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LITR 4328: American Renaissance  |
Final Exam Essays 2015 Sample answers
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Sarah Hurt
Romanticism as an Aid for Realism
When it comes to the basic elements of Romanticism versus Realism, the
two styles seem dramatically different. With Romanticism the individual and
language is elevated, emphasis on emotions and desires are prevalent, people
tend to be one thing or another (good or bad), settings are often rural, ideals
in all forms are possible and gothic elements are common. On the other side of
the spectrum with Realism, less emphasis on individualism is placed, the
language is easily relatable or connected to a region, logic and
self-preservation play key roles in character actions, people are seen as more
than generic good or bad people, urban settings are the norm, time and place are
specific, perfection is less common (in physical looks, actions, places, etc.)
and the gothic element is expressed more as grotesque. Despite the fact that
these two styles are often polar opposites, they surprisingly can work well
together creating a work that can be both enjoyable and realistic.
As anyone who has ever taken a history or literature course can tell you,
periods with distinct cultural factors don’t end in just one day. Society did
not just wake up one day and say that they didn’t want to be Romantics any
longer but instead focus on Realism. Instead as the elements of the American
Renaissance style slowly became less popular and elements of Realism became more
common, the literature of the period became less Romantic and more Realistic.
Many works created during this transitional period have elements of both and can
be studied under either style.
Life in the Iron Mills and
Whitman’s poetry combine elements of both romanticism and realism. These works
are great examples of how the different elements of literature changed focus and
style while still holding on to some of the older ideas. These works show how by
using elements of both styles together a work that has a subject that might be
depressing can be realistic but still entertaining and enjoyable by including
romantic elements.
While I am sure that actual life working in or around the iron mills
would have been depressing, the author of course wants people to enjoy a story
enough to continue reading, and without some of the Romantic elements
Life in the Iron Mills would be
depressing enough that many people might not wish to read it. This is very
important to consider when you think about possible goals of writers during the
time period. Uncle Tom’s Cabin for
example was able to get those who read it talking about slavery and the moral
consequences of such a system. When literature is used as a tool to bring
attention to a repressed group of people, it is important that the work is
realistic enough that it depicts whatever bad things are happing in a way that
is believable and true, but the work also needs to be enjoyable enough that the
audience will continue reading and thus develop feelings for the characters and
hopefully begin to care about the real people affected. When literature is
focusing on a potentially depressing topic, to get people to finish the work,
hope or light must exist or many people will simply get so demoralized that they
won’t finish reading the story. Uncle
Tom’s Cabin and Life in the Iron
Mills both exhibit realistic telling’s of repressed groups with elements of
Romanticism to make the works compelling to read.
Life in the Iron Mills
Romantic elements come into play with the ending when Deborah with “her eyes
turned to hills higher and purer than these on which she lives, dim and far off
now, but to be reached some day. There may be in her heart some latent hope to
meet there the love denied her here,—that she shall find him whom she lost, and
that then she will not be all-unworthy” (Davis). The suggestion that one day
life will get better is a common theme within Romanticism. The character of Hugh
Wolfe also features elements of Romanticism, though he does not look the part of
a romantic hero, “Wolfe is special, individualized, gifted, separate from the
masses” (Notes on Iron Mills) which
makes his characterization more typical of a Romanticism era work rather than
the characterization typical of the Realism period.
Whitman similarly uses elements of both Romanticism and Realism in his
poetry. In his poem “The Wound-Dresser”, Whitman goes back and form between the
two styles. This particular poem and Whitman’s experience during the Civil War
fit with the ideas behind the change of emphasis from Romanticism to Realism
after the Civil War. Whitman’s poetry is the most realistic of the three poets
we focused on this semester due to Whitman’s focus on everyday people and life
and less elevated language when compared to Poe or Dickinson, but “The
Wound-Dresser” has more Realism elements than his average poem. Whitman, like
other people from the time period, was changed by both the changes society was
making (more urban, industrialization) and the Civil War especially, and his
poetry reflects how realistic elements of life can no longer be entirely ignored
in favor of Romantic ideals. Whitman’s Poem features elements of Romanticism
with lines such as “In the nick of time I come, plunge in the fight, loudly
shout in the rush of successful charge” (Whitman 2.4) and “Of unsurpass'd
heroes” whom Whitman clearly wants to focus on. However the Romantic elements
that are generally used to describe battle and warriors who are often idealized
in Romantic narratives are not what makes up the whole poem. Whitman’s
descriptions of buckets “soon to be fill'd with clotted rags and blood, emptied,
and fill'd again” (Whitman 2.21) are the realistic reminders of war in an
otherwise romantic poem. Whitman cannot forget the horrors of war that were very
real and thus when writing a poem about his war experience he cannot focus only
on the Romantic elements that he usually focuses on making this one of the
darkest poems I have read by Whitman. The poem is still readable despite the
realistic gruesome elements because the Romantic elements within the poem allow
you to have pauses between the darkest lines of the poem.
For all of the differences Romanticism and Realism have,
Life in the Iron Mills and “The
Wound-Dresser” show how these two styles can work together to make a more
readable work about a potentially depressing or controversial topic.
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