Transcendentalism Romanticism And Naturalism

In essence, literary realism is put in place to give its readers a real place of how life was or how something occurs in the pass. The two stories that gave me a good depiction of what realism is are: Editha by William Dean Howells, and The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The two stories put things in perspective when it comes to life in the nineteenth century and the problems that came along with it. Which are so unfortunate in some cases but it gives us the readers the raw truth.

In literature, the Realism Movement occurred in Europe and America in the mid-1800s to the early 1900s, before Modernism. Realism is described as a style and a type of writing where writers wanted to portray life as it really was – real lives, real jobs, and real problems. This type of writing was a reaction to and a rejection of Romanticism, which was a style of writing that focused on optimism. The importance of character and class, plausible events, and renders reality closely are some characteristics of Realism. Some examples of Realism writers include Mark Twain, Henry James, and John W. DeForest.

“Realism is not a matter of any fidelity to an empirical reality, but of the discursive conventions by which and for which a sense of reality is constructed” - John Fiske. The compelling main idea of the quote above by John Fiske illustrates realism in general, however specifically in literature, it constructs another reality for its audience or reader. Gaining popularity during the mid-19th century Industrial Period, realism aimed to make stories and literature at the time more believable and authentic. Using realism in their writing, authors told stories that seemed to detail real characters in real situations. Not only did this form of writing make stories more believable, but it also helped make characters relatable to the average man.

Realism began as a literary withdrawal from romanticism. Romantic literature focused mainly on idealized or dreamlike lifestyles while “realistic works were intended to be accurate portrayals of

Realism is an American literary style that emerged after the Civil War. Some common characteristics of realism are a focus on common people and realistic

Realism, in contrast to Romanticism, represents the reality of life in America. From the late 19th century to the early 20th century, America experienced enormous industrial, economic, social, and cultural change. Realism focuses on showing everyday activities and events among the middle and lower class society without romantic ideas. In the early 20th century people started to pull away from fantasy and started focusing on the reality around them. Realism emphasises on truth, class, and social commentary.

American Transcendentalism is a period of expression where was originally about the reform movement of the church, it was to represent the soul of the individual having a connection to nature. It has impacted society through the influence of the ideas that still exist today, the idea of spirituality and the soul's infinite connection.

Transcendentalism is an idea shared by many famous 19th century authors. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Jon Krakauer, and Michael Donovan all believe in the idea of transcendentalism and it is shown in many of their literary works. Many of the authors show a nonconformist character in their story or poem. Some of them portray themselves as the nonconformist. Nonconformists believe that you should find and be yourself. They also believe that you should never change yourself to fit in with the world or society.

The time period of transcendentalism changed the views of many people through setting different principles otherwise known as tenets. These tenets I am going to focus on is: confidence, self-reliance, free thought, nonconformity, and the importance of nature. Transcendentalism was a philosophical movement in the 1800’s where people responded to the strict rules back then. They declared that they didn’t have to follow all of the rules and decided to go off of independent tenets. Many pieces of literature contain some or all of these tenets, the ones I’m going to discuss and analyze today are Still I Rise by Maya Angelou that focuses on self-reliance and stanza 1 and 52 from Song of Myself by Walt Whitman which focuses on all tenets of transcendentalism. All of the 5 tenets are very important, but the one that overcomes all the others in my life is confidence. Many pieces of literature contain at least all tenets, but reference them in different ways.

Transcendentalism was largely influenced by the earlier Romantic Movement which was filled with innovative and imaginative ideas. Similar to the Romantic's Transcendentalist wanted to break away from the old European models of organized institutions such as religion and politics. There was also the strict confines of the Age of Reason's rationalist way of thinking that stirred up a rebellious reaction within the literary traditional period of Transcendentalism. Transcendentalist believed religion and politics negatively tainted an individual’s innocence.

Romanticism and realism are two very different styles of writings. They both came about in the 19th century. Writing through romanticism is a way to express your emotions in a deeper way, but writing through realism is a way to express your true feelings about how the world is. In Herman Melville’s Moby Dick he uses romanticism to express his point. In The War Prayer by Mark Twain, the speaker talks about the real aspects of war.

Realism is the period in American literature from 1860 to 1890. This movement in writing focused on writing about how things really appeared and how they really were instead of writing in a dark manner. The stories, Life On The Mississippi and The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County written by Mark Twain best represent the realism movement in American literature at this time.

Transcendentalism and Romanticism were social, artistic, and literary movements that originated in the 18th century in New England. It arose as a reaction to protest against the general state of intellectualism and spirituality at the time. The two movements have many differences and comparisons that both intertwine to create a positive and negative aspect of human nature. Transcendentalism and romanticism have both a negative and positive aspect of human nature, and both compare and contrast within one another because they stand out during the time period, and was an important side of the industrial revolution. Transcendentalism was expressed through central figures such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, who wrote many novels

Realism came about in literary works in the 19th century, and portrayed real life unlike the previous Enlightenment and Romanticism movements prior. Writers and people were sick of the neat, happy stories and endings that were written by the two previous movements, and those people wanted something they could relate to. Because of this, Realistic writers wrote about the boring, ordinary lives that regular folks led and did not sugar-coat anything that occurred but was brutally honest. In the words of Randall Craig, “Realistic writers educate readers, not through humiliation, but by familiarizing them with a re-presented world and enabling them to discover the rules by which it works and to apply them both to the fictional and extra-fictional

Realism in literature is basically the successor to romanticism. It first took off and gained footing in 19th century France. The literary style is a more straightforward and realistic style of writing in comparison to romanticism which was all about exaggeration and symbolism. Realism is often interchangeable with naturalism and branches out into regionalism which is interchangeable with local color. This type of writing is responsible for one of the greatest era of literary works.