by Dominic D'Agonstino

1. 1800-1860s
(Includes Early Romantics, Transcendentalism, and the
Dark Romantics)

2. Section 1:
“What is the definition for this era?”
Unlike the name, this era does not
primarily deal with romantic
notions like love
This school of thought originated
in Germany

3.  Reaction against Rationalism, in that it
rejects the idea everything in the
universe is logical, rational, scientific
 Romantics value feeling and
intuition, including the dark side of
human psychology

4. Section 2:
“What are the characteristics of romantic
literature?”
Places faith in inner-experiences
and the power of imagination
Shuns the artificiality of
civilization and seeks unspoiled
nature

5. Prefers youthful innocence to
educated sophistication
Champions individual freedom
and the worth of the individual

6. Contemplates nature’s beauty as
a path to spiritual and moral
development
Looks back to the wisdom of the
past and distrusts progress

7.  Finds beauty and truth in exotic
locales, the supernatural realm, and
the inner world of the imagination
 Finds inspiration in
myth, legend, and folk culture

8. Section 3
“Major writers and their work”
James William Cullen Washington Edgar Allen Poe
Fennimore Bryant (1st Irving
Cooper (1st American poet)
American
novelist)
The Deerslayer, “Thanatopsis” “Devil and Tom “The Raven” “Fall
Last of the Walker,” “Rip Van of the House of
Mohicans Winkle” Usher”

9. Ralph Waldo Henry David Emily Dickinson Walt Whitman
Emerson Thoreau
Nature ‘Walden” “Because I Could “Song of Myself”
“Self-Reliance” “Civil Not Stop for “A Noiseless
“Concord Hymn” Disobedience” Death” Patient Spider”
‘I Heard a Fly
Buzz”

10. Section 4:
“What was the importance of
American Romanticism?”
 It served as a definitive cultural break from
England
 It created the idea of the “American hero” that
persists in our culture today

11.  The idealized portraits of frontier life coincided
with Westward Expansion, the growing sense of
nationalism, and the growth of American cities
 Contained the first important and distinct works
of American fiction