Historical Background Unit 2

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_______ movement that would explore the glories of the individual spirit, the beauty of nature, and the possibilities of the imagination.

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Romanticism

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required Native Am. to relocate west as white Am. invaded. If not, the Native Am. would be brutally forced

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Indian Removal Act

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idea that it was U.S.’s destiny to expand to the Pacific Ocean and into Mexican territory

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Manifest Destiny

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war that resulted with Texas being annexed from Mexico by the U.S.

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Mexican-American War

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 Am. writer
 found the Mexican-Am. War t be immoral- a war fought to increase slavery
 wrote: “Cannot there be a gov. in which majorities do not virtually decide right vs. wrong, but conscious?”

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Henry David Thoreau

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Writers of this period reacted to the negative effects of Industrialization, commercialism, hectic pace, and lack of conscious- by: turning to nature and to self for simplicity, truth, and beauty

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Romanticism

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_____writer’s works created: awareness of the injustice of slavery + called for reform
(also pro human rights)

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Romantic

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3 Romantic writers who wrote abolitionist journalism and poetry

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o James Russell Lowell
o John Greenleaf Whittier
o Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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established a foreign policy guided by nationalism

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John Quincy Adams

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the belief that national interests should be placed ahead of regional concerns or the interests should be placed ahead of regional concerns or the interest of other countries

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nationalism

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- placing of the interests of one’s own region ahead of the nation as a whole, began to take hold

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sectionalism

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- 1st edged in Europe in the late 18th century, in reaction to the neoclassicism of the period that had proceeded

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Romanticism

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• Admired & imitated classical forms
• Valued: reason

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Neoclassical writers

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• Looked to nature for inspiration
• Valued/celebrated: emotions & imagination

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Romantic writers

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 American writers saw the limits of reason and instead celebrated the glories of the _____ spirit, the emotions, and the imaginations basic elements of human nature

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individual

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1817 poem, “Thanatopis” went a long way toward est. romanticism and the major force in the literature of mid- 19th century America

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William Cullen Bryant’s

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o 1st am writer esteemed abroad
o pioneered the short story as a literary form
o his work kept “mankind in good humor with one another”
o Put Am. on the literary map & influenced other writers

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Washington Irving

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o Remembered for writing the 1st century truly original Am novel
o Celebrated the Am. spirit in all his frontier novels, known as “The Leather stoking Tales”

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James Fennimore Cooper

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Other writers influential in gorging an Am literature were the______a group of New England poets whose work was morally uplifting and romantically engaged; name of this group came from the family custom of reading poetry aloud beside a fire-common form of entertainment in the 19th century

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Fireside Poets

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o Best-known Fireside poet
o Stressed individualism and an appreciation of nature in his work
o His poems took for their subject matter the more colorful aspects of America’s past
o “Evangeline”
- Tells of lovers who are separated during the French and Indian War
o “The Song of Hiawatha”
- Takes its themes from: Native American folklore.
o Longfellow’s fame got so great that after his death, he was honored with a plaque in Poets’ Corner of Westminster Abbey in London- the only American poet to receive this

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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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3 Fireside poets who were committed strongly to using poetry in order to bring about social reform

subjects: abortion, women's rights, movement of factory conditions and temperance

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 James Russell Lowell
 Oliver Wendell Holmes
 John Greenleaf Whittier

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he crusaded against control of the government by the wealthy and promised to look out for the interest of common people- this can be seen in the work of Whittier

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President Jackson

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fireside poet who wrote about armers, lumbermen, migrants, poor

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Whittier

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- a philosophical and literary movement that emphasized living a simple life and celebrating the truth found in nature and in personal emotion and imagination;
- transcendentalists exalted the dignity of the individual & American ideas of optimism, freedom, and self-reliance
- transcendentalists believed that people are inherently good and should follow their own beliefs, however different belief may be from the norm

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transcendentalism

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- the term, transcendentalism came from _____- German philosopher who wrote of “transcendent forms” or knowledge that exist beyond reason and experience

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Immanuel Kant

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 “Civil Disobedience”- addresses transcendentalist faith in the integrity of the individual
 Put his beliefs into practice by: building a small cabin on Walden Pond and living there for 2 yrs, writing and studying nature
o “Go and confidently in the direction of your dreams!”

