Romanticism in American Literature Essay Example for Free

love affair in American Lite behindure EssayWithin this paper will be an explanation of the ideals of amatory sources in Early American Literature. We will likewise look at some aspects of Romanticism that were unequivocally understood by the writers and artists in the United States. There will be a brief handling of bright and dark Romantic writing and it is there that we will look at the constitutes, and one verse form each, of Henry David Thoreau, a bright romantic writer and Edgar Allan Poe, a dark romantic writer. Romanticism began in Germany some while around 1770.From there it spread to the rest of Europe including England and then finally to the United States. In the late Eighteenth Century peoples ideas ab come to the fore themselves, their religion, their world and the art and lit in it were evolving rapidly. This was mostly due to a re-examination of priorities and beliefs because of constant new scientific discoveries and an enthusiastic embrace of the unique ly merciful abilities of storytelling using ones imagination and a kind of rejection of reason and logic.For the first time since the concepts of religion and rulers began to regulate the constitution and creative energy of humankind people looked to a greater extent to nature and within to define themselves and their humanity or else than to their Churches or to their Kings. The Romantic period of American Literature is from close(predicate) 1830 to 1860 and it interestingly overlaps the period which is said to be Victorian (1830 to 1880) in the United States. Romantic writers believe in the natural goodness of man and also that what is special in a particular man should be highly valued.They indulge heavily in introspection and self-analysis. Some finding their deity within themselves while early(a)s found their religion in the bang of nature. Nature was food for the soul that provided their inspiration and was a resource for their wisdom. Indeed, for some of the Romantic w riters nature was their muse however, others found their inspiration in the dark corners of their human desires. As mentioned above the citizens of the United States were in a unique position to embrace the tenets of Romanticism with a political movement that focused more on the singular.By shedding the oppressive monarchy of old England they were fountainhead on their way to forming what Emerson called a res publica of men who were future(a) Jacksonian democracy. By most historical accounts, (President Andrew) Jackson is seen as largely responsible for(p) for effecting this political and cultural transformation of the United States from a republic, governed by an elect few, to a democracy. Jackson persuaded Americans that monarch moreoverterfly power resided in themthat they would control the governing process by deciding questions of constitutionality, law, and representation through the voter turnout box.Many writers, philosophers, and activists were also convinced by Ja cksons rhetoric of democracy, believing that more concern for the rights of common individuals would riposte a more inclusive political and cultural environment receptive to the ideals of a young times of Americans, (Didion). oneness can easily see why the material that writers in the United States were shake offting out fell into line with the musings, literature and poetry of Romantic writers all over the world. By being candid to the political aspects of the culture here they were in a position where their art reflected the lives of their patrons.Why, though, were some of the writings about the nature all around us and bright beauty found within it and some of it was about the dark nature of mankind and the sorrow found there? Bright Romantics used a coming together of science and nature to allow both to work together. Meanwhile they would put emphasis on the individuals ability to take themselves out of society to live in nature away from the rat race. A good example of a bright Romantic writer would be Henry David Thoreau. He is famous for having written, among many other works, Walden which is about living simply in nature.Thoreau was an abolitionist and his essay obliging Disobedience is a piece that inspired Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. to eng eld in peaceful polite disobedience to protest unjust governments. He also wrote Nature, a poem we will look at more in depth later in this paper. Henry David Thoreau (born David Henry Thoreau) lived from July 12, 1817 May 6, 1862. He was attending Harvard during Andrew Jacksons second inauguration. He was a freelance writer who tried but was done for(predicate) at becoming a fulltime professional writer.Having not been quite as successful at his vision of writing as he is posthumously was a bit of a disap repointment to Henry. He had self-aggrandising up the son of a storekeeper and liquor salesman in respectable poverty and had his share of other sorrows as well having seen two of his belove d siblings die. His brother tin died of