American Pre-Romantics 3.pptVIP

The Age of Romanticism 1770—1875 Teaching aims: To know the background of the emergence of American Romanticism To master the important characteristics of American Romanticism To get familiar with the representative writers of the different periods of American Romanticism Logic Thread Representative figures of the time: Pre-romanticism: Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper William Cullen Bryant What is Romanticism ? As an approach in literary creation, romanticism is ever present in literature of all times. But as a literary trend or movement, it occurred and developed in Europe and America at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries under the historical background of the Industrial Revolution around 1760 and the French Revolution (1789-1799). The term “Romantic” as a designation for a school of literature opposed to the Classic was first used by the German critic Friedrich Schlegel at the beginning of the 19th century. From Germany, this meaning was carried to England and France. Romanticism was a rebellion against the objectivity of rationalism. For romantics, the feelings, intuitions and emotions were more important than reason and common sense. They stressed the close relationship between man and nature, emphasized individualism and affirmed the inner life of the self. They cherished strong interest in the past, especially the medieval and were attracted by the wild, the irregular, the indefinite, the remote, the mysterious, and the strange. American Romanticism The romantic period stretches from the end of the eighteenth century through the outbreak of the Civil War (1790-1865).1. Background (1) Political background and economic development Territorial Expansion Industrial Growth The Civil War (2) Romantic movement in European countries  Derivative – foreign influence  Reasons (Why Romanticism emerged?) A. Fast development of the new nation (flood of immigrants; pioneers push