LITR 4232 American Renaissance 2012 final exam—Answers to Question A1 "Review Learning" or "Review Romanticism" final exam assignment

Stephanie Taylor

The Inescapable Romantic

          Before taking this class, I would have described Romanticism as a style used to dress up or beautify ordinary situations. I imagined anything in the Romantic realm pertained to aesthetics. I learned, however, that Romanticism “is a period or style in literature, music, and other arts starting in the late 1700s and flourishing in the early 1800s”. Throughout the semester my understanding of Romanticism has developed dramatically. I left my narrow-minded view in favor of a fuller, more defined view of the period and its movements.

          I embarked on a journey to discover the deeper meaning and truths behind this period. My journey to fulfill my individual desires/questions opened a door to the idea of “individualism”. Barbara Lazear-Ashcher stated, “In the romantic moment, we gather and focus that yearning in order to connect with something outside ourselves, believing against all odds that such connection is possible, knowing paradoxically that romance is born between our reach and our grasp”. Individualism creates desire and in order to satisfy that desire, one must become vulnerable. I learned that the ideal of an individual’s journey materialized in each of the different movements or subsets of Romanticism: the gothic, the sublime, Transcendentalism and the romance narrative.

          The gothic movement uses repressed fears and desires to heighten and intensify its theological and psychological roots. Edgar Allan Poe, the most prolific gothic writer, spins gothic gold by creating environments that are “gloomy and dreary” alongside characters who are “infected” by “unceasing radiation of gloom”. Poe’s work also commonly uses the sublime to produce intense emotional responses in the audience. The sublime is another element of Romanticism and it is described as “beauty mixed or edged with danger, terror, threat--all on a grand or elevated scale”. Transcendentalism is a movement that descended from Puritanism. The entire movement is centered on Ralph Waldo Emerson. Correspondence between nature and the soul, and “higher thought[s]” or “better emotions” became synonymous with the world-view of the transcendentalist movement via “In Nature” by Emerson.

          A romance narrative is different from the period of Romanticism, but commonly confused. A romance narrative is a subset of the Romanticist style. These narratives use the “happily ever after” theme to portray a successful restoration of unity. More often than not, I find that romance narratives are far-fetched in their storylines. Somehow in every typical romance, the girl against all odds wins the lottery and becomes the president AND marries some knight in shining armor—really? This aspect of the Romanticism period is off-putting and honestly, annoying.

          The Romanticism period in history refers to the late 1700s through the 1800s. During this time the population was steadily increasing and people began desiring/seeking more opportunity—the American Dream? “Urbanization, early industrialization, [and] movements for equality” all played integral aspects of new “nostalgic” “utopian” and “emotional” Romanticist style. This changing period holds certain allure for me because it focuses on individuals who are always looking for something greater or for meaning. What is this life all about? Where is my place in it? I am so grateful to have people during this time period who were willing to go out on a limb and search for new meaning and truth. The heroic individuals paved the way for generations of people to explore civil liberties and allowed them to recognize that conformity is not the only option.