typhus which he got while shaving. His younger sister Sophia died in 1846 at the age of 36 of the same affliction that would claim Henrys life, tuberculosis. Thoreau loved the open air and would rather live of the land than any other way.He enjoyed waling in the surface so much he had said while hunting never did he find his loot to be too heavy. He held many odd jobs to support himself while traveling and writing but he was truly well known in his fathers later business of draw making. Biographer Robert Sullivan writes that while in the employ of the pencil company Thoreau studied various graphite hardnesses sic and invented a utensil that manufactured a finer grind. The centerpiece was a cylinder, in which the finer graphite settled to the rat for ready collection.The new invention pushed the company ahead of its rivals, (142). While his dreams of being a professional writer went mostly unfulfilled he found great joy and contentment a s mentioned above in nature. He was well thought of in his life but revered as a writer after his death. In The Life of Henry David Thoreau, Sanborn writes, Thoreau had various missions in this world, some of which he fulfilled, and passed beyond them others he did not live long enough to complete, and only approached perfection at remote intervals.Versifying was one of these last mentioned though the poetic perception and ideal nature was not only brought to a high point of excellence in his last twenty years, but he exhibited in his youth and early faculty for good writing, which his devotion to the art developed into what may easily pass for perfection in his beat passages. (51). Dark Romantics wrote about how a person views their world and how their mind has the power to change the world they live in. They have a tendency to reject science for fiction and be very involved in the macabre. They are also very introspective.Arguably the best Dark Romantic writer was Edgar Allan Poe who lived from 1809 to 1849. Born celestial latitude 9 to thespians David and Eliza Poe, who would both die two years later in 1811, Edgar was raised by John and Fanny Allan of Richmond Virginia. John and Edgar never got along due to Johns disdain for how he viewed Edgars existence. Until John inherited great wealth, which he eventually kept from Edgar, he viewed Edgar as a drain on his hard fought earnings. Poe faced a lot of tragedy at a very early age and lived a life that was filled with challenges, some self-imposed.He had a lot of unrequited and lost love therefore, women in some form or another filled pages of his poetry. Poe believed that the goal of literature was not to mirror reality but instead to pursue Beauty in its highest and widest sense. As Poe put it, A poem in my opinion, is opposed to a work of science by having for its immediate object, pleasure, not truth, (27) writes James Hutchinson in his book Poe. For Poe writing was at the very center of his existence . He wrote for some time before becoming celebrated but it did happen while he lived.Poe did make his living through words though poetry prose and becoming the chief editor at several monthlies as well as writing pieces for magazines. Later Hutchinson notes that The Raven was an instant success and Poe woke up to find himself famous. (165). Though famous he seemed forever tragic. Peter Ackroyd writes of his alcoholism saying that after a particularly strong pig out in PA, Poe acknowledges that the whole experience in Philadelphia became for him a phantasmagoria of suffering, brought on by what he described as mania-a-potu, or alcoholic madness.It is the first indication that he realised sic the nature of his true condition. (185). Although feverish Poe had left over(p) Richmond VA to visit friends in Baltimore MD, days later, he was found unconscious in a tavern in Baltimore. His previous whereabouts were a mystery and Poe died in a hospital on October 7, 1849 at the age of for ty, reminiscent of one of the characters in his works. Both men died young and that was all too common in those times. Their lives were quite different.It is not a surprise that both men lived what they wrote, for Thoreau of the beauty of the outdoors and the nature there was his refuge from life and he died enjoying the Woods at Walden that he enjoyed so much. Although he married the fille of his paternal Aunt when she was just thirteen, for Poe the love he searched for he never really found. It was maternal in nature and he would never fill that void through drugs and alcohol. The tragedy of his writing was told in his biography.The following are one poem each by Thoreau and Poe. They are similar in their rhythm and their poesy scheme however, their symbolism and mood are very different. Poes poem is about a good-looking valley where many people died in battle and they haunt the valley still. Thoreau writes about the beauty of the outdoors and how he longs only to commune with his beloved nature and pass his days in the great outdoors. One does not need to be told who wrote which poem that is obvious by their content.