The origins and characteristics of the

romanticism in England and America

The origins and characteristics of the romanticism in England an America

American Romanticism

The European Romantic movement reached America during the early 19th century.
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 the early settlement period.
The Romantics rejected rationalism and religious intellect. It appealed especially to
opponents of Calvinism, a Protestant sect that believes the destiny of each
individual is preordained by God.

Accord to Scheidenhelm (2007) the romanticism was "an age of great westward
expansion, of the increasing gravity of the slavery questions, of an intensification of
the spirit of embattled sectionalism in the South, and of a powerful impulse to
reform in the North" (Harman 454). It has many of the same characteristics as
European Romanticism but had several uniquely American aspects.

Romantic Themes

The Romantic Movement in America was widely popular and influenced American
writers such as James Fennimore Cooper and Washington Irving. Novels, short
stories, and poems replaced the sermons and manifestos of earlier days. Romantic
literature was personal and intense; it 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
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 and literacy rose
during the period. The Romantic period also saw an increase in female authors
and readers.
Prominent Romantic Writers

Romantic poetry in the United States can be seen as early as 1818 with William
Cullen Bryant's "To a Waterfowl". American Romantic Gothic literature made an
early appearance with Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1820)
and Rip Van Winkle (1819), followed from 1823 onwards by the Leatherstocking
Tales of James Fennimore Cooper. In his popular novel Last of the Mohicans,
Cooper expressed romantic ideals about the relationship between men and nature.
These works had an emphasis on heroic simplicity and fervent landscape
descriptions of an already-exotic mythicized frontier peopled by "noble savages".
Edgar Allan Poe's tales of the macabre and his balladic poetry were more
influential in France than at home, but the romantic American novel developed fully
with the atmosphere and melodrama of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter
(1850).

Later transcendentalist writers such as Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo
Emerson still show elements of its influence and imagination, as does the romantic
realism of Walt Whitman. Emerson, a leading transcendentalist writer, was highly
influenced by romanticism, especially after meeting leading figures in the European
Romantic Movement in the 1830s. He is best known for his romantic-influenced
essays such as Nature (1836) and Self-Reliance" (1841). The poetry of Emily
Dickinsonnearly unread in her own timeand Herman Melville's novel Moby-
Dick can be taken as epitomes of American Romantic literature. By the 1880s,
however, psychological and social realism were competing with Romanticism in the
novel.

Characteristics:

Characters and setting set apart from society; characters were not of our
own conscious kind
Static characters--no development shown
Characterization--work proves the characters are what the narrator has
stated or shown
Universe is mysterious; irrational; incomprehensible
Gaps in causality
Formal language
Good receive justice; nature can also punish or reward
Silences of the text--universals rather than learned truths
Plot arranged around crisis moments; plot is important
Plot demonstrates
Romantic love
Honor and integrity
 Idealism of self
Supernatural foreshadowing (dreams, visions)
Description provides a "feeling" of the scene

The Romantic Movement in England

At the end of the 18th century a new movement in literature arose in England. It
was called Romanticism, and it opposed most of the ideas held earlier in the
century. Romanticism had its roots in a changed attitude toward humankind. The
forerunners of the Romanticists argued that humans are naturally good; society
makes them bad. If the social world could be changed, all men might be happier.
Many reforms were suggested: better treatment of people in prisons and
almshouses, fewer death penalties for minor crimes, and an increase in charitable
institutions.

The Romanticists believed that all people are kin and deserve the treatment to
which human beings are by nature entitled. Every person has a right to life, liberty,
and equal opportunity. These ideas had been well stated in the American
Declaration of Independence. In France a revolution of the common people began
in 1789. Many English people hoped that the new democraciesFrance and the
United Stateswould show the way for the rest of the world to follow. Along with
democracy and individualism came other ideas. One of these ideas was that the
simple, humble life is best. Another was that people should live close to nature.
Thus the Romantic Movement was inherently antiprogress, if progress meant
industrialization.

Forward (2005) stated that Today the word romantic evokes images of love and
sentimentality, but the term Romanticism has a much wider meaning. It covers a
range of developments in art, literature, music and philosophy, spanning the late
18th and early 19th centuries. The Romantics would not have used the term
themselves: the label was applied retrospectively, from around the middle of the
19th century.

In 1762 Jean-Jacques Rousseau declared in The Social Contract: Man is born

free, and everywhere he is in chains. During the Romantic period major transitions
took place in society, as dissatisfied intellectuals and artists challenged the
Establishment. In England, the Romantic poets were at the very heart of this
movement. They were inspired by a desire for liberty, and they denounced the
exploitation of the poor. There was an emphasis on the importance of the
individual; a conviction that people should follow ideals rather than imposed
conventions and rules. The Romantics renounced the rationalism and order
associated with the preceding Enlightenment era, stressing the importance of
expressing authentic personal feelings. They had a real sense of responsibility to
their fellow men: they felt it was their duty to use their poetry to inform and inspire
others, and to change society.

Major Early Romantic Poets

The following share characteristics of Romantic poets:

William Blake (1757-1827): Blake's poetry dwelt upon his divine vision and rebelled
against traditional poetic forms and techniques. He created his own mythological
world with man as the central figure. His more famous poems include The Lamb,
The Tyger, The Chimney Sweeper, and The Clod and the Pebble. What makes
Blake's poem especially attractive for teaching in high school is he often wrote two
poems with the same title--one poem negative and one poem positive, excellent for
compare and contrast writing.

William Wordsworth (1770-1850): The most famous of the British Romantics,

Wordsworth is considered the nature poet. He revolutionized poetic subjects,
focusing on ordinary people in rustic settings. He, in addition, wrote about and
considered the poet as superior to all other writers. His most famous poems
include I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud, We are Seven, and I Travelled Among
Unknown Men. Most high school literature textbooks have at least one poem by
Wordsworth.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834): Coleridge and Wordsworth are often

grouped together as The Lake Poets, and for good reason. Together they are
credited as the founders of the Romantic Movement. Coleridge's most famous
poems, Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Kubla Kahn, and Christabel have a distinct
supernatural element and strongly influenced American Romantics such as Poe
and Hawthorne.

Later Romantic Poets

The following share characteristics of later Romantic poets:

Lord Byron (1788-1824): Lord Byron enjoyed unmatched popularity. Byron's most
famous creations are his dark heroes, called Byronic heroes, who, in fact, were not
heroes at all, but stood out from ordinary humans as larger than life. The Byronic
hero brooded, possessed insatiable appetites and incredible strength, rebelled
against societal norms, and forced upon himself exile. Byron's most famous works
include Don Juan and Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. Lord Byron is generally reserved
for university level literature courses and is rarely found in high school anthologies.
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822): Like all Romantics, Shelley was a radical non-
conformist. He campaigned for social justice, even marrying the daughter of Mary
Wollstonecraft, an English leader in the women's rights movement. His wife would
later write Frankenstein. His most famous poems include Mutability, Ozymandias,
and Ode to the West Wind.

John Keats (1795-1821): Perhaps the most popular Later Romantic poet, Keats
accomplished great things during his short life. His Ode to a Nightingale, Ode on a
Grecian Urn, and Ode on Melancholy find their way into anthologies throughout the
English speaking world. Keats considered contact with poets as a threat to his
independence and therefore shunned his contemporaries.
References

Scheidenhelm, C. (2007, August 14). American Literary History: Romanticism,

Realism and Naturalism . Retrieved March 6, 2017, from
http://www.luc.edu/faculty/cschei1/teach/rrn.html

Forward, S. (2005). The Romantics. Retrieved March 6, 2017, from

https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/the-romantics