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Henry David Thoreau

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notes on transcendentalism:

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- Transcendentalists’ criticism: Puritan heritages emphasis on material prosperity and rigid obedience to the laws of society
- Transcendentalist disliked: commercial side of Am. life and stressed instead spiritual well-being, achieved through intellectual activity and a close relationship to nature
- Both: Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay, “Self-Reliance” & Henry David Thoreau’s, “Civil Disobedience” address transcendalistic faith in the integrity of the individual.
- Transcendental ideas can modernly be seen in works of: Walt Whitman, Robert Frost, Wallace Steven, and through the civil rights movement of the 20th century.
- Transcendentalist’ optimism began to fade when confronted with the persistence of slavery and the difficulty in abolishing it

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o complex philosophy, filled with dark currents and a deep awareness of the human capacity for evil
o haunted by a darker vision of human existence
o works characterized by:
 probing of character’s inner life
 examination complex & mysterious forces that motivate humans
o They ARE romantic, however, in their emphasis on emotion, nature, the individual, and the unusual

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brooding romantics

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 Edgar Allan Poe & Nathaniel Hawthorne (not so much Melville) used gothic elements: ____, ____ and ____

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o Grotesque characters
o Bizarre situations
o Violent events in fiction

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 Gothic tradition began in ______- may have been inspired by: gothic architecture of the Middle Ages

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Europe

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author of Frankenstein

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Mary Shelley

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o “brooding” romantics or “anti-transcendentalists”
o used gothic elements
o Master of the gothic form in the US
o Explored human psychology from the inside- using 1st person narrators who were sometimes criminal/insane
o Plots: extreme situations: murder, live burials, physical, mental torture, retribution from beyond the grave
o romantic emphasis on emotion and the individual- positive

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Edgar Allan Poe

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o “brooding” romantics or “anti-transcendentalists”
o used gothic elements
o agreed with the romantic emphasis on emotion and the individual (like Poe)- negative
o “The Scarlet Letter”
o “The Minister’s Back Veil”
 Examined the darker facets of the human soul- the psychological effects sin and guilt may have on human life.

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Nathaniel Hawthorne

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o Early works:
 Genre: mostly adventure stories
 Setting: South Pacific
o “Moby Dick”
 Different from early works- concentrated on a ship’s captain’s quest for the whale that took his leg.
o Works explore these issues:
 Madness
 conflict of good and evil
o “Bartleby the Scrivener”
 Reveals the dark side of material prosperity
• By exploring how the struggle for material gain affects the individual

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Herman Melville

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Maybe, the dark vision of Hawthorne, Melville, and Poe foreshadowed the upcoming_____?

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Civil War

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Note on brooding Romantics:

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 Hawthorne, Melville, and Poe affected the development of the American literary voice throughout the remainder of the 19th century.

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- Inspired by the beauty of nature
- Emphasized emotions and the imagination over reason
- Celebrated the individual spirit

examples:
o William Cullen Bryant
 “Thanatopis”
o Washington Irving
o James Fennimore Cooper
 “The Leather stoking Tales”

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the Early Romantics

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- Emphasized moral themes in work
- Were viewed as equals of British poets of the day
- Stressed individualism and the appreciation of nature
- Were committed to social reform
Examples:
o Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
 “The Song of Hiawatha”
 “Evangeline”
o James Russell Lowell
o Oliver Wendell Holmes
o John Greenleaf Whittier

Back 38

The Fireside Poets

Front 39

- Emphasized living a simple life
- Stressed a close relationship to nature
- Celebrated emotions and the imagination
- Stressed individualism and self-reliance
- Believed intuition can lead to knowledge
- Believed in the inherent goodness of people
- Encouraged spiritual well being over financial well-being
Examples:
o Ralph Waldo Emerson
 “Self-Reliance”
o Henry David Thoreau
 “Civil Disobedience”
o Immanuel Kant
 “transcendent forms”
o Walt Whitman
o Robert Frost
o Wallace Steven

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The Transcendentalists

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- Didn’t believe in the innate goodness of people
- Explored the human capacity for evil
- Probed the inner life of character
- Explored characters’ motivations
- Agreed with romantic emphasis on emotion, nature, and the individual
- Included elements of fantasy and the supernatural in works
Examples:
o Edgar Allan Poe
o Nathaniel Hawthorne
 “The Scarlet Letter”
 “The Minister’s Back Veil”
o Herman Melville
 “Moby Dick”
 “Bartleby the Scrivener”
o Mary Shelley
 Frankenstein

Back 40

American Gothic