Romanticism was an intellectual movement of the late 17th and early 18th century that reacted against the Rationalism of the French Enlightenment. According to Romanticism, reason is insufficient in providing answers and is flawed in many respects. Romantics believed that man was naturally good and in the goodness and beauty of nature.
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OrginsReligion, Individualism, Nature, Growth of democracy, the way west and economic growth, fierce competition due to new prosperity all lead up and originated Romanticism
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WritersDickinson - wrote for a personal need to wrestle with questions about death, immortality, and the soul
William Bryant - wrote lyric poems rejoicing in the healing powers of nature Edgar Allan Poe - wrote for haunting poems and suspenseful stories with characters said to be from another world than this Natty Bumppo - wrote wrote to show her preference of nature over civilization |
Romantic HeroThe Romantic Hero came about during this time period. This character is one who values emotion, lived apart from society, and was very close with the natural world
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Dark Romantics |
Trandcendentalism |
These were the Romantic writers that took an optimistic approach to the mystical aspects of the universe where sins are properly punished and those who are truly good are rewarded. They focused in on the more dark and gloomy side of things and looked into the supernatural. These people were also known as the Goths
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Transcendentalism is defined as understanding a person which gains intuitively because it lies beyond direct experience. It has to do of or relating to a spiritual or nonphysical realm. These writers, such as Immanuel Kant, drew on others such as Plato, Pascal, Swedenborg, and the anti materialism of Buddhist thought. |