American Literature the Romantic Period: Transcendentalist (Optimists) and Anti-transcendentalists (Pessimists)
ANTI-TRANSCENDENTALISTS (PESSIMISTS)
Washington Irving: American folktales/short stories/ satires: “The Devil and Tom Walker,” The Headless
Horseman in “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” “Rip Van Winkle” who fell asleep for 100 years. Pseudonyms
include Geoffrey Crayon (The Sketchbook) and Diedrich Knickerbocker ( a satirical pseudo-history A History of
New York). The first American author popular in Europe; Father of American Literature
Herman Melville: Anti-transcendentalist and author of Moby Dick.
Nathanial Hawthorn: Anti-transcendentalist and author of The Scarlet Letter.
Edgar Allen Poe: Anti-transcendentalist; inventor of the detective fiction genre; wrote poetry (“The Raven” and “Annabelle Lee”)
and short story tales of mysteries (“The Gold Bug”) and the macabre (“The Tell Tale Heart”); the created the first
detective story that was the precursor to Sherlock Holmes.
TRANSCENDENTALISTS
Ralph Waldo Emerson: The leader of American Transcendentalism movement in 1800s; important essays include “Self-Reliance”
and “The American Scholar”
Henry David Thoreau: Essay “Civil Disobedience” and autobiographical book Walden
Walt Whitman: Poetry “Song of Myself,” “Leaves of Grass, “I Hear America Signing,” “When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer”;
also a journalist during the Civil War transition between
Transcendentalism and Realism