Romanticism

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Romanticism
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American Romanticism

• 1800-1860

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What cultural changes influenced the Romantic
Period?
coursesite.uhcl.edu
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Cultural Change Industrial Revolution

• Occurs in the Mid-1700s.
• Mills are opened and women and children go to
  work.

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IR Greater exchange of ideas

• The steamboat and the railroad change
  transportation forever.
• Greater infrastructure brings together different
  parts of the country.

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IR More options for women horrible working
conditions

• Lowells Factories working conditions
• A. Up at 430, off work at 700 pm, in bed at
  the boarding house at 1000 pm
• B. Required to go to church no male visitors.

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Poor Working Conditions

• C. Boarding house rooms held up to 6 girls
• D. Average age was 24 some as young as 10 years
  old.

http//www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/americanstudi
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The Mills and Factories
http//www.laugalaekjarskoli.is/verk/NaAm2/Lowell.
html
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire victims 1911
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American Romanticism

• Affected by Industrial Revolution, but based
  largely on optimism

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Optimism Half empty or half full?
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OptimismUS citizens felt optimistic for many
reasons

• The little colonies beat the big British Empire.
• Everyone can succeed. Andrew Jacksonnot an
  upper-class guybecomes president in 1828.
• Reform movements are common.

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Optimism led to the Age of Reform (during
Romantic Period)

• Prisons and Mental Institutions

Treatment of Mentally Ill 1840s
Prison Reform 1850s
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Age of Reform
Womens Suffrage
Abolitionist movement
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Idealism and Transcendentalism

• Idealismphilosophy based on idea that evidence
  of the divine is not found in the outer world as
  much as the inner world of the individual. This
  philosophy originated in Germany.
• Transcendto move above or beyond.
• Transcendentalismphilosophy based on the idea
  that one moves beyond the physical to the
  spiritual through awareness. Intuition,
  introspection, and self-trust. Many American
  Romantic writers were also Transcendentalists.

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Romanticism

• A period of Literature from 1800-1860.
• Not a Valentines Day idea.
• Not an organized cultural movement, but romantic
  writers did share two things
• 1. They valued feeling and emotion over
  intellect.
• 2. They believed in the basic goodness and
  equality of all human beings.

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The Big Romantic Ideas

• Optimism and Individualism (not conformity)
• Kinship with Nature
• The Power of Darkness (fascination with disease,
  madness, death, evil, the supernatural, and the
  destructive qualities of nature)

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Important Romantic Writers

• Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Margaret Fuller
• Henry David Thoreau

• Walt Whitman

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Dark Romantic Writers

• Edgar Allan Poe
• Washington Irving
• Nathaniel Hawthorne

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Tensions would lead to Civil WarEnd of the
Romantic Era
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Romanticism Unit Pre-AP

• Homework Read Emerson, from Self-Reliance,
  pages 178-179 (take notes) and 183-184 and answer
  8, Connect with at least 1 full paragraph,
  typed or written neatly. Due on Monday.

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Due Dates Pre-AP

• Unit 2, Vocabulary Book due Nov. 4
• Quiz on Oct. 21 on plural possessives
• Test, Nov. 3 on SL and LTF skills. Will be in
  Pre-AP form.
• Unit 3, Vocabulary due Nov. 18
• Test, Dec. 1 Scarlet Letter and LTF skills
• Paper due Nov. 17