1. Classicism vs Romanticism
Honors American Literature

2. Classicism (Age of Reason)
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Definition:
Believed that reason is the dominating
characteristic of both nature and human
nature, and both are governed by fixed,
unchanging laws

3. Classicism
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18th C (1700’s)
Nature= a self-contained machine, whose
laws could be rationally understood
Valued clarity, order, balance
Imagination had to be restrained by
reason and common sense

4. Classicism



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Upheld tradition
Resisted change
Human limitations
Reason over
Social over
Common over
Imagination
Personal
all emphasized
Individual
by Romanticism

5. Romanticism

Definition:
Emphasized the emotions, an individual,
intuition

6. Romanticism

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1800 – 1830
Imagination gives expression to that which
marks each person’s unique being
All art is the imaginative expression of the
inner essence of the individual/claim for
individual freedom.

7. Romanticism


Emphasized the human potential for social
progress and spiritual growth
Reflected political ideas in Decl. of Ind. “all
men are created equal” which led to
emphasis of the dignity and worth of the
common indiv. and to social reforms to
fulfill this ideal of equality

8. 
Romantic writers tried to express their own
intuitive experiences.

9. Common Romantic Subjects

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Nature
The Past
Inner World of Human Nature

10. Nature
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Emphasized beauty, strangeness, mystery
of (not rational laws)
Saw as an organic process, constantly
developing and changing
Connection btwn human imagination and
the natural world

11. The Past

Later Romantic poets used dramatic
incidents from early American history

12. Inner World of Human Nature
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The exploration and expression of the
writer’s most private inner being.
Belief that this interior world of intense
feeling is not ruled by reason.
Interested in the irrational depths of
human nature.

13. A Quick Comparison
Age of Reason
Reason
Social (society)
Common
Common sense
Tradition
Rational law of nature
Human limitations
Romanticism
Imagination
Personal
Individual freedom
Intuition
Social reforms, spiritual
growth (change)
Nature as mystery
Supernatural

14. Application

How do the 3 common romantic subjects
apply to “The Devil and Tom Walker” and
The Scarlet Letter?