Analysis of Romanticism
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ROMANTICISM (1800-1850)
<sum> Early Romanticism is best seen in poetry
<sum> Late or High Renaissance, classified as Transcendentalism, is best seen in prose.
QUICK REVIEW OF RATIONALISM
<sum> Good things:
o Reason
o Order
o Science
o Balance
o Harmony
o Rationality
o The Intellect
<sum> The basic idea of Romanticism is feeling over reason.
<sum> Began in Europe (basically in Germany) in the late 1700s
<sum> Was a reaction against the rigid thinking of the rationalists
<sum> TRUTH was found by using the imagination, not the intellect
ROMANTIC PROSE:
<sum> American writers wanted to create a more pure American literature that didn't just seem like "warmed over" British literature
<sum> The three great fiction writers of this time were the "Dark Romantics"
o Edgar Allen Poe
o Herman Melville
o Nathaniel Hawthorne- Melville called him America's own Shakespeare
PROSE FICTION:
1. The American wilderness was still mysterious and somewhat threatening to Romantic writers. The positive side was that it was full of possibilities.
2. The landscape required a hero of stories or novels with certain characteristics
a. Male- women were signs of domestics
b. Young or youthful
c. Innocent
d...