Chapter 12 Section 4 Notes
An American Culture Develops
Before 1800, American writers and artists modeled their work on _________________________.
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Poets used complex, _________________________ and filled their poems with references to
____________________________________.
Most artists trained in __________________ and learned
______________________________________________.
By the mid-1800s, American writers and artists had begun to develop styles that reflected
_________________________________________.
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Their work explored subjects that were _____________________________.
Two early writers, _____________________ and ___________________________________,
reflected this interest in American themes.
o Irving drew on the _____________________________________________ in his stories,
______________________________________ and _____________________________.
 Rip Van Winkle was a
_______________________________________________________________.
o Cooper created the popular character ____________________________, a
frontiersman who _______________________________.
 Uncomfortable with life in _______________________, Bumppo criticized the
___________________________________.
 Cooper’s novels about Bumppo, such as ____________________________ and
_______________________________________, helped American literature
_____________________________________.
By the early 1800s, a new artistic movement took shape in Europe called ________________________.
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Unlike thinkers of the Enlightenment, who emphasized _________________, Romantics placed
great value on _________________, _________________, and _________________________.
A small but influential group of thinkers in ____________________________ developed an
American form of Romanticism, called ___________________________________.
o A movement that sought to explore the relationship between ______________ and
________________ through ____________________________________________.
o It got the name because its goal was to _______________________________________.
o Transcendentalists believed in a ________________________________________.
 They urged people to __________________ and to _______________________,
____________________, and ________________________________________.
_________________________________ was the leading transcendentalist.
o In his popular speeches and essays, he asked Americans to
___________________________________________________.
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Civilization might ______________________, he said, but nature reflected
_________________________________________.
o Emerson also stressed _________________________
 _____________________________________________.
 _____________________ he taught.
 He challenged people to use their _________________ to
__________________________ and ____________________.
_______________________________ took up Emerson’s challenge.
o He spent two years
_____________________________________________________________________.
o In his 1854 book _____________, Thoreau urged people to ______________________.
 “Most of the luxuries, and many of the so-called comforts of life, are not only
not indispensible, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind.”
 What does this statement mean to you?
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
o Like Emerson, Thoreau believed that individuals must
_____________________________________________________.
 He encouraged _________________________________
 The idea that people should ___________________________________
__________________________________________________________.
 Thoreau spent a night in jail for refusing to
__________________________________________________________.
 Thoreau’s ideas about civil disobedience and
__________________________ influenced later leaders like
_________________________________.
Flowering of American Literature
Irving and Cooper set a ________________________ for American writers.
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Two later novelists, __________________________ and _______________________________,
began to ________________________ of American literature.
Both Hawthorne and Melville were fascinated by _________________ and
_____________________________.
o Melville’s novel ____________________ told the story of a ___________________ who
is obsessed with pursuing a ______________________.
 In the end, ________________________ mad pursuit destroys
______________, _____________________, and _____________________.
 Moby-Dick was largely ____________________________________________.
 Today, it is considered one of the _______________________________.
o
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Hawthorne was descended from the ____________________________________.
 He often used _____________________________________________________.
 In his 1850 novel __________________________, a minster is destroyed by
______________________.
 The novel paints a __________________________.
______________________________ presented a ____________________________________.
o In 1868, Alcott published ________________________, a novel based on her
__________________________________________________.
 The main character, _______________ was one of the first young American
heroines to be presented as a ____________________________________
rather than as a ______________________.
____________ helped to create a new national voice.
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_____________________________ based poems on _____________________________, such
as __________________________________.
o His long poem, ____________________________________ was one of the first works
to honor ____________________________________.
___________________________ published ________________________ in 1855.
o Today, Whitman is seen as the poet who best expresses the
______________________________________________.
o His poetry celebrated __________________________.
Some poets used their pens to support ________________________.
o ________________________________, a Massachusetts Quaker, and
______________________________, an African American woman from Maryland,
wrote poems that ________________________________________________________.
Art and Music
After 1820, artists also began to create a unique ___________________________.
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Turning away from ________________________, they focused on the
________________________________ or on the
_____________________________________________________.
A group of artists painted scenes of the __________________________________.
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This group became known as the __________________________________.
o _______________________ and the other painters of this school reflected the values of
____________________________.
 They sought to stir emotions by reproducing the
_________________________________________________.
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Other American painters were inspired by ___________________________.
o ____________________________________ created a timeless picture of
____________________________________.
o ________________________________ captured the ways and dignity of
________________________________.
Most early American songs, such as __________________________, had roots in __________,
____________, or ______________tunes.
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Over time, a wide variety of _______________________________.
Many were _____________________, chanted by men as they __________________________,
____________________________, or __________________________________________.
The ____________________ was a special type of song developed by
_____________________________________.
The most popular American songwriter of the 1800s was _____________________________.
o Many of his tunes, such as _____________________________ and
_____________________________ are still familiar today.