American Romanticism

American

Romanticism

1800 – 1860

Mrs. Sweet

Name ___________________

Introduction to American Romanticism

Part 1: Imaginations

1) Washington Irving 2) James Fenimore Cooper 3) William Cullen Bryant 4) Fireside Poets:

a. William Wadsworth Longfellow b. Oliver Wendell Holmes

c. John Greenleaf Whittier d. James Russell Lowell

Interest in Nature

Interest in the Past

Late 18th to early 19th century

It’s all about the journey…Ben Franklin journeyed to Philadelphia to find freedom from his family. The colonies set out on a journey to establish independence from England. Next, the Romantic journeyed into the countryside to find independence, moral clarity, and healthful living.

What is Romanticism?

• Romanticism is best described as _________________ away from the corruption of ______________________ and the limits of ____________________ thought and toward the integrity of _____________________ and the freedom of the __________________________. • Summarize the above statement using your own words:

 Romanticism in general values __________________________ and _________________________ over reason.

• It is NOT a ____________________ period about _________________ and ____________________.

IMAGINATION and INTUITION

• Romanticism began in _________________________ during late 18th century before coming to _____________________________.

• The Industrial Revolution - which sprang from rational thought - brought _________________ cities and _________________________ working conditions.

• The Romantics came to believe that the __________________________ was able to understand truths that the rational mind could not reach. With imagination comes spontaneity, individual _______________________ and wild _________________________. • The Romantics put an emphasis on the “__________________” experience.

Romanticism, originally a European movement, emphasized feeling and intuition over reason, sought wisdom in natural beauty, and valued poetry above all other

works of the imagination.

ESCAPISM

 The Romantics wanted to rise above “__________ _____________________” to a realm of ____________________ ___________________.

 Searched for exotic settings in a world far away from the industrial cities  Explored the supernatural and old legends

o _________________ _____________

 Contemplated the natural world for truth and beauty

 Found a commonplace object that brought one to a deeply felt insight

o ____________________

American Romanticism took two roads on the journey to understanding higher truths. One road led to the exploration of the past and of exotic, even supernatural, realms; the other road led to the contemplation of the natural

world.

THE IMPACT OF THE WILDERNESS

 “American” literature was at a crossroads. Would the writers who were these

 America was unique for this Romantic movement: it had vast frontiers to _________________!

 The “American novel” developed with this “geography of imagination.”

o James Fenimore Cooper’s novels show this movement. His first novel

describes life in England. His second novel has Scottish influences but is set during the American Revolution. His third novel, The Pioneers, explores American settings and characters.

o The first American heroic figure: The Romantic Hero

THE ROMANTIC HERO

 Europeans viewed Americans as unsophisticated and _______________________.  Romantic writers turned this insult to their advantage: Virtue was in American

______________________. Truths were waiting to be discovered in the wilderness and the unknown.

 The ROMANTIC HERO embodied this American innocence and quest for truth.

o Youthful

o Innocent and pure of purpose

o Honorable

o Intuitive

o Close to Nature

o Uneasy with women (and the thought of being domesticated)

Recap…

• Romanticism is a __________________ to discover feelings and intuition through nature and imagination

• Escapism – through exotic settings, the supernatural and poetry – is a way to discover _________________

• The wilderness provided American authors with a unique romantic __________________

Romanticism Literary Elements and Vocabulary

Literary Elements

Washington Irving’s “Rip Van Winkle”

Stock Character - a fictional character that relies heavily on cultural types or stereotypes for its personality, manner of speech, and other characteristics. Stock characters make easy targets for any parody of a given genre, and the parody will likely exaggerate any stereotypes associated with these characters.

1. Satire

2. Tone

Washington Irving’s “Devil and Tom Walker”

Stock Character

William Cullen Bryant’s “Thanatopsis” 3. Metaphor

4. Personification

5. Inverted word order

6. Blank rhyme

7. Imagery

Vocabulary

Washington Irving’s “Rip Van Winkle” 8. Amiable

9. Fidelity

10. Malleable

11. Obsequious

12. Placid

13. Scrupulous

Washington Irving’s “The Devil and Tom Walker” 15. Balk

16. Morass

17. Obstinate

18. Ostentation

19. Precarious

20. Superfluous

21. Surly

22. Surmise

23. Swarthy

24. Termagant

WASHINGTON IRVING

Father of American Literature

(1783 – 1859)

Up to this point in American history, writers had been heavily

 Must be written in your own words

 Must cite your sources

 Must use a visual

Rip Van Winkle

GROUP ACTIVITY

Your group will be assigned one of the

following research activities. Find as much information as possible in one class period. In the next class period, you will be sharing your information the class.

1) Hendrick (Henry) Hudson discovered the river that bears his name and explored the area in which this story takes place. Research how this Englishman became associated

with the Dutch East India Company and became an important figure in American history.

2) The opinion is widely held that Washington Irving was “the first American man of letters.”

Research his life and write a brief biography of Irving. Include information on the role Irving played in helping to establish the legitimacy of American literature in European literary circles.

