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The Romantic Period

The Romantic period movement which originated in Germany but quickly spread to England, France,reached America around the 18th century, years after William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor hadrevolutionized English poetry by publishing Lyrical Ballads . Romantic ideas centered around art asinspiration, the spiritual and aesthetic dimension of nature. Romantics argued that the art, could best expressuniversal truth. The Romantics stand out the importance of expressive art for the individual and society.Ralph Waldo Emerson was perhaps the most inuential writer of the Romantic era. Romanticism wasafrmative and appropriate for most American poets and creative essayists.The Romantic spirit seemedparticularly suited to American democracy: It stressed individualism, afrmed the value of the commonperson, and looked to the inspired imagination for its aesthetic and ethical values.

TRANSCENDENTALISM

The Transcendentalist movement was a reaction against rationalism and a manifestation of the general

humanitarian trend thoughts on 19th. It was based on a fundamental belief in the unity of the world andGod. The soul of each individual was thought to be identical with the world, the Transcendental Club wasorganized in 1836 and included, Emerson,, Fuller, Channing, Bronson Alcott, Theodore Parker, and others. Anumber of Transcendentalists were abolitionists, and some were involved in experimental utopiancommunities such as nearby Brook farm. They insisted on individual differences — on the unique viewpointof the individual. American Transcendental Romantics pushed radical individualism to the extreme.

The Brahmin Poets.

Brahmin Poets were literary arbiters of the US. Their lives tted a pleasant pattern of wealth and leisuredirected by the strong New England work ethic and respect for learning. they became professors, often atHarvard. Late in life they sometimes became ambassadors or received honorary degrees from Europeaninstitutions. Most of them travelled or were educated in Europe: They were familiar with the ideas and booksof Britain, Germany, and France, and often Italy and Spain. The Brahmin poets carried their genteel,European-oriented views to every section of the United States.

The Romance

The Romance form is dark and forbidding, indicating how difcult it is to create an identity withouta stable society. Most of the Romantic heroes die in the end: All the sailors except Ishmael aredrowned in Moby- Dick , and the sensitive minister Arthur Dimmesdale dies at the end of TheScarlet Letter.

The Realism.

In American literature, the term "realism" refers the period of time from the Civil War to the turn ofthe century during which William Dean Howells, Mark Twain, and others wrote ction dedicated torepresentation and an exploration of American lives in various contexts. As the United States grewrapidly after the Civil War, increased democracy, literacy, industrialism and urbanization, anexpanding population due to immigration, and a relative rise in middle-class provided a fertileliterary environment for readers interested in understanding these rapid shifts in culture. Realismwas a movement that included the entire country, or at least the Midwest and South, although manyof the writers and critics associated with realism (notably W. D. Howells) were based in NewEngland.

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Frontier Humor and Local Colorist

They were literary current created by Mark Twain. On one hand we have Frontier humor which hadoral tradition in camps, and around cowboy campres and story telling. Exaggeration, tales andcomic heroes formed frontier literature. These humorous forms were found in many frontier regionssuch as the old southwest and the Pacic Coast. Each region had its colorful characters, and on the

other hand Local Colorists set their self-conscious and exclusive interest in rendering a givenlocation, and their realistic technique. The most well known writer in Local Colorist was Bret Harte.and also other important women writers were Mary Wilkins Freeman ,Harriet Beecher Stowe andespecially Sarah Orne Jewett.

Samuel Clemens

Samuel Clemens, better known by his pen name of Mark Twain, grew up in the Mississippi River.Twain’s style, based on realistic, colloquial American speech and gave American writers a new

appreciation of their national voice. Twain was the rst major author to come from the interior ofthe country, and he captured its distinctive, humorous slang and iconoclasm. For Twain, realism wasnot a literary technique: It was a way of speaking truth and exploding worn-out conventions. Thus itwas profoundly liberating and potentially at odds with society.

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)

Henry David Thoreau, was born in Concord and made it his permanent home. From a poor family,like. Emerson, he worked his way through Harvard. Throughout his life, he reduced his needs to thesimplest level and managed to live on very little money. His most famous book was Walden, or,Life in the Wood. Thoreau’s method of retreat and concentration resembles Asian meditation

techniques. He was inuenced by Hindu and Buddhist philosophy. His most treasured possessionwas his library of Asian classics, which he shared with Emerson.

Walt Whitman (1819-1892)

He was born in New York, Walt Whitman was a part-time carpenter and man of the people, whosebrilliant, innovative work expressed the country’s democratic spirit. Whitman was largely self-taught; he left school at the age of 11 to go to work, missing the sort of traditional education thatmade most American authors respectful imitators of the English. Whitman invented the myth ofdemocratic America. “The Americans of all nations at any time upon the earth have probably thefullest poetical nature. The United States is essentially the greatest poem.” When Whitman wrotethis, he daringly turned upside down the general opinion that America was too brash and new to bepoetic.