ROMANTIC PERIOD
BRITISH AND AMERICAN
1798-1870
Emily Chaney and Megan Ahrns
Romantic Values and Types of Expression
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Emotional
Individualistic
Revolutionary
Loves Solitude & Nature
Fantasy/Introspection
The Particular
Subjective Perception
Right Brain
Satisfaction of Desire
Organic
Creative Energy/Power
Exotic
"Noble Savage"/Outcasts
Idealist Philosophy
Romantic Characteristics
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Characters and setting set apart from society; characters were not of our own conscious
kind
Static characters--no development shown
Characterization--work proves the characters are what the narrator has stated or shown
Universe is mysterious; irrational; incomprehensible
Gaps in causality
Formal language
Good receive justice; nature can also punish or reward
Silences of the text--universals rather than learned truths
Plot arranged around crisis moments; plot is important
Plot demonstrates
 romantic love
 honor and integrity
 idealism of self
Supernatural foreshadowing (dreams, visions)
Description provides a "feeling" of the scene
Literary Themes:
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Highly imaginative and subjective
Emotional intensity
Escapism
Common man as hero
Nature as refuge, source of knowledge and/or
spirituality
Conditions that influenced American Romanticism:
Frontier promised opportunity for expansion,
growth, freedom; Europe lacked this element.
 Spirit of optimism invoked by the promise of an
uncharted frontier.
 Immigration brought new cultures and
perspectives
 Growth of industry in the north that further
polarized the north and the agrarian south.
 Search for new spiritual roots.
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Events During the Romantic Period
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Thomas Jefferson becomes president
Louisiana Purchase
The war of 1812 begins
Later, John Quincy Adams becomes president
The First Railroad is made
The Industrial Revolution begins
Thomas Edison becomes well known
Slavery is abolished in America
American Romanticists:
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James Fenimore Cooper
Emily Dickinson
Frederick Douglass
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Margaret Fuller
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Washington Irving
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Herman Melville
Edgar Allen Poe
Henry David Thoreau
Walt Whitman
European Romanticists:
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William Blake
Lord Byron (George Gordan)
Samuel Coleridge
John Keats
Ann Radcliffe
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Emily Dickinson
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American Romantic Writer
Her poems deal with themes of death and
immortality, both common of this period.
Dickinson would often write something major after
the death of a loved one and this would be
portraying the love and solitude she felt due to
their death.
She often put her characters on their own, isolated
from society.
Edgar Allen Poe
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American Romantic Poet
Poe contributed greatly to the genres of horror and
science fiction, these were not commonly know traits
until the Romantic Period and they were considered
exotic and supernatural. They were also highly
imaginative which is a main theme of this time
period.
Walt Whitman
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American Romantic Poet
Whitman was a humanist, he took part in the
transition between transcendentalism and realism,
his works incorporated both views. Whitman is
among the most influential poets in America, often
he is referred to as the father of free verse.
He work was rather controversial to its own time.
John Keats
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British/English Romantic
He was one of the key figures of the second
generation of the Romantic Period.
Keats is characterized by his sensual imagery in
most of his poetry and romantic love is a very
common plot during the Romantic period.
Ann Radcliffe
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English Romantic Author
Her style is clearly romantic due to its vivid
descriptions of landscapes, and long travel scenes.
She was very well noted for her Gothic element
also, which are obvious through her use of the
supernatural, very popular during the Romantic
period.
Major Works
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Moby Dick by Herman Melville
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The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
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the famous seafaring tale of Captain Ahab and his
obsessed search for a white whale.
the tale of Hester and her daughter, Pearl. Adultery is
represented by the beautifully sewn scarlet letter and by
the impish Pearl.
Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym by Edgar Allan Poe
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based on a newspaper account of a shipwreck. Poe's sea
novel influenced the works of Herman Melville and Jules
Verne.
Continued…
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Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
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antislavery novel, became an instant bestseller. The
novel tells about the lives of three slaves: Tom, Eliza
and George.
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Lyrical Ballads by William Wordsworth and Samuel
Coleridge
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scholars say that the Romantic period began with
the publication of the volume which contained some of
the best-known works from these two poets including
Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and
Wordsworth's "Lines Written a Few Miles from Tintern
Abbey."
Alone by Edgar Allan Poe
From childhood's hour I have not been
As others were; I have not seen
As others saw; I could not bring
My passions from a common spring.
From the same source I have not taken
My sorrow; I could not awaken
My heart to joy at the same tone;
And all I loved, I loved alone.
Then- in my childhood, in the dawn
Of a most stormy life- was drawn
From every depth of good and ill
The mystery which binds me still:
From the torrent, or the fountain,
From the red cliff of the mountain,
From the sun that round me rolled
In its autumn tint of gold,
From the lightning in the sky
As it passed me flying by,
From the thunder and the storm,
And the cloud that took the form
(When the rest of Heaven was blue)
Of a demon in my view.
Analysis of Poem
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Title : Alone
Author : Edgar Allan Poe
Point of View : First Person(Poe)
The style of this poem is dark, some would say it is
gothic. This is a typical poem written by Poe.
Devices used : Rhyme, Imagery, Personification, and
Metaphor
Our Interpretation
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Poe is alone because he views the world differently
than most people and they judge his for his differences.
The people of his time didn’t like that he was different
and they didn’t understand that it was okay to be
yourself.
He is bound by the mysteries you can see in all the
wonders of the world.
In the end, he realizes that it is alright to be different
from everyone else and he accepts his differences. He
truly appreciates being who he is.
Official Interpretation
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Lines 1-8 emphasize that Poe felt alone, unique, and
not as joyful as others.
The remainder of the lines go on to say that
childhood was the beginning of his stormy life, and,
through all these beautiful natural occurrences that
stand alone, he drew the mystery of the demon
(which I assume to be extroversion) in his view. In
other words, he\'s come to appreciate being
alone/unique.
Other great interpretations on this site as well.
http://www.eliteskills.com/c/3711
Some of our information came directly from these websites:
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http://www.westga.edu/~mmcfar/AMERICAN%20
ROMANTICISM%20overview.htm
http://classiclit.about.com/od/americanliteratur/tp
/aatp_romam_fic.htm
http://classiclit.about.com/od/britishromantics/a/a
a_britromantic.htm