3) Research the clothing of the 15th _{/ 16}th _{century Flemish. Show what Rip Van Winkle and the}

people of his day might have worn. (Find examples of paintings of Flemish artists such as

Rembrandt, Frans Halls, Jacob Jordans or Jan Steen to illustrate examples of clothing to the class.)

4) The story of Rip Van Winkle is based on the German folktale of “Peter Klaus.” Find a copy of this story in the collection of folktales by J.G. Busching to share with the class.

5) Create a timeline from the period from approximately 1770 to 1790, a period

within which Rip Van Wrinkle could have taken place, and list at least ten important events

in American history during that time. Include events from several different types - the birth or death of an important person, a new invention, publication of a piece of literature, battles, exploration, and so on.

6) The men in the mountains are playing a game of ninepins. Research the

origin and rules of this game and compare it to the game of bowling or candlepins. Include a sample score sheet for either game of bowling or candlepins.

7) The story of Rip Van Winkle takes place in a village in the Catskill Mountains of New York State, which was once a part of the Dutch colony of New Netherland.

Find and label the following places on a map of New York. Catskill Mountains

Hudson River Pennsylvania Connecticut Stony Point New York City

Washington Irving

“Rip Van Winkle” and “The Devil and Tom Walker” Romanticism Elements

Washington Irving’s folktales possess many elements of Romanticism. Using quotes and/or specific details from the story, show how these stories fit the main characteristics of Romanticism by filling out the chart below.

RIP VAN WINKLE THE DEVIL AND TOM WALKER

NATURE

What attitude toward nature is expressed in the story? How

is nature portrayed?

IMAGINATION List something from the story

that depicts a stretch of the imagination.

HUMAN EMOTIONS What aspects of human nature – positive or negative – do the

Washington Irving

“Rip Van Winkle” and “The Devil and Tom Walker” Folktale Elements

“Rip Van Winkle” and “The Devil and Tom Walker” are folktales, which is a story taken to be false, told to be entertained, and having a great emphasis on plot. To better understand how these stories are

folktales, complete this chart below that details the specific characteristics of a folktale.

CHARACTERISTICS

OF A FOLKTALE “RIP VAN WINKLE” “THE DEVIL AND TOM WALKER” NOT BELIEVABLE

OFTEN INCLUDES: “PEOPLE SAY…” ETC.

LITTLE IMPORTANCE OF CHARACTERS AS INDIVIDUALS; STOCK

CHARACTERS, STEREOTYPES

THREE THINGS USUALLY

IN THE PLOT OF A FOLKTALE “RIP VAN WINKLE” “THE DEVIL AND TOM WALKER” DANGEROUS

JOURNEY

USE OF THE SUPERNATURAL

DISGUISE AND RECOGNITION

Washington Irving

“The Devil and Tom Walker”

1. Describe Tom.

2. Describe his wife.

3. Describe their relationship.

4. Describe their house.

5. What doe the Devil offer Tom and how does he react to it?

6. Tom describes the plan to his wife. How does she react, and, in turn, how does he react?

7. What does his wife attempt to do to herself?

8. What happens to her and what is Tom’s reaction?

9. What is Tom willing to do for the Devil? What does he refuse to do for the Devil?

10. What happens to Tom’s life as a result of his act with the Devil?

11. Describe his new house and horse.

12. What begins to happen to Tom later in life?

13. What does he do to ward off the Devil?

14. Describe the scene at the end when Tom is whisked away.

JAMES FENIMORE COOPER

First American Novelist

(1789 - 1851)

In 1823, Cooper published

The Pioneers

which eventually consisted

of five books about Natty Bumppo called

The Leatherstocking Tales

.

With this, he created what can be critically viewed as the first

American novel and hero. Three of these tales include

The Last of

the Mohicans, The Pathfinder,

and

The Deerslayer

. Even today,

many American fiction books and films are directly or indirectly

affected by Cooper’s conception of Natty Bumppo and his creation of

the American novel.

So who is Natty Bumppo? Other names for Natty Bumppo include

Deerslayer, Hawkeye, Pathfinder, Leatherstocking, and Trapper. As

described in

The Pioneers

, Natty Bumppo is “six feet tall in his

moccasins, thin and wiry, with grey eyes, sandy hair, a large mouth

and rather heavy eyebrows.” Natty appears physically as a cross

between his best friend, the Indian Chingachgook, and his nemesis,

Judge Temple. This is intentional. Cooper wanted “to combine a

popular tradition of the eloquence of Indian oratory with the

talkativeness of a frontier character” (Wallace).

