LITR 4328 American Renaissance UHCL 2015 sample student research project

LITR 4328 American Renaissance / Model Assignments

Sample Student Research Project 2015: Essay

Rosie Galvan

May 2, 2015

Themes of Slavery, Religion and the Re-birth of a nation: What defines the American Renaissance?

I think the first time I heard the phrase “American Renaissance” I was not quite sure what that meant. I knew what American meant, a person who was born and raised and currently living in the United States. I knew what Renaissance meant, the age of a cultural birth: artist, writers and inventors that were leading the way towards a revolutionary “re-birth” of human existence and culture. However when I heard the two words put together, I did not understand exactly what the term American Renaissance was defining. Taking Dr. White’s course on American Renaissance I started to understand exactly what this period in American History was trying to portray: Our very own American “rebirth” of our cultural maturity towards the art, inventions and literature of the time and to this day. Known also as the generation before the Civil War, the Antebellum Period rather the beginning of a cultural movement. This period was the birth of many great thinkers and writers in the history of American literature. Writers such as Emerson, Whitman, Hawthorne and Stowe (to name a few) that have shaped the very essence of the American Renaissance period. With such the arrival of great works of literature, attached came the different themes of the gothic, romance, transcendentalism and sublime themes within the American literary works. There are many pieces of literature that precisely portray elements of the American Renaissance. However, before getting into the significance of some of the literature that shaped the American Renaissance, we need to understand what this period represented and meant for the nation. I wanted to know if there was one particular overall theme that pinpointed what the American Renaissance was. In order to do so I wanted to find what other scholarly writers were discussing the subject and what their overall definition of the era was to them. My purpose for this method was to see the different viewpoints of other writers and ultimately create my definition over what the American Renaissance means to me.

In his article “Slavery, Labor Reform, and Intertexuality in Antebellum Print Culture: The Slave Narrative and the City-Mysteries Novel” (2006), Carl Ostrowski refers to the American Renaissance as the intro to the Slave narrative in America. Ostrowski refers to authors such as Fredrick Douglass, Henry Box Brown and Harriet Jacobs as the pioneers towards expressing the slave narrative not only for the African American population but the white American communities as well. Ostrowski states “the slave narrative, by contrast, were published with the support of abolitionist organizations and were aimed mainly at the white middle-class audience perceived” he said this claim because he believed that the white class audience “perceived to have the political power to bring pressure to bear on the institution of slavery” (493). Ostrowski was demonstrating that the goal of the slave narrative authors was to bring in the shock factor towards the middle-class audience. He believed that by doing this the real issues of slavery were exposed and changes would be made.

I agree with Ostrowski’s view of the slave narrative being a distinctive view of the American Renaissance. Writers such as Harriet Beecher Stowe highlight the slave narrative along with the stereotypical images of black people. This was in her novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin with the portrayal of her protagonist Uncle Tom and his journey as a slave. Beecher’s book promoted her words to change the views and actions of a nation against slavery. Another writer that pinpointed the slave narrative was from author Fredrick Douglass. Douglas written words were related to his personal experiences as a slave written in his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass. In his autobiography, Douglass talks about his time as a slave and the hardship slaves had to deal with by their white masters. At one point he remembers, “To all these complaints, no matter how unjust, the slave must answer never a word. A slave must stand, listen and tremble” (3.5). Like Beecher and Ostrowski’s original point, Douglass wanted to publicize what needed to be demonstrated to end slavery. He wanted to be the voice of some many black people and show the white American people that the African American voice was that of intellectual feeling and urgency for justice.

Relating with the motifs of Ostrowski’s views of the slave narrative, the aspect of religion shifts creates another door towards defining what the American Renaissance is. John Lardas, in his article “The Esoteric Origins of the American Renaissance” (2005), asserts that the American Renaissance was best represented as a momentous shift towards religion. He claims that “wide ranges of beliefs and practices called ‘harmonial religion’ such as “Gnosticism, Hermeticism, Kabbala, Mesemerism, Transcendentalism and Spiritualism” (182). Lardas claims that “if one were to imagine an American Renaissance without any of these prior esoteric traditions, it’s entire character would be changed and it might very well not exist at all” (182). Lardas is giving an enormous claim over religion being the main identity over the American Renaissance and as the definition of the American character. Though I feel religion is a huge influence to the American Renaissance, I do not necessarily believe it is the MAIN point for its identification. Lardas, however, does bring up the term of Transcendentalism, which I felt was the stronger view closest to identifying one of the factors of the American Renaissance era.

