Thanatopsis, By William Cullen Bryant

Question 1: William Cullen Bryant’s “Thanatopsis” fits the definition of Romanticism as it expresses the ideas of individualism and nature. Bryant writes “And, lost each human trace, surrend’ring up / Thine individual being, shalt though go / To mix forever with the elements” (24-26). In this, the author writes about individualism by stating that whenever a death occurs, one returns to their true self emotionally and physically as well. This is because, as Bryant states, one will return to the Earth “To mix forever with the elements.” Romanticism is also depicted into this poem by using extensive diction to capture the full extent of nature’s beauty. Bryant states that, “The hills / Rock-ribb’d and ancient as the sun,‒the vales / Stretching

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.

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 romantic period in writing in America was a heavy time of finding values within the people of America. The first example is “Dr. Heidgegger’s Experiment” by Nathaniel Hawthorne. This text speaks as to what humans are capable

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

Common characteristics of American Romanticism include valuing feeling and intuition over reason, an individual against society or establishment, and an extended and hyperbolizing of the protagonist’s death. Furthermore, there is always a sense of exaggeration in American Romanticism, and it brings along a strong mix of emotions for the audience. “In this manner, Mr. Hooper spent a long life, irreproachable in outward act, yet shrouded in dismal suspicions; kind and loving, though unloved, and dimly feared; a man

Romanticism was a vast movement towards a validation of strong emotion and imagination, where love and the emphasis on nature took place not only intellectually, but within art, literature, and music. Contradicting the prior age of enlightenment and the rise of reason, the romantic era focused on the conflicting “irrational” theme characterized by feelings. Expediting the “underside” of the human psyche, Romantic poets endorsed sentimentality, melancholy, and teary-eyed nostalgia as emotional excesses. Championing as the under-conscious underdog and implementing the romantic themes, Fredrick Douglass took advantage of the impending popularity of slave narratives to perceive the horrid and unjust conditions of slavery.

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

William Cullen Bryant was well known for writing poems on nature, and he beautifully shows us the Romanticism view of one of their key themes. As with numerous other poems from the Romanticism Period, Bryant uses the imagery and ideas of a woman to convey his love for nature. An example of this trait is in the poem, “Thanatopsis”, Bryant’s most famous work. The first three lines of the poem shows both his love for nature and that he is going to use the image of a woman for the rest of the poem. “To him who in the love of nature holds/ Communion with her visible forms, she speaks/ A various language; for his gayer hours” He expressly says

America’s romantic era followed after the rise of transcendentalism. Some of the foundational beliefs and ideologies from transcendentalism carried to this era, which the writings possessed. Many literary works showed the value in individualism, one’s self development, and freedom. Writers and poets like Edgar Allen Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville alluded to these values in their stories. However, they also alluded to evils that are in society. There are several similarities and differences between the types of evils their stories represented.

The Romantic Period was an explosion of artistic energy from 1790-1820, which began in Germany and quickly spread to the United States, almost all of Europe, and Latin America. It was a period full of emotion, intuition, intense feelings, and the revolt against any authority or order. Those in this time idealized nature and embraced the uncivilized, and imagination was a key component to their writing and way of thinking. Steven Kreis, author for The History Guide writes, “…one power possessed by the Romantic…was imagination…” (Kreis 1).

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

William Cullen Bryant’s “Thanatopsis”, fits the definition of Romanticism because it talks about not only human emotions, but Cullen’s poem also refers to nature. Cullen expresses, “she has a voice of gladness, and she glides into his darker musings with a mild and healing sympathy” line 4-7. Cullen is speaking about human emotions while really connecting with nature.

Characters presented in romantic writings are often heroic with introspection.. but reject the cultural norms and are sometimes isolated. Mary Shelley’s character Victor Frankenstein is an example of romanticism writer's’ imagination that hoped to create a new understanding of the world and lead to a more perfect version of human beings. Henry David Thoreau’s poem “Prayer” is