Pat Gawryszewski

EN 277.54
25 April 2013
Professor Kvidera
Romanticism
Romanticism was a period where love was in the air, Romeo and Juliet lived
happily ever after, and everyone was in love. Oh wait. Thats not what romanticism
means at all contrary to todays dumb and irrational popular belief. The Romanticism
period in America had more variety when it comes to style, theme, and content in the 18th
and 19th centuries. Primarily, the French and American revolutions really were the
movements that kept Romanticism going. The event that launched romanticism is the
industrial period in Europe. What really set it of was the Industrial Revolution because
romanticists werent really fond of the new industrial change happening in America.
Romanticists loved and admired nature and saw these machines and new industrial
inventions as monstrous. It was just like seeing two completely opposite forces ramming
their heads against each other like two mountain goats. Romanticists were thinking that
these new machines and methods were taking away the nature away out of humanity.
What got the American Romanticism Movement going was based off of another period of
writing called Transcendentalism. It was such an easy transition to move from being a
Transcendentalist to a Romanticist because both have similar ways of thinking about the
individual, nature, etc.
The idea of romanticism is basically looking at you in a new light, looking at
nature in new ways, and using your imagination the way you want to use it instead of

having other people do it for you. Most romanticists used symbols in their poetry to
express what they feel and to express their meaning. As stated before, in America
Romanticism is closely compared to the ideals and aspects of Transcendentalism. Nature
plays a big part in both of the se ideals by having nature as a powerful force that we must
become one with. The use of grass in Walt Whitmans A Song of Myself creates this sort
of symbolism that we are all blades of grass and that we all have new ideas and as those
new ideas come to life, they create more blades of grass. In doing so, humans and life are
always dynamic and organic in their bodies and in their thoughts, creating new ideas and
new ways of thinking for the individual. In Whitmans works, he is often depicting the
character as someone who is infatuated and in love with his body because he is organic
and loves every inch of himself. He states that nature is expressed physically and
sensually, using all of the senses to create an experience like none other. The soul is
key for Whitman and he says that the body and soul need to be together as one,
completely going against the teachings or the Enlightenment era. Having said that, he
says that there is an oversoul that is comprised of everyones souls. He also says that
people must have a child-like curiosity, meaning that we have to keep finding new
thoughts and go out in the world to find them. Because of that, he thinks that people have
to make up our own ideas and thoughts instead of just looking back at the past and keep
regurgitating old ideals. Books are there to inspire new ideas, not to use the same idea
over and over again. He condemns the so called book worms that only read books of
ancestors and accept that as the absolute truth rather than going out into the world and
think new thoughts to inspire future generations for them to make new ideals. The writing
in this era is also very democratic, meaning that it talks about equality rather than talking

about the political side of Democracy. But arguably the key and sometimes forgotten
thing that is important in Romanticism is the great sense of ambiguity. Ambiguity makes
the reader of the certain piece think for himself and makes him interpret what the writer is
trying to tell the individual. Nathaniel Hawthorne does an eccentric job at this through his
works like Young Goodman Brown, The Birthmark, and many other works. The writer
forces the reader to use his imagination to decipher and translate what the author is trying
to express.
Although it is very difficult to point out who really started the movement, there
were boatloads of writers that blossomed and prospered in this era. People like Emily
Dickinson, Walt Whitman, Mark Twain, Henry David Thoreau, and many more were free
spirited and independent minded individuals that wanted to think for themselves and
interpret life how they see it. But there was a subgenre during that time period called
Dark Romanticism. It sort of sounds like the dark arts or dark magic or Romanticism, but
it really is just gothic and more suspenseful than just talking about evil characteristics.
Writers from this type of genre were found in Great Britain like John William Polidori
and Mary Shelley. But most people would consider the American writers to have
perfected the art of Dark Romanticism. Writers of this caliber consist of Herman
Melville, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and the undisputed king of Dark Romanticism, Edgar
Allen Poe. Melvilles writing is best when it is being written as a story or a novel because
of his most well known piece, Moby-Dick. Edgar Allen Poes writing consisted more of
suspense and mystery than a scary Goosebumps book, like The Raven, The Tell-Tale
Heart, The Masque of the Red Death, The Pit and the Pendulum, and many more.
Hawthorne followed the same guidelines as Melville, Poe, and even Ralph Waldo