According to Dr. White, there are two “scholarly approaches” in viewing Transcendentalism, in historical manner and a formal, intellectual, or critical manner. The first relates to the views of romanticism themes in an American style. This also relates towards the post-puritan movement of Unitarianism referring to the aspect that God has three tendencies as the Creator, Christ, and the Holy Spirit. The views for the history of Transcendentalism referred more towards the aspects of rationality and reason within Christianity. In terms of the formal, intellectual or critical aspect these actions as “ideal forms associated with Platonism or Neo-Platonic mysticism” relating to a higher being or power constantly surrounding us. Dr. White refers to Transcendentalism as “a form of mystic thought rooted in Western traditions…a religious and philosophical movement of preceding generations” (White). This was seen within Emerson’s Selections from Nature, as he refers “the atmosphere was made transparent with this design, to give man, in the heavenly bodies, the perpetual presence of the sublime” (1.6) The bigger picture with the theme of religion in the American Renaissance altered towards being seen as an overall feeling that God is around you at all times and in all things. Emerson relates this feeling with the very existence of nature and the power of the sublime it carries along. Emerson wraps up the emotion behind Transcendentalism when he says, “a man is a god in ruins. When men are innocent, life shall be longer, and shall pass into the immortal, as gently as we awake from dreams” (8.22). Ostrowski’s view of religion being the main factor in defining American Renaissance is better seen as being another great factor in creating the concept as a whole.

Finally, in Eric Lorberer’s article “The New American Renaissance” (2009), Lorberer asserts that the American Renaissance was the product created by the great authors whose work were descriptive of the American life. Lorberer refers “Hawthorne, Melville, Whitman, Dickinson, Emerson, and Thoreau” as being the great American Renaissance authors and that “they didn’t just write books: they forged a collective consciousness about literature that is our legacy” (277). Lorbere refers to his article as these authors being the reason behind the growth of the literature and arts of the American Renaissance. There were so many great authors that changed the views of our nation for the better. The poetic morality of everyday life from Walt Whitman. The gothic elements of the supernatural within the work of Edgar Allan Poe. The folktales and urban legends like Washington Irving wrote that grow in the story from generation to generation. All of these and more shaped the very existence of the literary world. Lorberer describes the importance of the authors when he states, “they planted the tree that is still being tended magnificently by writers and publishers today” (278).

I believe Lorberer completes the circle that both Lardas and Ostrowski were demonstrating in their articles. There is not one particular aspect that defines what the American Renaissance represented but rather an accumulation of several things. Elements of removing the oppressing actions of slavery like Ostrowski mentioned. Seeing the beauty and romantic views of nature and Transcendentalism in our everyday existence like Lardas viewed, and praising the work of the great American Renaissance authors that gave the re-birth of our nation. Each element makes what we as a nation are still growing within the world of the arts, invention, and literature.

Works Cited:

Lardas, John. "The Esoteric Origins of the American Renaissance. By Versluis Arthur. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. 234 Pp. $45.00 Cloth." Church History 74.01 (2005): 182-84. Web. 25 Apr. 2015.

Lorberer, Eric. "The New American Renaissance." The Massachusetts Review 50.3 (2009): 275-81. JSTOR. Web. 25 Apr. 2015.

Ostrowski, Carl. "Slavery, Labor Reform, and Intertextuality in Antebellum Print Culture: The Slave Narrative and the City-Mysteries Novel." Afircan American Review 40.3 (2006): 493-506. JSTOR [JSTOR]. Web. 25 Apr. 2015.

"Great Star" flag of pre-Civil War USA