Paul Revere's Ride By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The Romantic period in American literature was filled with many authors of famous works such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Washington Irving, Hawthorne, and plenty more. This period also consisted of theories and philosophies about life, as well as aspects of life such as human nature. Being that all of these were a major part during the Romantic period in American literature, it’s interesting to find out that romance was not included in most studies of American literature. During the Romantic period, there were many different pieces of writing being published and written. The first one to mention would be “Paul Revere’s Ride” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. This story was heavily romanticized in the way that, as you read it for the first time, it will seem as though it’s not about a tragic event in history. A quote that shows that aspect is, “Then he climbed to the tower of the church, / Up the wooden stairs, with stealthy tread, /To the belfry-chamber overhead, / And startled the pigeons from their perch... Beneath, in the churchyard, lay the dead, / In their night-encampment on the hill, / Wrapped in silence so deep...” In the beginning, you think he is just describing his journey to the top of a church, but then Longfellow hits you with the talk about dead bodies. I think author’s did this when there …show more content…
Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allen Poe were two figures in history that pointed out their perceived “darkness” in human nature. It seemed as though their ideas were in the same ballpark, but not exactly the same. Hawthorne’s perspective on the darkness was that humans seem to be selfish and rather take things for granted. On the other hand, Poe’s outlook was that torture is a part of life because we have to learn from something and fend for ourselves; this relates to being selfish. The Romantic period was a lot about individuality and sort of “finding yourself” through philosophies or