NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote
The Romanticism in American Literature Romanticism movement appeared in Europe in the beginning of XIX century and lasted till 40 s of XIX century. This movement marked all spheres of culture. It also had a great influence on religion and politics tracing their development from the neoclassicism and formal orthodoxy of the preceding period. Romanticism appeared slowly and exhibited so many phases that strict definition is not possible. The aspect most stressed in France is reflected in Victor Hugo's phrase "liberalism in literature, " meaning especially the freeing of the artist and writer from restrains and rules and suggesting that phase of individualism marked by the encouragement of revolutionary political ideas.
In American literature romanticism also played an important role because it was basis for an entirely new ideology. It was an age of great westward expansion, of the increasing gravity of the slavery question, of an intensification of the spirit of embattled sectionalism in the South, and of a powerful impulse to reform in the North (C. Hugh Holman and William Harmon. ) We can speak a lot about Romantic Era but I want to work out in detail only those questions, which concerns the works of Edgar Allan Poe. This remarkable writer made tremendous contribution to American and European literature. His works are enchantingly beautiful but have some common features, which are indivisible for the literature of this period, such as symbolism, use of analogy, mysticism, descriptions of emotional experience of main personages, etc. It was typical for the works of Romantic Era that positive hero rose above the world of profit, gain and lie.
He found the aim of his life in serving of lofty ideals such as honor, humaneness, freedom and brotherhood. Negative hero, on the other hand, was in harmony with society, his negativity contained in his aspiration for living according to the demands of society. When Edgar Allan Poe wrote his works, the main idea of existence was the superiority of spirit over the substance. That is why in his works Poe described humans soul, his feelings and emotions, but the way he did it made his works exclusive: Here once, through an alley Titanic, Of cypress, I roamed with my Soul- Of cypress, with Psyche, my Soul (Ulalume) If we examine the poem Ulalume closer we can distinctly see features, which are characteristic to the literature of the Romantic Era. In the center of this poem is a romantic hero and his feelings, his thoughts about love and life. I replied "This is nothing but dreaming: Let us on by this tremulous light! (E.
A. Poe). Throughout the poem author carried on a dialogue with himself through the image of the Psyche. With the help of this dialogue he shows readers the undercover of his soul and mind. According to Poe An analogy is a similarity of structure perceived by intuition, a similarity that helps us to get at the truth about the physical universe, or at the beauty of the artistic universe. Poe used the analogy for achieving the effect of presence, and we can actually feel it.
His language is rich with comparisons, they make whole picture more saturated and colorful There were days when my heart was volcanic, as the scotia rivers that roll as the lavas that restlessly roll Let us bathe in this crystalline light! Its Sybilic splendor is beaming (Poe). Beautiful language, isnt it? Symbolism is shown when he compared his long lost feelings with crypt By the door of a legend tomb (Poe). I think that whole poem Ulalume is a symbol of suffering soul and aching heart. Deep allegories and personification only added a thin lay of mysticism, making the process of perception far easier, and transferring it into the unknown sphere of wandering spirit.
Oh, fly! let us fly! for we must. (Poe) Maybe it is hard at first to understand the Poe's poetry but it is not designated for analyzing. We must feel it, and through feeling came the understanding.
Well I know, now, this dim lake of After (Poe) The poetry of the Romantic Era was predominantly romantic in spirit and form. And Alan Edgar Poe was one of the brightest writers of that time. His poetry is bewitching in the tumult of its unlimited fantasy. It is really worth reading because it is a powerful impulse to ones soul.
In literature it was America's first great creative period, a full flowering of the romantic impulse on American soil. (C. Hugh Holman and William Harmon). Bibliography Alan Edgar Poe Ulalume 1848 Lawrence, D. H. Edgar Allan Poe. Thompson, G.
R. Poe's Fiction: Romantic Irony in Gothic Tales. Madison, Wisconsin: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1973. Kesterson, David, B. , ed. Critics on Poe. Coral Gables Flordia: University of Flordia Press, 1973.
Woodberry, George Edward, Edgar Allan Poe. New York: AMS Press, 1968. < web > C. Hugh Holman and William Harmon, A Handbook to Literature < web >
Free research essays on topics related to: american literature, edgar poe, edgar allan poe, romantic era, xix century
Research essay sample on The Romanticism In American Literature
