Meaning Of Life In The Second Great Awakening

The era of the Romantics was a unique era, filled with interesting thoughts and ideas on different areas of life. The Romantics wrote about the meaning of life in many categories, such as Nature, Death, Emotion, etc. Romantic writers came to be in the Second Great Awakening in the early 1800s. The writers and/or poets were classified as either Pessimists and Optimists. The Pessimists looked at life as dark and life was serious; they were more analytical on the purpose of life. The Optimists were more loose and carefree; they had a “stop and smell the roses” vibe. Transcendentalism arose as a protest against the general state of intellectualism and spirituality at the time. Today, modern Romantics can be identified by the type of music they

Pessimists are, in appearance, poker faced people by nature. They can control their emotions very well, and they do not allow their emotions to cloud their judgement and perception of life. Life to them is not wishy washy. They try to live their life with a true meaning with an understanding of who they are compared to Nature, or even God. Death is taken with caution, and Truth is a tool of destruction. Pessimists will think before they do because they fear Death. Romantic Pessimists would more than likely listen to someone like Johnny Cash or Elvis Presley. These artists have darker lyrics with a deep meaning about the Truth of their lives which led to their destruction as people. Johnny Cash had a very dark life and he had an understanding of the Pessimist world. Both artists have songs which include stories of men who have been destroyed by Truth; Johnny Cash more than Elvis. Pessimists would also listen to music which told them of their small world compared to this large world. One artist, Propaganda, is a Christian Rapper/Spoken Word. He reveals the reality of life and makes the listener feel small compared to the God above, and the Creation God architected. These are but a few artists Pessimists would listen to; darker, more realistic lyrics than something more

They embrace their emotions and it affects every aspect of their lives. The one emotion they might lack would be fear. Everything should be embraced. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it can lead to misleading paths; paths which should be feared. While a Pessimist has the tendency to be analytical about life, the Optimist relishes every bit of it. Nature is loved, and when finding the Truth in life it is not seen as destructive, but rather they believe it will set them free from the burdens of the not knowing. Even Death is a bright light shining hope and confidence in the Optimist. Having these characteristics, Optimists listen to more of a country music vibe, and songs to party and live to. These genres give the message live in the moment. The rest of life does not matter except right now; living. The songs Optimists would listen to would not be heavy lyrics with a deep, introspective meaning. The lyrics would contain more of a free spirit message; songs encouraging the Optimists to embrace their emotions and let them run free. They would also be positive about the end of life, such as the song Die Young sung by Ke$ha and the band AJR, who only sing about the freedom of life. Optimists listen to happy music with good vibes, and they would not listen to a song to put them down as a person or make them feel small. Optimists want to conquer the world, and one