copy of final exam

Sample Answers to Question 3:

How is the European literary movement of Romanticism transformed by multi-racial America?

Kathryn Hebert

Romantic Narratives in a Diverse America

When focusing on the Romantic narrative and specifically Romantic journeys, Romanticism is as apparent and applicable in the work of African-Americans and Native Americans as for European Americans. It can seem idealistic, but there is a unifying theme in much American literature, from the first settlers to modern writers, of a quest for something higher and greater than ourselves, and that art, writing, nature can be a pathway to that higher, spiritual (for lack of a better word) place.  In the best Romantic writing, there is recognition of the reality of the limitations of the world and culture, while maintaining a hope for greater purposes and ways of being for that same world and culture.
            To say that Romanticism is particularly reflective of white males in America is oversimplifying the situation, but there is certainly an argument in the fact that the idealized world and journey and American Dream that can be found in Romantic writing is more easily attainable for those men. Whitman certainly had more opportunity for the sense of true freedom in his life, and fewer obstacles than his African American and Native American counterparts, but when you look at Whitman’s writing he wasn’t writing about himself only. Whitman’s Romantic journeys included many who lived in very different circumstances than his own.
            In the preface to Leaves of Grass, Whitman writes about the purpose and expectations of a poet. His words can be read as a definition of the Romantic narrative, “…folks expect of the poet…to indicate the path between reality and their souls” (999). So when Whitman writes, it is with the thought that his words will aid both him and others on their journey to connect with some greater reality. This is a key issue with the Romantic narrative. There is always a sense of striving for some elusive more.
            In “Song of Myself” Whitman writes of the unified body of Man and the connection between all objects in the universe. His personal Romantic narrative is writing works that reflect and encourage the connectivity in the world around him. Whitman was almost certainly aware of the injustice and ugliness in the world, and specifically, in the nation, yet his writings portray a more idealistic society, while retaining a realistic atmosphere. In Section 16 of “Song of Myself” Whitman writes,

A learner with the simplest, a teacher of the thoughtfullest,
           A novice beginning yet experient of myriads of seasons,
           Of every hue and caste am I, of every rank and religion,
           A farmer, mechanic, artist, gentleman, sailor, quaker,
           Prisoner, fancy-man, rowdy, lawyer, physician, priest.

I resist any thing better than my own diversity,
          Breathe the air but leave plenty after me,
          And am not stuck up, and am in my place.

Whitman wrote of the potential of equality and the universal sense of life, and is one of the most obvious writers of the Romantic ideals and especially of the Romantic journey. There is always a sense of desire in his writing which is searching for a more genuine connection within the world. Whitman’s journey is both a public and personal one. Just as the individual strives to find some greater sense of purpose or higher level within themselves, they are also reaching out and finding a connection in the world.
            Whitman’s Romanticism reflected a multi-racial nation, and today, America remains a country full of Romantic ideals. In reading Whitman’s “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d” I am struck by the sense of loss and tragedy in the poem. Obviously written as an elegy for Lincoln the grief is to be expected, yet I can’t help but reflect his feelings onto the American society today. One of the defining characteristics of Romanticism is the ability to remain relevant and form a connection with modern readers. The Romantic narrative remains relevant because no matter what the time period, the individual will always be on a journey, so the connection can always be made. The turmoil of the nation, to me, cries out for another Lincoln, a leader who will make change, and can be seen (in retrospect) as an amazing forward thinker.
            In Section 8, of “When Lilacs Last…Bloom’d” Whitman details a journey, as he walks with a companion, the moon. The narrator in the poem walks with the moon and feels emotions coming from the moon. This physical journey and emotional connection with nature is a perfect example of Romantic narrative. Yet the grief, restlessness and sense of loss in the speaker are easy to feel a genuine connection to, as opposed to studying as a dated form of literature. The grief that Whitman shared with the nation upon the assassination of President Lincoln can be identified with by people living generations after the event. So the Romantic journey remains personal and public, private and universal.
            Romanticism to me is based on a set of historical and culture ideals, and it is reflective of the desire and perspective of the reader, but it is a lasting type of literature because it is based on universal truths. In any civilization there is a desire to connect and to grow. Humanity is unable to remain stagnant, or we will literally not survive. So the Romantic narrative, while in some ways limited by the historical context, is on another level always reflective of our nature.
            While Whitman enjoyed the prosperity he saw in the nation and the beauty in it, Frederick Douglass wrote as a man still striving for more, unsatisfied and yearning for that elusive better. Both men saw America’s capacity to transcend past societal transgressions, and while their lives and writing were extremely different, the Romantic impulse is clear in both men’s works and lives.
            The life of Frederick Douglass is a classic Romantic journey made all the more amazing by the fact that it is a real man’s life and journey. In reading Douglass’s autobiography it is easy to see him as a Romantic hero, overcoming obstacles to reach a higher status. He learns to read, and write, he marries, he becomes a free man, he addresses thousands of people on the issue of slavery. He is in every way an American success story. But to identify his story in such a way is somewhat trite given the reality he faced.
            One of the most powerful works by Douglass, and I would argue most reflective of a Romantic ideal, is his speech, “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?”.  Douglass’s fiery rebuke at being asked to give a speech about the nation’s Independence Day celebration is filled with a truly humbling account of the nation as it was in 1852. What I find as the connection to the Romantic journey, that America as a nation was and is on, is in one of the final paragraphs of the speech.
            Douglass spoke,

            “For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower,            but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, the earthquake. The     feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation    must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the             hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God          and man must be proclaimed and denounced (991)”.
This passage might seem too real, angry and dark to be Romantic, but I think it speaks directly to the hope for a better reality, and the journey that the country was on. The stark and brutal depiction of the problems with the nation to me is a call from one man to all others to join him on a journey for some better existence. Douglass had witnessed the worst parts of man’s nature and survived and thrived past that into a position in which he was addressing a diverse group of people about the potential for change that he saw in the nation and the need for change as well.