Emerson in regards to the characteristics of Romanticism. However, he has more sense of

ambiguity that all three of them combined. As stated before, Hawthorne makes the reader
interpret and decipher the deep meaning of his stories like Young Goodman Brown, The
Birthmark, and The Scarlet Letter. In Young Goodman Brown, the story tells of a man
named Young Goodman Brown who leaves his wife Faith to go into the dark forest. He
then meets a n old man he recognizes and talks with him about dark and sinister things.
Brown doesnt want to hear it and wants to go back, but decides not to. Then, he sees the
rest of the townspeople going into the forest just like him. Shocked and confused, Brown
is stunned out of his mind and wants to know what is going on. He is then transported
into a sinister looking ritual area where all of the townspeople are there as well as Faith.
Then all of a sudden, he is back at the village as if it was magic. It is not clear if the
events really happened or if it was just a dream, but Brown is disgusted and distrusts
everyone in the village because they were all there in the forest with him for the dark
ceremony. He is even disgusted with his wife and never trusts her again. At the end of the
story, it says that he even died gloomy and resentful. Now there are a lot of ways to
interpret this story. One of the ways is that Brown goes into the forest leaving Faith
behind. This is obviously a word play with faith that he is leaving his own faith and going
into the ominous forest. When he meets the old man, some people believe that the reason
why he is recognizable is because it could either be his father, ancestor, or even himself.
Besides that point, many believe that the old man represented evil and the influence it has
on humans. But others look past it and say that the old man represents temptation.
Hawthorne could have used the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The old
man was carrying a black staff in the shape of a snake and in the Genesis story; Eve is

being tempted by a cunning serpent to eat the forbidden fruit. That brings into the course
of free will, meaning that faith might be good or bad. When Brown saw Faith in the
forest, he was horrified and it showed that faith could be tempted and that faith isnt what
he thought it was. Some say that the meaning of faith is that it is what the individual
believes in, whether it is good or bad. At the end of the story, some people think that
Brown is so disgusted by Faith that he completely leaves it behind and lives out his life
gloomy, bitter, and miserable. Others, however, believe that Faith is still with Brown,
but he is so disgusted by it and doesnt like the reality of faith. Some speculate that when
Brown left Faith that he lost it while others say that Faith is always around him no
matter what decisions he makes and this sickens him when he finds that out all the way to
his grave. There is also a lot of symbolism, like the name Young Goodman Brown.
Young meaning innocent and nave, Goodman meaning the middle class, and
Brown being used as a very common last name in the country, meaning that everyone
can relate to this story. Near the end, he puts in the words saints and sinners, meaning
that both good and evil do coexist because that is just human nature. This story can go
many different ways, but it is how the individual interprets the story that becomes the
most valuable aspect in the story.
Romanticism is like an ambiguous animal that is forever changing through the
power of the individual. The entire basis of the era is centered on the individual and
formulating new thoughts, always dynamic and constantly moving forward. Whether it is
happy and light ideas like Whitman or dark and sinister like Hawthorne and Poe, the
aspects and characteristics of Romanticism can be seen through all kinds of individual
minds and ideals.

Works Cited
Andrews, William L. Literary Romanticism in America. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State
UP, 1981. Print.
Canada, Mark. Introduction. Lesson 10: Nathaniel Hawthorne, Dark Romantic.
University of North Carolina at Pembroke, 18 Aug. 2002. Web. 25 Apr. 2013.
<http://www.uncp.edu/home/canada/work/markport/lit/amlit1/fall2002/10hawth.h
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Melani, Lilia. Romanticism. Romanticism. Brooklyn College, 12 Feb. 2009. Web. 25 Apr.
2013. <http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/cs6/rom.html>.
Morse, David. American Romanticism. Vol. 1. Totowa, NJ: Barnes & Noble., 1987. Print.
Morse, David. American Romanticism. Vol. 2. Totowa, NJ: Barnes & Noble, 1987. Print.
Rahn, Josh. Romancticism. Literature Periods & Movements. Jalic Inc., 2011. Web. 25
Apr. 2013. <http://www.online-literature.com/periods/romanticism.php>.
Woodlief, Ann. Intro to American Romanticism. Intro to American Romanticism. Virginia
Commonwealth University, 18 Aug. 2001. Web. 25 Apr. 2013.
<http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/eng372/intro.htm>.