RomanticismThe Counter-Enlightenment Comes to America

Romanticism in Art

Look at the artwork featured on the following slides.

What changes do you notice in:

A) what is depicted (content) and

B) how it is depicted (form)?

What do you guess is their significance?

Puritan Art

More Puritan Art

Enlightenment Art

More Enlightenment Art

Enlightenment Art

Enlightenment Art

Suddenly, everything changes…

Enlightenment:• Man-centered; but

men are just men

• Emphasis on reason and logic

• Intellect is most important

Counter-Enlightenment:• Man-centered; but

men often play God and are thereby thrown abjectly low or transcendently high

• Emphasis on feeling

• Imagination is most important

I. Historical Background

A. Early 19th Century is a time of peace and prosperity1. War of 1812 gives America:

--status as a nation

-power to extend westward without British or Native American influence

-freedom from trade impositions

2. Industrial Revolution gives America:

-new tools and technologies

-profits

I. Historical Background (cont.)

B. Americans seek new diversions

1. New styles of art and literature begin to appear.

2. Americans view their new, largely unexplored continent with a sense of awe and desire

II. Principles

A. Age of Reason failed to fully explain man1. Humanity is not a machine

2. Machines are calculable, measurable, and predictable. Machines are not full of passions, desires, and fears. Man is.

“O for a life of sensations rather than of thoughts!”

Immanuel Kant

II. Principles (cont.)

B. Age of Reason failed to fully explain God

1. Romantics believe they can feel God’s presence without proving it.

2. Romantics see God in nature and believe human imagination helps discover him

He is the true enchanter, whose spell operates, not upon the senses, but upon

the imagination and the heart.

Washington Irving

II. Principles (cont.)

C. Mankind possesses a dark and a bright side, a despairing and a hopeful attitude. Often, trying to be his best, man appears at his worst.

Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood

there, wondering, fearing, doubting,

dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to

dream before.

Poe

III. Romantic Literature

A. Era marks the true birth of American fiction!

B. Literature often focuses on the unknown1. Adventure

2. Mystery and Detective

3. Fantasy and Science-Fiction

4. Horror

C. Predominate themes relate to life and death, peace and war, good and evil, and the inexplicable elements of nature and faith.

In Conclusion:Puritans:

Man is inherently corrupt. He seeks faith. His purpose is to give glory to his Creator through commitment, sacrifice, and hard work.

Age of Reason:

Man is inherently imperfect, but he can always improve. He seeks knowledge. His purpose is to explore and understand the created world using his rational mind.

Romantics:Man possesses both a good and an evil side. Oftentimes, trying to be terrific, he cannot help but be terrible. He seeks intuition. His purpose is to explore and appreciate the created world using his imagination.

IV. Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)

http://www.yourenglishclass.com/the-simpsons-raven/

Poe’s Literary Vision

1. The epitome of the Romantic era, Poe’s stories emphasize mystery, horror, and imagination.

2. He believed every word in a tale should be aimed at creating a single, vivid emotion.

Only 1 NovelNarrative of Arthur Gordon Pymm

Tale of Antarctic exploration – no one had done it yet in the

19th century.

Poe’s Biography

1. Father abandons family, mother dies of tuberculosis

2. Adopted by Allan family; stepfather disowns him, stepmother dies of tuberculosis

3. Expelled from University of Virginia and Westpoint Military Academy

Tuberculosis melts your lungs and

crushes your body.

Poe’s home in Virginia

Poe and Baltimorea. First earns money as writer in the

city with his “MS in a Bottle,” published in the Baltimore Saturday Visiter

Poe and Baltimore (cont.)B. Fell in love with Virginia Clemm

C. She was thirteen AND his first cousin

Poe and Baltimore (cont.)D. One day, she was playing the piano and

singing and started coughing up blood.

E. Turns out, she had contracted tuberculosis. She died a slow, painful death.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XU9QGHGxgO0

Virginia’s only words

that we have today – a song she

wrote to Poe

Poe’s Death

a. 1849: Poe was found on the streets of Baltimore, delirious

b. Kept yelling only one word: “Reynolds!” until finally saying, “Lord help my poor soul!” and dying.

c. May have died of alcohol poisoning; may have died of delirium tremens, heart disease, epilepsy, syphilis, meningeal inflammation, cholera, or rabies. One theory suggests that cooping caused Poe’s death– a process in which unwilling citizens who were compelled to vote for certain candidates, and sometimes died from the attendant abuse.

c. There are no records of his hospital visit or death.

His grave is in Baltimore, five blocks from the Ravens stadium.

Poe ToasterEvery year from 1949 - 2008, someone left roses and cognac on Poe’s grave on the anniversary of his death, January 19th. Mysteriously stopped.

Baltimore named its football franchise after Poe and his work.

“The Raven”A. Ultimate example of dark Romantic literature, the

man’s imagination is consumed with fear and anxiety.

B. Unnamed protagonist experiences the arrival of an inexplicable Raven in the middle of the night that responds only with an incantatory “nevermore.”

C. The bird represents longing, pain, and sorrow, which can “nevermore” be forgotten or escaped. Poe knew about this firsthand.

“Black Cat”A. Unnamed protagonist is driven to murder.

B. Represents Poe’s reflection on dangers of alcoholism as a cure-all, which he personally experienced.

C. Cat is symbolic of “perverseness,” suggesting man’s susceptibility to irrational forces.

D. Ironic narrative arc is full of reversals.

E. Unclear ending compels reader to use his/her imagination to determine meaning.

“The Tell Tale Heart”A. Unnamed protagonist tries to assert sanity by

explaining the circumstances of a grisly murder.

B. “Vulture eye” serves as the “perverse.”

C. Extensive use of dramatic irony: reader knows unreliable narrator is insane despite his denials.

D. Unclear ending induces reader to use his/her imagination to determine meaning.

“MS in a Bottle”Unnamed protagonist finds himself on a ghost ship headed towards the south pole.

Poe alludes subtly to the unanswerable mystery surrounding life after death, which he was fascinated by due to all the deaths in his life.

Exploration of the supernatural exemplifies Romanticism.