American Romanticism Study Notes

Characteristics of American Romanticism

Affirmation of feeling and intuition over reason.
- Emphasis on emotions and personal intuition as primary avenues for understanding truth.
- Contrast with Enlightenment values that prioritize reason and logic.
Faith in imagination, inner experience, and youthful innocence.
- Encouragement of personal expression and experiences as valid sources of knowledge.
Regard for individual freedom and the worth of the individual.
- Promotion of individualism; the belief that every person has inherent value.
Belief in the unspoiled natural world.
- Preference for nature’s purity over the artificial constructs of civilization, often associating nature with spiritual truths.

Historical Context of American Romanticism.
- Emerged in the aftermath of the American Independence from British rule, reflecting a desire to form a unique national cultural identity.
- Influenced not only literature but also music and visual arts, as the Romantics sought to articulate a collective identity.
Influence of the Industrial Revolution.
- The rapid industrialization brought forth squalid living conditions, leading to a disillusionment with rationalism and the rational ideology that had previously dominated thought.
- The Romantics sought to address the limits of reason in understanding human experience, emphasizing emotion and the imaginative mind.
Imagination as a Path to Truth.
- Romantics believed imagination could uncover deeper truths that reason alone could not access, often tied to powerful emotional experiences.
- These truths were frequently linked to the beauty of the natural world and personal emotional responses.

Desire to transcend dull realities.
- Romantics, such as Edgar Allan Poe, expressed a longing for realms beyond the mundane aspects of life.
- Their works often included mythical or supernatural elements as a means of exploring emotions and thoughts found in ordinary life.
Reflection on the beauty of the natural world.
- Attempt to immerse readers in the beauty of nature, leading to emotional and intellectual awakenings.
- An example is found in lyric poetry, where nature serves as a catalyst for deeper personal reflection.

Puritan Moral Lessons vs. Romantic Reflection.
- Puritans sought moral instruction from nature, believing it was an expression of the divine.
- In contrast, Romantics view nature as a source of emotional and aesthetic insight, leading to broader truths.
Example Poem - "The Cross of Snow" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
- The poem captures the speaker's grief over his wife's passing through a poignant description of a natural scene, reflecting personal loss and emotional resonance rather than strictly moral lessons.