Study Guide: American Romanticism
In America, the period of literary and artistic output from roughly 1800-1865, is
important for it is at this time that America finally found it’s own voice. While the sermons
and journals of the Puritan era (1600s) are illustrative glimpses into the lives of our earliest
immigrants, and the speeches and “calls to action” of the Age of Reason (1700s) are rousing
and important, the literary qualities of the output of those eras pale in comparison to the
innovation and depth of expression during the Romantic era. Here’s a guide, a place for you
to collect what you remember about this period we’ve been exploring since the first week of
February.
Group Web quests: Define the following, list important concepts, and list important people
and their contributions to the following:
Industrialism:
Feminism:
Abolitionism:
Transcendentalism:
Romanticism:
The Fireside Poets: Who were they? What characteristics did their poems share? Titles?
Longfellow’s “Cross of Snow,” Bryant’s “Thanatopsis”
Washington Irving: “Rip Van Winkle.” (Characteristics of the Romantic hero in fiction)
What do you remember?
Transcendentalism: Know Emerson, his beliefs, and the contents of the essay excerpts we
studied. Which essays? What did they cover? What of his ideas and bio.?
Know Thoreau, his beliefs, and the excerpts from “Walden” we covered in class. What did
the Transcendentalists believe about life, human nature, learning and being?
What of “Civil Disobedience?” What prompted Thoreau to write it? What did he conclude
from his experience? Whom did this influence?
Anti-transcendentalism: What is anti-transcendentalism? How does it differ from
Transcendentalism? How did Anti-transcendentalist ideas appear in Poe’s short stories and
poems?
The Gothic in Literature. What are the elements of Gothic Literature? Where do they
appear in Poe’s writing? In Dickinson’s?
Romanticism: How do all the above fit under this single era/conception? Why did the
American Renaissance (Romanticism) occur? What characteristics did literature of this era
often include? How can Romanticism be seen as a reaction to the Age of Reason? How do
the ideas introduced into American thought during the Romantic era still hold true today?
Be sure to review lecture notes, any handouts and the purple packets.