Romanticism In Thanatopsis, By William Cullen Bryant

The Romantic movement became one that began in Germany, moved thru all of Europe and Russia, and, almost simultaneously, modified the whole route of American literature. The American Romantic period, which lasted from about 1830-1870, turned into characterized by its emphasis on emotion and individualism in addition to glorification of all the beyond and nature, preferring the medieval instead of the classical. Listening to the word romanticism gives us the mistaken idea of a love story, with a woman of protagonist who goes out of love for the man of her dreams, waiting more than anything for him to notice her and they can live happily ever after. Romantic literature is both adventuresome and improbable, however it's plenty greater than only

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

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.

In my opinion romanticism is a type of literature that was written to spread love in a time period of hate and despair. An example of romanticism would be in the novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin written by Harriet Beecher Stowe ,and the novel Young Goodman Brown written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Uncle Tom’s Cabin shows the love between an African family in dangerous time such as slavery. Meanwhile, Young Goodman Brown is in the category of love of Christianity in a town called Salem.

Romanticism itself is a way of turning even the worst of topics into a more emotional sounding one or emphasizing a different emotion. Many romantic authors choose to write about death in a way that makes it sound like a person, so maybe it doesn’t seem as scary anymore. Others may write about war, or personal experience in a way that is not like the original story. In a nutshell Romanticism is taking something and twisting it into something completely different.

William Cullen Bryant was a man wise beyond his years. It is said that Bryant was seen in the eyes of many as a “star” so to speak. Some even referred to the writer as a child-prodigy. Honestly, while first reading Bryant, we thought to ourselves that his work should not be written as verses on paper. Rather, they should be displayed on a wall with vivid colors for the world to see. As one sits down to read Bryant, I’m sure they were in as much surprise as we were. His descriptions so vivid, his personification so lifelike, we fell in love. Bryant did not just explore nature; he embodied it. As one would notice, he often pulled a bunch of themes, such as romantic themes, from nature. If you need an example, we suggest glancing over “Thanatopsis.” “Communion with her visible forms, she speaks.”

Romanticism has dated back since the 1780’s, the literature behind Romanticism is full with emotion, passion and wildness. The characters in these passages are very distinguished, they are also iconic. The stories are usually set a unknown place for example in a castle or in the woods, or they are set in a known place where something is out of the ordinary. There is something supernatural going on within the passage of writing. There are many thing that happen in the story that doesn’t happen in everyday life. For example in the poem The Raven a man is talking to a raven, this is persona faction at its finest. There are often psychopathology themes or ideas within the writing whether it be a story or poem .There are many mysterious things that happened in the Romanticism and there were two men that were well known for it and are used as models when to comes to writing, those men are Nathanial Hawthorne and Edgar Allan Poe. Although their styles of writing and backgrounds are different because one comes from a wealthy background and the is an orphan, they are both know for being great Romanticism writers

Nature, during the Renaissance era provided inspiration and a feeling of higher enlightenment for many of the authors who wrote poetry and biographies during this period. William Cullen Bryant, a poet from this period was deeply inspired by nature. His poems reflect a close relationship with nature and he uses this relationship to craft the ideas in his poetry from his observations. Bryant’s poem Thanatopsis reflects his feelings towards nature along with his dark feelings on death.

Spanning from roughly 1750 to 1837, the Romantic period was an artistic and literary movement that sought after and treasured creativity and emotion, a drastic variation from prior periods in which logic and reason were valued (Wilhelm 669). Sometimes considered one of the greatest ages in literature, poets during Romanticism were greatly inspired and fascinated by nature, human passions, quests, folk culture, the Middle Ages, physical sensations, mental states, and the innocence of children (669). Romantic works capture whimsy and imagination through a use of the five senses: touch, sight, smell, and sound (676). They view nature as lively and genuine and express the belief that nature is best when left wild and untouched by man (678). Most

Merriam Webster defines the Age of Romanticism as an 18th century movement in art, literature and philosophy while placing an emphasis on the imagination and emotions of an individual. French Romantic writer Victor Hugo defines this sublime period as a, “liberalism in literature,” in which writers freed themselves from the chains of political and social constraints. The latter definition describes the essence of the literary renaissance that aroused during the Age of Romanticism. American Romantic writers such as Washington Irving, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Henry David Thoreau were notable for their work in evincing Romantic ideas through the use of literary elements.

Towards the end of the 18th century, the Romantic period was born. The Romantic period was a time of artistic, literary, musical, cultural, and intellectual movements that spread throughout Europe. One movement that played a major role in the Romantic period was the literary movement. There are six characteristics that make the literature of this time period Romantic; the realm of the supernatural world, the deep appreciation for nature, trueness of emotions and the strength of feelings, the direness of childhood, the praising of the outcast, and the importance of imagination. Many great writers came from this time period.

Romanticism poetry has four key features that make it stand out from the rest. A new spontaneity and freedom, which is a fancy way of saying that the romantic poets were tired of the bland writings from the neoclassical writers, added expressed emotions paired with the creativity of the imagination. Love of nature describes how romantic poets used nature to help explain their thoughts and feelings. The importance of the commonplace was used in Romanticism to create a bigger audience and appeal to more common folk by including everyday behaviors in their poems. Last but not least, fascination with the supernatural and the exotic, which has to with magic and the unknown in romanticism.

The Romantic period occurred some time from 1789 to 1832. It was a dramatic turning point in literary history as it was considered a movement away from classical traditions and provincial languages within the field of literature which had been safe yet restricting for the authors of the time. Through the portrayals within poetry of nature and controversial subjects such

A literary movement and profound shift in sensibility, which took place in Britain and throughout Europe roughly between 1770 and 1848. Intellectually it marked a violent reaction to the Enlightenment. Politically it was inspired by the revolutions in America and France… Emotionally it expressed an extreme assertion of the self and the value of individual experience… together with the sense of the infinite and the transcendental. Socially it championed progressive causes. The stylistic keynote of Romanticism is intensity, and its watchword is ‘Imagination’. (qtd. in Day, Romanticism 1)

There have been many movements in Romantic Literature, Romanticism being one. Despite the idea that romanticism is an outdated literary form, romantic literature is very important to English Literature; no other period in English Literature shows the type of style, theme, or contain information like how the Romantic movement was. Romanticism was virtually around in every country of the US, Europe, Latin America and it lasted from 1750-1870. Romanticism gave a rise to a new type of literature it was an exercise of free choice in peoples lives. Romantic Orientalism brought together two concepts and among the two concepts, theorists and literary historians were dispute. Romanticism saw a movement from faith in reason to faith in senses,