2. The Romantic Movement
originated in Germany but quickly spread to England, France, and beyond
reached America around 1820
Romanticism in America coincided with the period of national expansion and the
discovery of a distinctive American voice.
Romantic ideas centred around art as inspiration, the spiritual and aesthetic dimension
of nature. Art, rather than science, Romantics argued, could best express universal
truth.
3. ROMANTICISM,
PURITANISM &
AGE OF REASON
The Romantic movement was a reaction to both the strict
beliefs of the Puritans and the rationalism of the 18th-
century Age of Reason.
The authors of the new Romantic movement rejected the
ordered rationality of the writings of the Puritans and writers
during the American Revolution.
Romantics were less concerned with social or political
reform than with the expression of their own intuitive
experience.
4. Characteristics of American Romanticism
The importance of nature (nature – a source of beauty and truth)
Emphasis on the individual or the self (“self-realization,” “self-
expression,” “self-reliance”, “self-awareness”)
The primacy of intuition, imagination, and emotion, which are the keys
to a deeper understanding of the world
Escapism (to a more “natural” past or in faraway lands)
5. Romanticism was
affirmative and appropriate for
most American poets and
creative essayists. America’s
landscape embodied the
sublime. The Romantic spirit
seemed particularly suited to
American democracy: It
stressed individualism and
affirmed the value of the
common person.
6. TRANSCENDENTALISM
reaction against 18th-century rationalism;
manifestation of the general humanitarian trend of 19th-century thought;
belief in the unity of the world and God;
truth can be found through feeling and intuition rather than through logic;
religion seen as “negative, cold, lifeless”;
man is inherently good; therefore, people become truly wise when they are self-reliant
rather than dependent on institutions such as the government or the church.
7. Concord – small village near Boston
the hub of American Transcendentalism
the first rural artists’ colony
spiritual and cultural alternative to
American materialism
8. 1836 - Ralph Waldo Emerson founded the “Transcendental
Club”.
1840 – The first issue of the Transcendentalist magazine
The Dial, published in Boston.
1841 - the Brook Farm Institute was established.
9. TRANSCENDENTALISTS
never issued a manifesto;
insisted on individual differences;
saw themselves as lonely explorers outside society and convention;
literary and social conventions were considered dangerous.
Notes de l'éditeur
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The Romantic movement, which originated in Germany but quickly spread to England, France, and beyond, reached America around the year 1820, some 20 years after William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge had revolutionized English poetry by publishing Lyrical Ballads. In America as in Europe, fresh new vision captivated artistic and intellectual circles. Yet there was an important difference: Romanticism in America coincided with the period of national expansion and the discovery of a distinctive American voice.
Romantic ideas centred around art as inspiration, the spiritual and aesthetic dimension of nature. Art, rather than science, Romantics argued, could best express universal truth.
The most essential themes of romantic writing can be summed up in the following characteristics.
To the romantics, the natural world was a source of beauty and truth. Unlike the classical artists before them who emphasized balance and symmetry, romantics sought to capture the drama of natural forms—whether serene and peaceful or twisted and grotesque.
2. For the romantics, an individual human was an entire universe. it is now that such concepts as “self-realization,” “self-expression,” “self-reliance” or “self-awareness” emerge. According to the Romantic theory, self-awareness was not a selfish dead end but a mode of knowledge opening up the universe.
3. The Age of Reason believed in the triumph of the human mind, but romantics were more interested in knowledge beyond the bounds of ordinary brainpower. Emotion, intuition, imagination—these are the keys to a deeper understanding of the world.
4. The Romantics wanted to rise above “dull realities” to a realm of higher truth. They searched for exotic settings. Sometimes they found this world in the supernatural realm, or in old legends and folklore.
To conclude with, we may say that Romanticism was appropriate for most American poets and creative essayists. America’s landscape embodied the sublime. The Romantic spirit seemed particularly suited to American democracy: It stressed individualism and affirmed the value of the common person. Certainly the New England Transcendentalists — Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and their associates — were inspired to a new optimistic affirmation by the Romantic movement.
Humanitarianism is the belief in the fundamental value of human life.
The movement was based on a fundamental belief in the unity of the world and God. The soul of each individual was thought to be identical with the world. The doctrine of self-reliance and individualism developed through the belief in the identification of the individual soul with God.
Transcendentalists tried to find the truth through feeling and intuition rather than through logic. One must commune with the natural world in order to understand oneself and arrive at fundamental truths and become united with divine power or a spiritual presence in nature. In many ways, nature itself was their “Bible”.
Although they respected Christ for the wisdom of his teachings, they thought of the works of Shakespeare and the great philosophers as equally important.
Transcendentalism was intimately connected with Concord, a small New England village 32 kilometres west of Boston. Surrounded by forest, it was and remains a peaceful town close enough to Boston’s lectures, bookstores, and colleges to be intensely cultivated, but far enough away to be serene. Concord was the first rural artist’s colony, and the first place to offer a spiritual and cultural alternative to American materialism. It was a place of high-minded conversation and simple living (Emerson and Henry David Thoreau both had vegetable gardens). - Louisa May Alcott - Little Women
1836 - Ralph Waldo Emerson founded the “Transcendental Club”. Its magazine, The Dial, was often criticised for its vague or silly ideas. Still, it was the true voice of their thoughts and feelings. For a time, the movement had an utopian experimental community, the Brook Farm Institute. But this came to an end when the Transcendentalists divided into two groups: those interested in social reform and those (like Emerson and Thoreau) who were more interested in the individual.
Unlike many European groups, the Transcendentalists never issued a manifesto. They insisted on individual differences — on the unique viewpoint of the individual. American Transcendental Romantics pushed radical individualism to the extreme. American writers often saw themselves as lonely explorers outside society and convention. The American hero — like Herman Melville’s Captain Ahab, or Mark Twain’s Huck Finn — typically faced risk, or even certain destruction, in the pursuit of metaphysical self-discovery. For the Romantic American writer, nothing was a given. Literary and social conventions, far from being helpful, were dangerous. There was tremendous pressure to discover an authentic literary form, content, and voice — all at the same time.
