period, like those of Poe, and Hawthorne. A very common literary theme during the romantic period was that of good versus evil, in both individual characters and society as a whole; this theme is especially evident in works such as The Tell Tale Heart, The Raven, and Young Goodman Brown.
The romantic period and its literature is solely based off of reform and change. At the time, slavery was very prodominit in the Americas, but the people profiting from their virtues in England were oblivious to the conditions the slaves had to endure. On the other hand, women were fighting their oppressions at home. This was not a case of poor living conditions, like the slaves, but trying to break away from social standards and stereotypes placed upon them. At the time, the main way to get out information and spread a cause was through literature, because it reached the higher, literate classes in society. Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman and The Interesting Narrative of Olaudah Equiano both exposed social problems during the romantic
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.
M. H. Abrams defines romantic themes in prominent writers of this school in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries as being five in number: (1) innovations in the materials, forms and style; (2) that the work involve a “spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings”; (3) that external nature be a persistent subject with a “sensuous nuance” and accuracy in its description; (4) that the reader be invited to identify the protagonist with the author himself; and (5) that this be an age of “new beginnings and high possibilities” for the person (177-79).
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