The american renaissaance
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The document discusses the American Renaissance period in the mid-19th century and the major Transcendentalist writers that helped develop a uniquely American voice and perspective. Key writers mentioned include Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Herman Melville. Transcendentalist literature encouraged individuals to find their own relationship with nature and advocated for positive relationships between people and anti-slavery views. Important works that influenced society include Longfellow's poem "The Slave's Dream", Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, and Melville's poem "The Portent" about John Brown.
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The american renaissaance
- 1. The American Renaissance A New Way of Thinking O’Dell Isaac II ENG 491 Instructor: Stephen Rogers February 10, 2014
- 2. By the early- to mid-19th century, the United States had established a government and society that was uniquely American. It needed a uniquely American voice to go with it. As is often the case, society turned to its artists. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Harriet Beecher Stowe Herman Melville
- 3. Relationship with the universe Transcendentalist literature taught readers to view nature in a whole new way, and encouraged each person to establish and cultivate his or her own individual relationship with nature.
- 4. Relationship with the one’s fellow man They believed humans should, whenever possible, cultivate positive relationships with each other For this reason, Transcendentalists were anti-slavery Transcendentalists writers were among the country’s most passionate abolitionist voices
- 5. “The Slave’s Dream” Longfellow’s 1842 poem, meantto illustrate the cruelty and inhumanity of slavery, is about the final dream of a field slave, who dies reminiscing about his former freedom in his native Africa.
- 6. Uncle Tom’s Cabin Harriet Beecher Stowe’s 1852 novel sold 300,000 copies in its first year of publication and mobilized public opinion against slavery. It is considered one of the most influential books of its time.
- 7. “The Portent” At left is John Brown as he appeared in 1858. At right is an artist’s rendering of Brown during the raid at Harper’s Ferry. The artists portrayed Brown as a wild-eyed, bearded madman, and slavery proponents saw him as such. Whether Herman Melville saw Brown as a madman is unclear. However, Melville did see Brown’s hanging as a harbinger of bad things to come, which is why he titled his poem “The Portent.” The Civil War took place soon afterward.
- 8. Baym, N. (Ed.) The Norton Anthology of American Literature (7th. Ed.), Volume 1. W.N. Norton & Company, New York, N.Y., 2008. Davis, K. Don’t Know Much About History. HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., New York, N.Y., 2004. Loewen, J. Lies My Teacher Told Me. Simon & Schuster, Inc., New York, N.Y., 2007.
- 9. Retrieved from: Loewen, J. Lies My Teacher Told Me. Simon & Schuster, Inc., New York, N.Y., 2007. www.notablebiographies.com www.globaldigitalstudio.com www.pbs.com www.biocitizen.org
Editor's Notes
- The American Revolution succeeded in achieving a full separation from England. The new country had government and legislative structures that were uniquely American. The next logical achievement was the establishment of a uniquely American voice. This voice gained timbre and strength during the period known as the American Renaissance. The early to mid-19th century was a period marked by a literary explosion in America. During this time, several influential writers created works of literature that are considered masterpieces today. These works reflected the social growth and change that was taking place in the country during the time. Three of those authors were Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Herman Melville.
- Transcendentalism was a philosophical, social, and literary movement that began in the early 19th century and was centered around leading writers like Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. It was, as author R. Todd Felton put it, “first and foremost about forging one's own relationship with the universe, whether that is a spiritual, philosophic, aesthetic, moral or practical bond."
- The Transcendentalist philosophy did not end with man’s relationship with the universe. The leading writers and thinkers of the movement also believed in encouraging a positive relationship between people. For this reason, many Transcendentalists were steadfastly against the practice of slavery. They wrote anti-slavery literature and gave lectures at abolitionists conventions. Some even lent support to active abolitionists.
- The nuclear family is the standard household unit in Spain. Generally speaking, a nuclear family consists of two adults and their children. In both countries, the children often live with their parents until they reach adulthood and get married. “Casado casa quiere” is a Spanish saying that means, “a married person wants a house.” Put another way, “casado casa quiere” means that once people get married, it is considered ideal for them to live in a house of their own and begin to establish their own nuclear family.
- Many of the anti-slavery writers of the day were Transcendentalists, but not all. The Fugitive Slave Act was passed in 1950, and this law made it legal for free Blacks to be captured in the north and be sent back into southern slavery. A northern writer named Harriet Beecher Stowe found this act unacceptable, and she decided to write a novel to make readers agree with her. Stowe published Uncle Tom’s Cabin in 1852 as a clarion call to America. Her thoughts on slavery may have been summed up in the following awkwardly-turned phrase: “You oughtent wish that on to any human crittur” (Stowe, p. 771).
- Author Herman Melville, best known for the classic novel Moby Dick, saw John Brown’s hanging as a harbinger of bad things to come. Melville wrote a poem about the execution and titled it “The Portent.” A portent, according to The Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is “something that foreshadows a coming event.” In this case, the coming event was the Civil War, which waged for four years and left more than 600,000 American soldiers dead. While historians often disagree as to whether Brown was a hero or a murderer, they generally agree that the raid at Harpers Ferry (and Brown’s hanging) was one of the central events that led to the Civil War. Since “The Portent” was about an event that foreshadowed a war, and since that war was one of the defining events of the 19th century, “The Portent” could be considered one of the defining literary works of the 19th century. Like most abolitionists, Melville likely did not approve of Brown’s methods, but he supported Brown’s goal, which was the freedom of slaves.