Transcript Commedia dell’Arte

Quickwrite
 When you hear the term “American
Romanticism” what images do you think
of?
 What do you think the literature of this
period will be like and what will it be
about?
 Take 5 minutes to jot down your notes for
discussion.
American Romanticism
Literary Period 1800-1860
Genres Represented
 Character Sketches
 Slave Narratives
 Poetry
 Short Stories
Philosophy
 Influenced by European Romanticism and Kant’s
Critique of Pure Reason
 Romanticism is a reaction against the ideal of pure
reason representative in the Enlightenment period.
Romantics
Puritans
Deists
Emerging Ideas
 Deists believe that truth is found in nature and the
scientific method.
 Romantics believe that the site of knowledge is the
individual and think that there is higher truth above the
material world.
 “Allegory of the Cave”
 Material Reality is imperfect – a higher reality exists
because it can be imagined and comes through
inspiration.
Inspiration & Imagination
Imagination
Nature
Individual
Ideal
The individual is
inspired by nature,
activating the
imagination, which
leads to the ideal.
The ideal is
supreme, and
can apply to
love, nobility,
bravery,
comradeship,
or terror.
 Nature is deeper, purer, better, and the best place
to stir imagination and elevate the soul.
Various Subjects
 Since nature is a symbol of titanic forces, it is
not reasonable when it acts.
 Nature inspires both the beautiful and the awesome.
 EXPERIENCE NATURE TO THE EXTREME!
 Keats (English Poet) said, “Truth is Beauty. Beauty is Truth.
That is all we need to know.”
 True romantics (idealists) are madmen because they will
not listen to reason.
 Gothic is borne out of the romantics in that it creates a
dangerous place where anything can happen, operating
outside of expected laws.
American Individualism
 Romantics embrace the idea of individualism in
that each person has their own ideal to achieve.
 Separated into two sects:
Optimists
Transcendentalists
Emerson
Thoreau
Whitman
Alcott
Dickenson
Pessimists
Hawthorne
Melville
Poe (mankind cut off
from ideal, only achieve
through death)
Dickenson
Transcendentalism (1840-1860s)
 Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay “Nature” is the basis
for American Transcendentalism.
 God & Nature are in unity.
 Individuality & Self-Reliance
 Unlimited Human Potential
 Transcendentalists wanted to transcend the material world to
the ideal (the oversoul). Both Emerson & Whitman see America
as a symbol of the oversoul in practice in democracy.
Quickwrite: Poetry
*handwrite on paper please
 Many students today balk at the idea of studying
poetry. Is poetry something you enjoy or
something you dread? Why do you think you
have this opinion?
 What type of music do you enjoy listening to?
Does it contain any “poetic” elements? Explain
how popular music (or music you listen to) is
similar to or different from poetry.
Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow (1807-1882)
 Most popular American poet
 Longfellow endorsed values that were positive
forces in the making of the American character
 His most celebrated poetry is based on American
legends: Evangeline (1847); The Song of
Hiawatha (1855)
 First American to be honored with inclusion in the
Poet’s Corner in London’s Westminster Abbey
Key Poetry Terms
 Lyric Poetry: Poetry that does not tell a story but
expresses the personal feelings or thoughts of the
speaker. (Unlike Epic Poetry)
 Alliteration: The repetition of the same or similar
consonant sounds in words that are close together.
 Assonance: The repetition of similar vowel sounds
followed by different consonant sounds, especially
in words close together.
 Consonance: The repetition of the same or similar
final consonant sounds on accented syllables or in
important words.
The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls
 Literary Focus: Meter
 Meter is a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables
in poetry. Meter gives poetry rhythm. You can hear
the meter of a poem when you read it aloud.
Stressed syllables are emphasized more than
unstressed syllables.
 Analyzing the meter of a poem is called scanning.
You can use special marks to scan a poem. The
stress mark () is placed over each stressed syllable.
The “short” mark (˘) is placed over each unstressed
syllable.
 Along / the sea- / sands damp / and brown