ipl-logo

American Romanticism: The American Enlightenment And The American Revolution

727 Words3 Pages

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

Show More
Related
832 Words | 4 Pages

After the French and Indian War, Britain had acquired extensive territory, and therefore to manage its debts they decided to oppress their colonies .The English decided the best way to get rid of the debt was to inflect higher tariffs on the colonies causing, Americans to dramatically shift their ideas about independence. At first, colonists felt a part of the British system and therefore merely wanted slightly more representation in parliament and recognition in colonial assemblies; however as years progressed, by 1783 Americans felt they truly wanted independence away from Great Britain. There were many factors that contributed to the disunion between England and America such as Taxes, Enlightenment ideals and the various laws that the British

Read More
1167 Words | 5 Pages

The American colonies established their resistance to the British royal crown, as the ministers of King George III began to impose new taxes trying to reduce debt that incurred during the French and Indian War, aka the Seven Years War (1754-1763). The American

Read More
619 Words | 3 Pages

Romanticism is a type of story that finds inspiration in myth, legend, and folk culture. Following this principle, Washington Irving has written many stories about romanticism. These stories include, “The Devil and Tom Walker” and “Rip Van Winkle. Irving’s stories, “The Devil and Tom Walker, and “Rip Van Winkle” both show traits of romanticism because they both include the supernatural realm, youthful innocence over sophistication, shunning civilization, and folk culture.

Read More
290 Words | 2 Pages

The American Revolution was a war between the American colonies and Great Britain, in which the American colonies won their independence from great Britain. Gaining their independence from Britain was not as easy as it might have sounded. People in America were strongly independent and wanted to do things for themselves, but Great Britain had different plans for the them. The rules that were inflicted upon the Americans evoked many factors that were responsible for the American Revolution. The British government used ways to coerce the Americans.

Read More
1024 Words | 5 Pages

American Romanticism were mostly written during the 1800’s. The use of American Romanticism was to get readers to read. The authors would exaggerate stories to get them attached and start reading them. American Romanticism were stories that were mostly gothic or dark stories. The death of a protagonist is usually over exaggerated.

Read More
748 Words | 3 Pages

The romantic movement swept across Europe during the nineteenth century. Poets, artists, and musicians at this time encompassed romanticism’s characteristics into their works. These documents will help to gain a better understanding of the characteristics through analysis and explanation. Romanticism is significant due to its characteristics of emotional exuberance, unrestrained imagination, and spontaneity in both artistic and personal life. To begin with, the literary and artistic scenes during this period were filled with emotive individuals.

Read More
388 Words | 2 Pages

Rebellion and violence were rampant because the thirteen colonies were all fed up with British rule. The reaction to taxation resulted to violence. Powerful groups often rose against taxation and in December of 1773, the Boston Tea Party occurred to express disapproval. Citizens handled their anger by pouring tea into the Boston harbor.

Read More
951 Words | 4 Pages

The American Revolution, ending in 1783, has been seen to have ended in America’s favor. Having succeeded because the power of government was given to the people, the French revolution didn’t end the same. When the French revolution, ending in 1799, was seen to have not succeeded in many of the aspects they were fighting for. Despite the bloodshed, laws, civil rights, and codes were not successfully implemented and did not uphold the ideals for which the people had fought. The Napoleonic Code and Declaration of Rights of Man are also prime examples of how the French Revolution was not able to succeed.

Read More
2184 Words | 9 Pages

The Scarlet Letter is a popular novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne which is mainly read during one's high school years. The Scarlet letter is set during the sixteenth century in Boston Massachusetts where a young woman named Hester Prynne is publicly shamed by the Puritans. When Hawthorne was writing this novel he described the puritans as a sad, bland society which had a reliance on the consequence of sin. His description of the Puritan society was not fully opinion-based since the Puritans that came over from England did dress simply. This leads the reader to wonder how much of his personal opinion made its way into the story and how much is historical fact.

Read More
471 Words | 2 Pages

The Enlightenment was a time period in which people began to embrace individuality and many Enlightenment thinkers arose. The Enlightenment was a movement that was highly based upon reason and logic. It occurred around the mid-1700’s and helped develop a new way of life. John Locke was an influential thinker during this time. John Locke is a french philosopher and writer who developed Natural Rights.

Read More
1214 Words | 5 Pages

American Romanticism American Romanticism is a concept that developed in the 17th century. Romanticism is all about emotions, the meaning of life, religion, society, the human form, death, and nature. Romanticism is very diverse and complex because each writer interprets the themes differently and each person who reads the poem can see something different and unique. Two famous and influential romantic poets were Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman. Although Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman were both romantic poets they interpreted society and death in two completely different ways.

Read More
1383 Words | 6 Pages

Dark Romanticism evolves from works of the Romantic Period (1798-1870) with characteristics of horror fiction and death. It is taken as a reaction of the Transcendental Movement, which originated abreast the Romantic Period from 1830 to 1860. Known writers like Edgar Allan Poe, Herman Melville, and Nathaniel Hawthorne found that the ideas displayed in the Transcendental works were idealistic and rose-colored, as a result, they opt to alter these works adding their own element hence this was the birth of the subgenre. To explore more about this subgenre we have three Americans mentioned above that are considered as major Dark Romantics authors. Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts on January 19, 1809.

Read More
506 Words | 3 Pages

Also, when Ahab is on the trail to kill Moby Dick he almost destroys the ship in the process. The effect of the evil doing can help show the end result and who it will

Read More
336 Words | 2 Pages

The Enlightenment movement, also knows as the "age of reason", began from the work of 18th century scientists and philosophers. Among these philosophers were, Voltaire, Diderot, D'Alembert, Decartes, and Montesquieu. They called themselves philosophes, philosophers were more concerned with abstract theories. Philosophes dedicated themselves to solving real world problems. The Enlightenment movement emphasized reason and individualism.

Read More
972 Words | 4 Pages

Rousseau Take II Jean-Jacques Rousseau (b. 1712—d. 1778) was a French philosopher and thinker who was born in Geneva, Switzerland. He is considered to be one of the most influential philosophers and thinkers of the 18th century and his ideas mark the end of the Age of Reason and the beginning of the Romantic era. He 's a forerunner of Romanticism, and promoted the ideas of the return to nature, the Natural Law, the Noble Savage and the importance of natural education. His works influenced the leaders of the French revolution, since Rousseau rejected the restraints placed on man in his contemporary society. He encouraged man to embrace his emotions and to step away from the pretentiousness of society ("Jean-Jaqcues Rousseau").

Read More

More about American Romanticism: The American Enlightenment And The American Revolution

Related Topics

Open Document