This report discusses the periods of American literature and American renaissance. European settlers wrote about their experiences in the 17th century to 1830. The type of literature was straightforward, practical, and focused on the future. Often, it borrowed from Great Britain literature. The American Romantic period lasted from 1830 to 1870. Romanticism places more value on individuals than groups. It also values the wildness of nature over human-made order. Edgar Allan Poe described a Romantic individual to be one who undergoes torments and struggles against convention. Other writers also emerged during the Romantic period of American literature to explore individuals’ experiences in American society. The period of realism and naturalism lasted from 1870 to 1910, followed by the modernist period (1910-1945). Currently, we are in the contemporary period.
periods of American literature and the American renaissance
EARLY APPROACHES TO THE AMERICAN RENAISSANCE
The American renaissance referred to the period between 1850 to 1855. Several works of rich literature existed during this period. Examples include Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick, and Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Representative Men. The American renaissance occurred during the American Romantic period due to enhancements in literature. Critics argue that the period began after the publication of Emerson’s pamphlet Nature in 1836. At the time, most of the literature focused on the paradoxes, ironies, and ambiguities in the thematic density and stylistic innovation. Writings from this period of American literature are arguably the worthiest after adopting a formalist approach to literature.
early approaches to the American renaissance
LITERATURE AND HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN ROMANTIC PERIOD
The American Romantic period developed as a result of romantic movements in Europe. It lasted until the end of the Civil War, where realism rose. The reactions to former orthodoxy and Neoclassicism enhanced the embracing of the American Romantic period. Here, authors had more freedom from the authority, forms, and conventions typical in Neoclassical literature. This was when most of the literature moved in channels that were in strong contrast to the standard literary practice of the eighteenth century. During the same period, the American renaissance also arose, lasting only a few decades. Lastly, common themes of the romantic period include humanitarianism and democracy, expansive idealism, and the dignity of the common man.
literature and history of the American Romantic period
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