新乡学院外国语学院美国文学课件 第03章.pptVIP

Romanticism and Transcendentalism Where We’ve Been First American Literature (2000 B.C. – A.D. 1620) Native American Literature Historical Narratives Becoming a Country (1620-1800) Puritanism Revolutionary Writing (persuasive rhetoric) Individualism (1800-1855) Romanticism and Transcendentalism Longfellow, Irving, Emerson, Fuller, Thoreau, Whitman American Gothic Poe and Hawthorne Definitions Romanticism sprang up in both Europe and America as a reaction to everything that had come before it: the rationalism of the 18th century Age of Reason and, especially, Puritanism. Romantic artists, philosophers, and writers saw the limitations of reason and celebrated instead the glories of the individual spirit, the emotions, and the imagination as basic elements of human nature. Transcendentalism was based on a fundamental belief in the unity of the world and God. They believed that the “macrocosm” (the universe) and the “microcosm” (the indivdual) were directly connected. Emerson said that every individual is capable of discovering higher truth (and identification with God) on his or her own, through intuition. Transcendentalists sought to have individuals “transcend” to a higher spiritual level. To achieve this goal, the individual had to seek spiritual, not material, greatness and the essential truths of life through intuition. Intuition, or common sense, functioned above and beyond the five senses. The faculty of intuition provided every person with their own ability to know what is absolutely true. Transcendentalists saw nature not only as beautiful, but as a reflection of divinity—literally, the face of God. They believed that the purpose of human life was union with the so-called “over-soul” which embraced, and was reflected in, everything in the world. People could develop their potential by immersing themselves in the beauty of the natural world. Beauty and truth could be experienced only through intuition, though careful observation of nature might help to