ENGLISH III
Unit Two—“A Growing Nation: Literature of the American Renaissance (1800-1870)”
Introduction outline for pp. 210-221
I.
The European Renaissance
A. Took place in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries
B. A magnificent rebirth of classical art and learning
II.
The American Renaissance
A. Not a re-birth but a “flowering”
B. 1st half of the 19th century (1800’s)
C. A literary and cultural maturity as the nation “came of age”
D. Two significant events at the turn of the century
1. Nation’s capital moving to Washington, D.C. in 1800
2. The Library of Congress: “a storehouse of law, scholarship, and creativity”
III.
Steam, steel, and spirit
A. Physical and technological growth
B. Louisiana Purchase in 1803
1. An increased national spirit and pride and self-awareness
2. Increased transportation joining old and new states together
a. Canals
b. Turnpikes
c. Railroads
d. Steamboats
C. The California Gold Rush of 1849 drawing 100,000’s westward
D. Social and cultural changes caused by growing technology
1. Factories creating new technologies, jobs, and profits
2. Steel plow and reaper encouraging plains settlement
3. The telegraph providing rapid communication across vast regions
IV.
The Slow March of Democracy
A. Andrew Jackson, “The People’s President,” elected in 1828
B. The era of the common man
C. Slight changes in voting requirements: no longer tied to property ownership
D. Women still not politically active
E. Slavery still an issue
F. Tribal lands taken; Native Americans forced to move westward
V.
On the World Stage
A. The War of 1812 marking this nation as a player on the world stage
B. Monroe Doctrine of 1823 warning Europe not to intervene in Latin American
countries
C. Texas’ secession from Mexico, joining this nation in 1845
VI.
Winds of Change
A. Fierce competition as a result of the nation’s new prosperity
B. Led to unfair child labor practices and unsafe work conditions
C. Slavery still the nation’s biggest issue between advocates of states’ rights and
abolitionists
VII.
An American Mythology
A. Lewis and Clark’s non-fiction accounts of their exploration
B. Washington Irving—fiction
C. James Fenimore Cooper—fiction
D. Tales set in forests, towns, and outposts of America’s landscape
E. Longfellow’s narrative poems about colonial and Native Americans, and
Revolutionary War heroes
VIII.
The American Masters
A. Focused on the American landscape
B. The dark side of the wilderness
1. Edgar Allen Poe (“The Raven,” “The Fall of the House of Usher”)
2. Nathaniel Hawthorne (“The Minister’s Black Veil, The Scarlet Letter)
3. Herman Melville (Moby Dick)
C. Nature’s sublimity
1. Ralph Waldo Emerson (Nature, Self-Reliance)
2. Henry David Thoreau (Walden, “Civil Disobedience”)
D. Emily Dickinson’s poetry (the universal qualities of her local landscape)
E. Walt Whitman merging himself with the entire nation in his poetry
IX.
Popular American writers of the time period
A. Harriet Beecher Stowe (Uncle Tom’s Cabin)
B. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (best-selling poet at that time)
X.
The Social Vision
A. A belief that the new world could rival the old world in every way
B. Reflected in writing that addressed slavery, women’s rights, the treatment of
Native Americans, and immigration
XI.
The Romantic Vision
A. Exploration of the self
B. Writing that focused on individual quests for self-definition
C. Imagination over reason, feeling over fact, nature over all else
D. Irving, Poe, Melville, and Hawthorne
XII.
The Transcendental Vision
A. Real truths lying outside (above) sensory experiences
B. Authors connecting nature with spiritual awareness
1. Emerson
2. Thoreau
XIII.
American English
A. Different dialects of local communities
B. Local grammar and syntax (sentence structure)
C. Spanish, French, Dutch, and Native American influences
D. New terms coined to describe items such as food, animals, and weather
XIV. Colloquial speech
A. Less formal than British English
B. Contractions more acceptable
C. Idiomatic expressions
1. “Set a spell”
2. “Take a fork in the road”
3. “Bark up the wrong tree”
XV.
The “Barbaric Yawp”
A. The “utterly American” sound of Walt Whitman
B. Incorporated the plain and elegant, the high and low, the foreign and native
C. Mixture of grand opera, political oratory, journalistic punch, everyday
conversation, and Biblical cadences
XVI. The Frontiersman (character type)
A. Men and women of the frontier entering the nation’s literary imagination
B. Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett mythologized in tales
C. Tall tales about Paul Bunyan
XVII. The Romantic Individualist (character type)
A. The individual over the institution; the person over the community
B. Hester Prynne placing love over oppressive Puritan rule in The Scarlet Letter
C. Captain Ahab’s obsession with the white whale in Melville’s Moby Dick
D. Whitman celebrating his joyful existence in the poem Leaves of Grass
XVIII. The Transcendental Seeker (character type)
A. Achieving a feeling of spirituality and “oneness” with all that is beautiful and
good
B. A unity with the Oversoul, the “mind of God”
C. Could achieve this unity through nature, according to Emerson
XIX. “Westering” (literary theme)
A. America no longer a “city upon a hill”
B. Now seen as “the garden of the world” in the 19th century
C. Western expansion, a fundamental part of the nation’s identity
D. A garden invaded by machines
E. A theme that is still present in American literature today
XX.
Bright and dark Romanticism (literary theme)
A. Emerson and Thoreau
1. “The sun is but a morning star”
2. Saw human beings as fundamentally good
B. Poe, Hawthorne, and Melville
1. Disturbed by what they saw in the human heart
2. Crime, cruelty, guilt, and self-destruction the true earmarks of human nature
XXI. Self-Reliance (literary theme)
A. “Trust thyself”—Emerson
B. “Live deliberately”—Thoreau
C. Ideas that applied to individuals as well as the entire nation
D. Principles built into American democracy
E. This self-reliance as a major cause of the American Renaissance