American Romanticism began in the early 1800s as a reaction against rationalism and industrialization. Romantics valued emotion, imagination, and nature over reason. They often used exotic settings or nature as an escape from reality. Early American writers developed a unique voice by using the American wilderness in their novels, like James Fenimore Cooper in The Last of the Mohicans. Transcendentalists like Ralph Waldo Emerson emphasized intuition and the divine in nature, while "Dark Romantics" like Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allan Poe provided a darker, more balanced view that acknowledged both good and evil in humanity and nature.

1. American Romanticism 1800-1860 L.Ruckel American Literature