AMERICAN ROMANTICISM

American Romanticism

start

index

timeline

introduction

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main features

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themes

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Introduction

INTRODUCTION

American Romanticism

English influence

Common characteristics:

• individualism
• fredoom
• equality
• love for simple and humble life

Democracy= no anxiety about an hypothetical rebellion

No neoclassicism No rational tradition

Formation--> Romanticism

the first American movement

Main features

• The view of nature

Because of the different delays the development of this movement diverges from the English one.

• The use of symbols

• Individualism & emotions

the view of nature

The different environment changed the landscapes that poets admired

Nature= source for literary production

• prairies;
• volcanoes;
• Rocky Mountains;
• canyons.

escape from society where individuality could fly

inspiration

Walden by Henry David Thoreau

He tells the story of living alone in a cabin in the woods. But he wasn't lonely because he had nature to keep him company.

the use of symbols

Symbols= hint to ideas and emotions that are beyond ordinary language or the reach of everyday expression

"hidden truths"

Moby-Dick by Hermann Melville

ocean = human soul

The Scarlett Letter by Nathaniel Hawthrone

The letter A

• gateway to knowldge;
• they allow us a glimpse into the meaning of things (better understanding of God);
• they affected the view of the world.

individualism &emotions

Emotions:

Indivualism= "being wrapped up around onseself

being true to their own identity and essential nature

Romantic authors:

• hated "herd mentality";
• listened to their inner selves;
• were non-conformists.

"Self-Reliance" by Ralph Waldo

challenges to stay true to oneselves

"Moby-Dick" by Hermann Melville

The protagonist says that whales are an examples of individuality and independence

Themes

• The rebellion

• The frontier

• Imagination

the rebellion

The author himselfs to be a rebel itself broking formal conventions of the literary production

"Moby-Dick" by Hermann Melville

Difficult to classify:

• novel;
• whaling manual;
• philosophical tract.

beyond the conventions of the time (free verses)

Walt Whitman

the frontier

America was expanding westward

many people were moving to the Midwest and beyond

space of exploration

"The Prairie" by James Fenimore

escape

possibility

set on the western frontier

imagination

Imagination = expression of individual identity

"Moby-Dick" by Hermann Melville

allows to make insights that we couldn't arrive at through "rational" means

allows access into a realm of knowledge that is beyond reason or rationality

Ishmael doesn't just see whale bones but the very beginning of the world

"There is No Frigate Like a Book" by Emily Dickinson

books enrich the imagination

Timeline

between history and literature

timeline

History

1803= The Louisiana Purchase

1861-1865= the American Civil War

1850= Congress passes The Fugitive Slave Act

1823= "Leatherstocking Tales" by Cooper

1818= "To a Waterfowl" by Bryant

1851= "Moby-Dick" by Melville

1841= "Essays: First Series" by Emerson

1820= "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Irving

1855= "Leaves of Grass" by Whitman

Literature

Authors

emily dickinson, hermann melville, edgar Allan poe, nathaniel hawthorne

emily dickinson

Private life

eccentric for the locals

She lived most of her life in isolation

• no marriage;
• only friendiships upon correspondence.

houeholds

1850s' letters= dislike and frustation for domestic works

emily dickinson

the education

Amherst College

typical 19th century’s emphasis on science

Amherst Academy

Mount Holyoke Female Seminary

well-known religious teacher

“Without hope” group

emily dickinson

the literary production

She was influenced by:

• Metaphysical poets;
• The Book of Revelation.

Calvinist, orthodox, and conservative approach

She admired:

• John Keats
• Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning
• Walt Whitman

Only 10 compositions out of nearly 1800 letters and poems were published

emily dickinson

i'm nobody! who are you?

The capital letter N= thus the narrator is somebody

Themes:

• notority
• the public eye

Message: anonymity is preferable to fame.

Rethorical devices and composition:

• two quatrains, iambic rythm
• alliteration, anaphora, simile, satire, internal rhyme

herman melville

Private life

His grandfathers' participation at the American War of Indipendence will influence him

melting pot of German, French and American culture

born in New York in a rich family of merchants

economic hardship after his father's death

herman melville

education and work

1824-1826

Clerk at the New York State Bank

Scarlet fever

Teacher at the Sikes District School

Respectable standing without being an excellent scholar.

1839-1844= life at sea

themes and adventures for his works

His studies were interrupted because he couldn’t afford the expenses

herman melville

the literary production

His masterpieces are:

• Moby-Dick (1851)
• Typee (1846)

During the years at the sea he gained enough stability to marry

one of the greatest American novels

written after his experience in Polynesia

Omoo

Typee

Tales and a romace-adventure book

Short fiction in magazines

Poetry

herman melville

moby dick

It is the story of a ship condemned to be sunk by a giant whale

• Encyclopedic and digressive content;• A lot of quotes by Shakespeare, the Bible; • Precursor of the modernism (James Joyce).

Narrator= Ishmael

Two publications:

• • October 1851, London = “The Whale”
• • November 1851, New York= “Moby-Dick, or The Whale”

• Dedicated t his friend Nathaniel Hawthorne;
• It was a commercial failure;
• Based on "Tristram Shandy" by Laurence Sterne

nathaniel hawthorne

Private life

He was employed at the Customs of Boston and Salem

he lost his work because of his sympathy for the democrats

1850= his liteary carrier begins with the publication of "The Scarlet Letter"

August= he moved near Melville's farm

They became close friends

edgar allan poe

Private life

as an orphan he was sent to a family in Richmond (Virginia)

His father abandoned the family in 1810 and his mother died one year later

Then he went to Great Britain

He was very lonley

English formation

Unhappy life:

• he took part in the army;
• victim of cooping;
• reflected in his literary production.

edgar allan poe

literary profile

Initiator of:

• crime fiction;
• horror literature;
• psychological crime.

He anticipated simbolism and the "cursed poets"

The first American alienated writer

Unappreciated by the critics and the readers

financial issues

substance abuse

alchool abuse

edgar allan poe

the raven

I'ts about a man who is heartbroken over the recent death of his beloved Lenore.

Dialogue between the man and the raven

"Nevermore"

The Raven

Themes:

• Grief;
• Devotion;
• Rationality vs Irrationality.

Main devices:

• Alliteration;
• Assonance;
• Onomatopeia;
• Repetition.

nataheniel hawthorne

literary profile

Main themes:

• fantastic
• superenatural;
• the puritan reality of the 17th New England.

The past is a burden from which Americans can't completely separate

Initiator of Gothic American literature

Symbols and allegory

it's a way to express human's psychology and find the roots of evil

nathaniel hawthorne

the house of the seven gables

Time and setting: 17th century, New England

Plot:

The house hides a deeop and dark secret: an ancient curse. Pyncheon family is full of greed, hate and cowardice; Hepzibah and Clifford are hunted by the past until the love of two young people changes the path of their fate.

walt whitman

literary profile and social interests

use of unusual images and symbols

He broke the boundaries of poetic form

"The father of free verses"

He openly wrote about death and sexuality, including prostitution

The poet

Religion

Sexuality

Slavery

walt whitman

Private life

Since he was a child he was restles and unhappy

family's difficult economic status

Accused of presumed homosexuality

11 years old= he left formal schoolin for work

American Civil War, Washinghton D.C.= he took care of the wounded

• journalist;
• teacher;
• government clerk.

poetry about healing and loss

walt whitman

o capitain! my capitain!

It is a sincere expression of emotion

Designed for recitation

Rhyming scheme= aabbcded

Nine quatrains in three stanzas

The “Ship of State” metaphor

The figure of Lincoln

Thanks for the attention!