Entry 16: Intro to Romanticism

The next focus of study for this class is the period of American Romanticism (1800-1860). For this journal entry you will need to do a little research. Answer the following questions:

• What were the values of the Romantics, and how did these values affect the American imagination?
• Who were the Transcendentalists, and how do their beliefs still influence American life?
• What darker side of human life was recognized by some major American Romantics?

You can find answers to these questions in your textbook in the section starting on page 156. Of course you are welcome to use other sources as well. As you read about the Romantic period, keep in mind the ideas of the Puritans and Rationalists. How do they compare?

• The Romantics believed in feeling, emotion, and intuition over reason. They developed as a reaction against rationalism, because they saw the effects and the conditions of life during and after the Industrial Revolution, which were not very good. They also realized that there are limits of reason, and that imagination has a larger and wider scope to find the truth that the rationalists couldn't find. They are usually powered by strong emotions, and also usually associated with nature. Romanticism affected the American imagination by basically getting the Americans to be more emotional and getting them to associate more with nature. 
• The transcendentalists were people who believed in the ideal that in determining the ultimate reality of God, the universe, the self, and other important matters, one must transcend everyday human experience in the physical world. They continue to influence American life today because many people believe that they should work towards human perfectibility.
• The darker side of human life recognized by American Romantics was that not everything the Romantics believed, such as feeling, emotion, and intuition over reason, is positive and optimistic. Some of it may be negative and show the bad sides of human nature. They made note of the fact of guilt and sin.