The Romantics

1
The Romantics!

• Mr. Feraco
• American Literature
• Period 4

2
Before We Begin

• Your homework assignment is to read Sleepy
  Hollow by next Monday, with a comparison/contrast
  piece that analyzes the film and story!
• You can find the complete text (about twenty
  single-spaced pages) at http//www.gutenberg.org/d
  irs/etext92/sleep11h.htm (write down the address!)

3
Now We Begin!

• As the book points out, American Romanticism can
  be described through a few distinct
  characteristics
• Moved away from civilzation
• Moved away from rational thought
• Moved toward a love of nature and the countryside
• Moved toward the freedom of the imagination and
  emotion

4
Romanticism in General

• Romanticism generally refers to schools of
  thought that value feeling and intuition over
  reason
• It arose in response to rationalism, the schools
  of thought that prized the advance of
  civilization and the power of logic above all
  else
• After the Industrial Revolution, some wanted to
  return to a simpler, less corrupt time (sound
  familiar?)

5
Romantic Characteristics

• Feeling and intuition are greater than reason and
  logic
• Faith in internal experience, reflection, and
  imagination
• Shunned the artificiality of civilization and
  cities
• Sought places where no human had spoiled the
  natural world

• Youthful innocence and wonder are greater than
  educated sophistication
• Individual freedom is the greatest pursuit of
  man, and the individual is more valuable than the
  larger society
• Contemplated natural beauty as a way to develop
  morally and spiritually

6
Romantic Characteristics

• Distrusts progress believes the best wisdom is
  the wisdom of the past
• Beauty/truth can be found in exotic natural
  locations
• Beauty/truth can also be found in the spiritual
  realm and the world of the imagination

• The Romantics saw poetry as the highest
  expression of art and the imagination
• Found inspiration in myth, legend, and folk
  culture

7
Two Roads

• Romantics could take two roads in order to
  reach a deeper understanding of higher truths
• One road involved exploring the past, as well as
  reflecting on exotic or supernatural realms
• The other road involved the careful study of
  nature and natural beauty
• We see the second road every time we read a novel
  about westward expansion, or about the nature of
  frontier life!

8
The American Romantic Hero

• Youve studied these figures from a young age
  you just didnt know you were doing it!
• Theyre youthful, innocent, intuitive,
  naturalistic, and honorable (based on higher
  principle, rather than on societal rule)
• They love nature and avoid town life
• Searches for a higher truth in the natural world
• Understands people at an intuitive level
• Think Indiana Jones!

9
Quick Write!

• How would you characterize yourself are you a
  romantic, or a rationalist? (Why do you define
  yourself this way?)
• Are you practical, ambitious, and worldly?
• Are you emotional, imaginative, and naturalistic?
  
• Are you too much of a blend of both to tell? (In
  this case, which aspects of you can be described
  by which schools of thought?)
• Would you like to be something else?