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American Romanticism: The American Enlightenment And The American Revolution

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The American Romantic Movement is a period where American literature reached their peak. However, this couldn’t have happened without the factor of other historical events. This video highlights the creation of American literature identity through fiction novels of the American Romanticism period which was caused by the Enlightenment and the American Revolution. The European Enlightenment is a philosophical movement in the 18th century where rational and scientific thinking was implemented. This resulted in the rise of concepts such as scientific method, reason and liberty. Some key philosophers during this age are Voltaire, John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Isaac Newton and many more.

The Enlightenment is a movement that …show more content…

Before the revolt, the tension between the representatives of the British Crown and the 13 Colonies was high. This is because the Americans were forced to pay taxes such as the Sugar Act and the Stamp Act to recover the debt that was accumulated during the French and Indian War by the Great Britain’s authorities.

Another reason for the Americans’ anger was due to the British authorities barring their rights in voting for the British Parliament at the time. Two figures, Patrick Henry and Thomas Paine raised the idea of total independence from the Great Britain. Due to this, the Americans started to stockpile guns and ammunition to showcase their rebellion against the Great Britain.

After eight long, gruelling years of war, America, with the help of France, finally won the revolution and their independence was acknowledged in the Treaty of Paris. After their victory, the Americans declared themselves as a Republican country.

American Romanticism (1820 - …show more content…

The Scarlet Letter (1850) by Nathaniel Hawthorne is one of the American Romanticism’s famous fiction novel. The novel explores nature, society and the individual self to show us that we are far more capable than what others say we are and is far greater than what our world expects us to be.

Dark Romanticism

In Romanticism, two categories can be identified. The Transcendentalists and the Dark Romantics. Dark Romanticism is a sub-genre of Romanticism which was formed as a reaction towards the transcendental movement in 19th century. Dark romanticism is the opposite of romanticism in which they have a fascination for the irrational, the grotesque and the demonic.

Some key writers in this sub-genre are Edgar Allan Poe, Herman Melville, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Emily Dickinson. One of the all-time famous dark-romanticism fiction novels is Moby Dick by Herman Melville. This novel contains the complete characteristics of romanticism; freedom, imagination, nature and individualism. However, it is the intentions of Captain Ahab, a character in the novel, made the work took a dark turn as he was driven by vengeance while venturing into the sea in search for the white whale that took his

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