Unit 3: Romanticism & Transcendentalism
Study Guide
Romanticism Time Period Details:
 Dates:
 Main characteristics:
o What types of things did they focus on?

o
What does ‘romantic’ mean in this context? (NOT love stories)
o
Romantic authors that we read:
Dark Romanticism
o How does this differ from Romanticism?
o
Who were some Dark Romantic writers?
Transcendentalism Movement Details:
Remember: Transcendentalism isn’t a time period, it’s a literary movement within the Romanticism time period
 Dates:
 Main Characteristics:
o What types of things did their writing focus on?
o
What did Transcendentalists base their beliefs on?
o
Transcendentalist authors that we read:
Texts Read
“Psalm of Life” by ______________________

What was the speaker trying to convince the reader to do?
“Self Reliance” by _____________________
 What is an aphorism?

List some examples of aphorisms from “Self Reliance”.

How did the speaker feel about individualism?
“The Devil and Tom Walker” by _________________________
 Name several symbols from this story:

What lessons were learned from this story?

How do these lessons fit with the classic features of Romanticism?
“Civil Disobedience” by ______________________
 What was the historical context of this essay? (What was going on in the world/what was the speaker
rebelling against?)

How did Thoreau feel that people should react to their government if they did not agree with
something?

“Civil Disobedience” is a _________________ source.
“Fable” and “The Park” by _________________________ (poems)
 The moral/lesson of “Fable” is:
“A Rose for Emily” by ______________________
 Who was Emily Grierson?

Who was found dead in Emily’s house?

Based on the story of Emily’s life, what can we infer about why she would kill him and keep his body?

How does this fit Dark Romanticism?
“The Raven” by _____________________
 Who is the speaker mourning the loss of? (Who does he miss?)

How does the tone of the poem shift?
Literary Terms covered in Unit 3:
You will be given passages/excerpts from things we read and will be required to identify the literary term that is
present
 Allegory
 Aphorism
 Imagery
 Symbol/symbolism
 Parallelism
 Alliteration
 Assonance
 End Rhyme
 Internal Rhyme
Grammar
 Superlative/comparative/Positive adjectives (Grammar handout)
 Superlative= Compares three or more (Most, biggest, tallest)
 Comparative= Compare 2 items/people/etc. (more, bigger, taller)
 Positive= Just describe (red, big, tall, etc.)