Influence of European Romanticism on American writers

The European Romantic movement reached America in the early 19th century.

American Romanticism was just as multifaceted and individualistic as it was in Europe. Like the Europeans, the American Romantics demonstrated a high level of moral enthusiasm, commitment to individualism and the unfolding of the self, an emphasis on intuitive perception, and the assumption that the natural world was inherently good, while human society was filled with corruption

Romanticism became popular in American politics, philosophy and art.

The movement appealed to the revolutionary spirit of America as well as to those longing to break free of the strict religious traditions of early settlement

The Romantics rejected rationalism and religious intellect

It appealed to those in opposition of Calvinism, which includes the belief that the destiny of each individual is preordained

The Romantic movement gave rise to New England Transcendentalism which portrayed a less restrictive relationship between God and Universe

The new philosophy presented the individual with a more personal relationship with God

Transcendentalism and Romanticism appealed to Americans in a similar fashion, for both privileged feeling over reason, individual freedom of expression over the restraints of tradition and custom

It often involved a rapturous response to nature

It encouraged the rejection of harsh, rigid Calvinism, and promised a new blossoming of American culture

American Romanticism embraced the individual and rebelled against the confinement of neoclassicism and religious tradition

The Romantic movement in America created a new literary genre that continues to influence American writers

Novels, short stories, and poems replaced the sermons and manifestos of yore

Romantic literature was personal, intense, and portrayed more emotion than ever seen in neoclassical literature

America's preoccupation with freedom became a great source of motivation for Romantic writers as many were delighted in free expression and emotion without so much fear of ridicule and controversy

They also put more effort into the psychological development of their characters, and the main characters typically displayed extremes of sensitivity and excitement.

The works of the Romantic Era also differed from preceding works in that they spoke to a wider audience, partly reflecting the greater distribution of books as costs came down during the period

Romantic period saw an increase in female authors and also female readers.

Poe, Emerson, and Hawthorne are near perfect representations for Romanticism

. Poe's poetry has that happy, lyrical, and metrical verse

His subjects may be gloomy, but his poems contain sentimentality and supernatural characteristics and are about exploring the human psyche

For example, "The Raven" is about a sleepless narrator who is absolutely haunted by a raven. This man is mourning the death of his lost Lenore and is very melancholy

The raven shows up and makes his perch and will not leave

The man asks questions about grief, but the raven will only answer "nevermore."

This event would never occur in real life, which makes the poem Romantic

The poem also is about exploring the depths of this man's grief

Similarly, Emerson is Romantic. Actually he is transcendental, but this can be seen as an offshoot of Romanticism

In "Self Reliance," Emerson espouses the ideas of Transcendentalism

He tells the reader things like the importance of trusting oneself and that we don't know everything by knowledge; some things are learned through experience

The philosophy makes sense but is "out there" enough for it to be hard to incorporate into everyday life. Discussing abstract ideas without translation to real life is Romantic as well

In his poem "Give All to Love," he also talks of the importance to trusting oneself and giving oneself over to the divine power of love

In Hawthorne's short stories, these abstract qualities take on a symbolic meaning

In "The Birthmark," Alymer was so involved in achieving perfection that he ended up killing his wife in the process

As virtual mentor says, "Nature in romantic literature is moral; it bears symbolic meaning, and humans who challenge it with inadequate respect for the immanent power of the divine generally learn lessons in humility" (virtual mentor).

Who are they again?

So who were these Romanticism writers?

First of all they were a diverse group of individuals varying from different backgrounds and styles, but one thing that they had in common was that they were all individualistic minded writers

Here is a list of the authors below with their major works and importance:

"Young Goodman Brown"- "The Scarlet Letter"- "The House of Green Gables"-one of the anti-romantics

Edgar Allan Poe- "Narrative of Arthur Gordon Rym", "A Tell Tale Heart", "The Raven", inventor of the American short short-1

Washington Irving-"Rip Van Winkle", "Sleepy Hollow",

Walt Whitman- the controversial "Leaves of Grass", "Franklin Evans"

Henry David Thoreau- "Civil Disobedience"

Harriet Beecher Stowe- "Uncle Tom's Cabin". the "little lady who started the Civil War"

James Fenimore Cooper- "The Last of the Mohicans"

Emily Dickinson- "is My verse...alive"

, one of the bridge poets between American Romanticism and the 20th century