1. American Romanticism : major trends and representatives.

At its beginning, American was full of hope. It was a new nation filled with great ideas of freedom and
heroism and early American literature reflected these feelings and in the younger days of the united
states romantic literature was prevalent. In this context romantic literature hasn’t got anything to do
with an attraction between two people. The literature of this period is considered romantic because
most of the authors at this time focused on feelings. Romantic writers were usually very open about
their feeling on human rights and often focused more on the individual characters in their stories and
their characters’ emotions. Occasionally their writing depicted events such as was taking out most of
the blood and focusing how noble it was to die for your country. American romantic writers can be
divided into 4 main groups: the early romantics, the Fireside poets, the Transcendentalists and the
American Gothics.

The early Romantics were very inspired by the beauty of America. Since America was newly
separated from Britain at the time the style of these new writers was very similar to that of the British
authors of the time. These writers displayed general characteristics of romantics: rejoicing
individualism and putting more emphasis on emotions than realism. Well known authors of the time
were William Cullen Bryant and Washington Irving. Bryant was more of a poet, whereas Irving’s
claim to fame was the invention of the short story.

The fireside poets earn their names because families in this time would often sit around fires at night
and read poetry aloud. This group was more focused on the appreciation of nature than the other ones.
They were the first American poets who were considered equal to the British of the time - a huge
accomplishment for the budding Americans. The most famous fireside poet is Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow who is largely known for Paul Revere’s Ride - a poetic account of revere’s trip to warn the
patriots of the coming of the British.

A lot of nature-centred American poetry was written by the Transcendentalists. Their deep love for
nature is legendary as is their belief that the simple life can be just as fulfilling as one filled with
worldly possessions. They were one of the first groups to openly oppose slavery in the US.
Transcendentalism was also a philosophical movement, largely supported by author Ralf Waldo
Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. These men believed that emotions and imagination were hightly
important and were strong advocates of individual spirit. Transcendentalists saw that all people were
good at heart and believed that more goodness can be achieved by being closer to nature. To make a
point, Thoreau lived in a cabin in the woods with no conveniences of the time and documented his
experiences in a book called Walden. The Transcendentalists’ love for nature and individualism can be
seen in their writing. Both “Self-relience” by Emerson and “Civil Disobedience” by Thoreau are both
centered on standing up for one’s personal beliefs no matter what the cost. They also focused on living
simply instead of getting swept up by the world.

Eventually since the Transcendentalists did not succeed in getting rid of slavery, American literature
took a turn for the dark and supernatural – the Gothic period of American writing. Several of the
Gothic writers and their works are still quite famous today. American Gothic writers believed that all
humans were bad at heart and often exploit the evil could do in their writing. The motivations of these
characters were emphasized in the athours often added surreal omens to their writing. Three of the
most famous American Gothics were Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville and Edgar Allen Poe.
Poe is unquestionably one of the most celebrated from the American authors, Gothic or otherwise. His
works are the epitome of American Gothic period, frightening bizarre and sometimes disturbing. Poe’s
characters often are insane and death happened in most of his stories. Lost love is also a common
theme among Poe’s works, possibly because his wife who was also his first cousin died at a young
age. One of Poe’s most famous poems Annabel Lee was written about his wife. Poe’s short stories
were just as celebrated as his poetry. His detective stories actually inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s
famous character Sherlock Holmes but Poe’s most famous short story is The Tell-Tale Heart – a tale of
a young man who is so haunted by his master’s eye that he decides to kill his master.

Another one from the famous gothics, Herman Melville, is known for creating a massive mythical
whale called Moby Dick – the sole obsession of captain Ahab, a man who devoted his entire life to
search for the great whale.