Natty shows Cooper’s views of the morality of the 18

_{and early}

19

_{centuries. He believes in a firmly class-structured society, he}

dislikes the French, the Iroqouis, and Catholics, and he shows disdain

for mixed marriages. But Natty is filled with contradictions. He has

the “soul of a poet, but the nature of a redneck.” He craves

Indiana Jones

The Romantic Hero

-

Find examples from the film of Indiana Jones as the Romantic Hero:

Youthful / handsome

Innocent and pure of purpose

Honorable

Intuitive

Close to nature

Uneasy with women (domestication)

Romanticism and Poetry

WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT

Father of American Poetry

(1794 – 1878)

Although "Thanatopsis", his most famous poem, has been said to date

from 1811, it is much more probable that Bryant began its composition

in 1813, or even later. What is known about its publication is that his

father took some pages of verse from his son's desk and submitted

them, along with his own work, to the

North American Review

in 1817.

The

Review

was edited by Edward Tyrrel Channing at the time and,

upon receiving it, read the poem to his assistant, who immediately

exclaimed, "That was never written on this side of the water!” Someone

at the

North American

joined two of the son's discrete fragments, gave

the result the Greek-derived title

Thanatopsis

(meditation on death),

mistakenly attributed it to the father, and published it. For all the

errors, it was well-received, and soon Bryant was publishing poems

with some regularity.

“Thanatopsis”

William Cullen Bryant

Background on Bryant p. 169 (Yellow)

1. What two writers inspired Bryant as a romantic poet?

2. Bryant was the first mature _____________________________ Romantic, the country boy who translated the messages of ______________________________ Romanticism into his native _________________________.

3. List two other factors that influenced Bryant as a romantic writer:

4. By the age of nine, Bryant was already writing _____________________________ and had earned a reputation as a __________________________.

5. Bryant has become known as the father of ________________________________ ____________________________________.

Before You Read p. 170 (Yellow)

1. Romantic poets look to __________________________________ for lessons.

2. One ever-present lesson of nature is the cycle of birth, growth,

______________________________, and ___________________________________.

3. How old was Bryant when he first wrote “Thanatopsis?”

4. Define thanatos - ____________________________ and opsis- _________________ Write a definition for ‘thanatopsis:’ ________________________________________

“Thanatopsis”

William Cullen Bryant

1. In the poem, Nature speaks ‘a various language’ to the person who communes with her. (Lines 1 -3)

 What does she say in the ‘gayer hours?’ (Lines 3 – 5)

2. Line 9 mentions ‘thoughts of the last bitter hour’ which refers to death. According to the speaker, what should a person do when those thoughts come? (Lines 14 – 15)

3. Nature actually begins speaking (this is personification) in line 18. She says that in a few days this person will be dead. What words show images of death and burial in line 19 – 30?

 Cold ground

 ______________________________________________________  ______________________________________________________  ______________________________________________________  ______________________________________________________  ______________________________________________________  ______________________________________________________

4. What does Nature say happens to a person’s body when he is a ‘brother to the insensible rock and the sluggish clod which the country youth turns wit the plow?’ (Lines 27 – 30)

5. The third stanza speaks of the spirit of a person’s life…what happens to it at death. (Lines 31 – 36) Who will be with a person in the eternal resting place?

 patriarchs

 ______________________________________________________

 ______________________________________________________

6. The sepulcher (a burial place) is described as a place of nature. List words that help create that description. (Lines 37 – 45)

 ancient rock ribbed hills

7. Lines 45 – 57 speak of through the ages, the many who have died and

slumber around us. Line 58 says, “So shalt thou die.” Rewrite this in today’s words (modern language):

8. Lines 58 – 60 ask the question, what if no one notices you died? Lines 60 – 61 answer the question with “all that breathe will share thy destiny.” Rewrite this in today’s words (modern language):

9. Lines 61 – 72 describes people and what they will be doing before they die. List these people and their actions:

 gay will laugh

 each one chase phantoms

 _____________________________________________________

 _____________________________________________________

 _____________________________________________________

 _____________________________________________________

 _____________________________________________________

10. In the last stanza, (Lines 73 – 81) Nature is no longer speaking; the

poem switches back to the speaker.

 How does the speaker describe someone who fears death in lines 77 –

78?

List the words that show the dread.

 How does the speaker describe the person who approaches death by

‘an unfaltering trust?’ (Lines 79 – 81)

11. Overall, how does the speaker feel about life? Death? What might a

theme of this poem be?

12. ELEMENTS OF ROMANTICISM - The romantic poet contemplated nature

for truth and beauty. Describe how William Cullen Bryant achieves this:

THE FIRESIDE POETS:

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Oliver Wendell Holmes

John Greenleaf Whittier

James Russell Lowell

The Fireside Poets – Longfellow, Whittier, Holmes, and Lowell –

were the popular poets of the day. Families would sit around the fire

and read their poems as they were published in the newspapers. They

created verse that the average reader could understand and appreciate.

Poems were inspiring, patriotic, or dealt with love, nature, family, and

children.

They are all New England born and chose American settings and

subjects. Their themes, meter, and imagery, however, borrowed

heavily from the English tradition.

Their reliance on conservative literary styles kept them from being

innovative, they were literary giants of their day. They ranked as

America’s most read and best-loved poets.

Longfellow 1807 - 1882

Holmes 1809 - 1894

Whittier 1807 - 1892