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<h1 style="text-align: center;">Introduction to Romanticism</h1>
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<p>The Romanticism time period occurred in America from about 1800-1850. Romantic writers saw themselves as revolting against the "Age of Reason" and its values.&nbsp; They celebrated imagination and intuition versus reason and calculation.&nbsp; Romantics also valued individualism versus social conformity.&nbsp; Essentially, romantics believe in the natural goodness of man, that man in a state of nature would behave well but is hindered by civilization.</p>
<p>It is important to think about the Romantics as feelers, while the Rationalists were thinkers. &nbsp;Writers of this time period based their writings on the supernatural and human psychology.&nbsp;&nbsp; Romantic literature is personal and intense; it portrayed more emotion than ever seen in neoclassical literature.&nbsp; America's preoccupation with freedom became a great source of motivation for Romantic writers as many were delighted in free expression and emotion without so much fear of ridicule and controversy.&nbsp; They also put more effort into the psychological development of their characters, and the main characters typically displayed extremes of sensitivity and excitement.</p>
<p>Furthermore, American Romantic writers believed that poetry was the greatest witness to the power of the imagination.&nbsp; As literary models, American Romantic poets used poems established by European Romantics.&nbsp; Poets such as Longfellow, Bryant, Whittier, Lowell, and Holmes were referred to as the Fireside Poets because of their comfortable subjects appealing to families.</p>
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<h2>Essential Questions</h2>
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<li>How can we use literary theory to examine writing from the Romantic era?</li>
<li>How will knowing the parts of the sentence help me with my writing?</li>
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<h2 style="text-align: center;">Key Terms For Romanticism</h2>
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<h2>Romanticism Overview</h2>
&nbsp;The Romanticism time period was a reaction against Rationalism. &nbsp; It emphasizes feeling and intuition over reason and rational thought. &nbsp; When you think of the word romantic, you think about love and relationships, but this is actually not a characteristic of Romanticism at all.&nbsp;&nbsp;<strong>There are five characteristics of Romanticism that all begin with the letter "I": Intuition, Imagination, Innocence, Inspiration, and Inner Experience</strong>.
<p>Common features of Romanticism also include looking to the past as well as to nature for guidance and wisdom.&nbsp; The exotic and supernatural were also embraced.&nbsp; Washington Irving is a famous writer of the Romanticism time period.&nbsp; Edgar Allan Poe and Nathanial Hawthorne are considered Dark Romantics because they liked to explore the psychological effects of sin and the madness and derangement of the human psyche.&nbsp; Fireside poets, such as William Cullen Bryant and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, also made a significant impact on American Romanticism.</p>
<p>&nbsp;As we examine American Romantic literature, we will use the literary theories we took a brief look at last week (Feminism, Marxism, New Historicism/Cultural, and Psychoanalytic) to analyze the texts.</p>
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<div><strong>Works Cited</strong><br /> Image sources:&nbsp; <a href="http://icons.iconarchive.com/icons/deleket/button/256/Button-Play-icon.png">http://icons.iconarchive.com/icons/deleket/button/256/Button-Play-icon.png</a></div>