During the Romanticism period there was a great deal of individual thought and personal imagination. It was a time for literary and intellectual movement from when America gained independence from England. Although this literary movement originated in Europe and then transferred on to us, we were establishing cultural independence during the Romanticism time period of about 1800-1860. A fair share of poems came from this time period, as they were a big influence, like Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s famous poem “Paul Revere’s Ride.” A wide variety of themes were outlined in this era, examples are: philosophic idealism, opposition to political authority, as we saw with Henry David Thoreau’s “Resistance to Civil Government”, nature worship, social
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This movement played a big role throughout this time period, since people often questioned their government. One of the influences on this topic was Henry David Thoreau. He spent a night in jail because he refused to pay this poll tax in protest against slavery. He then decided to write a long essay describing his experience and disobedience called “Resistance to Civil Government” or also known as “Civil Disobedience.” Thoreau opens his essay with “That government is best which governs least.” He starts out strong by stating his attitude towards the government, in which he is saying that he believes that the government should not intervene in the lives of the American citizens more than necessary. Thoreau goes on to state more opinions about the government and politics, but he focuses a lot on individual rights. Individual rights seem to be a very important issue in this era, as I have noticed that throughout the Romantic period that this was a heavily talked about subject. This essay by Henry David Thoreau was one of his most influential pieces of literature, but many other people were just as influential during this time …show more content…
This poem was first published without his knowledge, but since it became such a success, Bryant decided to revise and add to it. This poem is very down to earth and puts death in a more pleasant perspective. Bryant does this by talking about how nature has a healing effect on people and that everyone will eventually die so we should not be afraid of it because it is inevitable. “Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch. About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.” These last two lines of the poem are a perfect ending because it leaves the reader’s feeling comfort about death and that it is like a dream filled sleep. This became known as Bryant’s masterpiece of literature, which I would agree that we can all see why. The Romanticism period in literature in America was filled with many different influential authors and artists, but one thing they entirely shared was that they all expressed personal emotion, feeling and imagination. I believe that the two main writers that I chose to write about modeled these important themes extremely well. I also chose these two writers because their essay and poem had the greatest impact on my learning and cognitive
This movement played a big role throughout this time period, since people often questioned their government. One of the influences on this topic was Henry David Thoreau. He spent a night in jail because he refused to pay this poll tax in protest against slavery. He then decided to write a long essay describing his experience and disobedience called “Resistance to Civil Government” or also known as “Civil Disobedience.” Thoreau opens his essay with “That government is best which governs least.” He starts out strong by stating his attitude towards the government, in which he is saying that he believes that the government should not intervene in the lives of the American citizens more than necessary. Thoreau goes on to state more opinions about the government and politics, but he focuses a lot on individual rights. Individual rights seem to be a very important issue in this era, as I have noticed that throughout the Romantic period that this was a heavily talked about subject. This essay by Henry David Thoreau was one of his most influential pieces of literature, but many other people were just as influential during this time …show more content…
This poem was first published without his knowledge, but since it became such a success, Bryant decided to revise and add to it. This poem is very down to earth and puts death in a more pleasant perspective. Bryant does this by talking about how nature has a healing effect on people and that everyone will eventually die so we should not be afraid of it because it is inevitable. “Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch. About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.” These last two lines of the poem are a perfect ending because it leaves the reader’s feeling comfort about death and that it is like a dream filled sleep. This became known as Bryant’s masterpiece of literature, which I would agree that we can all see why. The Romanticism period in literature in America was filled with many different influential authors and artists, but one thing they entirely shared was that they all expressed personal emotion, feeling and imagination. I believe that the two main writers that I chose to write about modeled these important themes extremely well. I also chose these two writers because their essay and poem had the greatest impact on my learning and cognitive