LITR 5535 American Romanticism

Ralph Waldo Emerson, N 482-497, 514-519, 527-533, 539-544 (introduction & opening sections of Nature, The American Scholar, Divinity School Address, & Self-Reliance). (Try to finish at least one of these essays.) Margaret Fuller, N 760-771.

Monday 30 October: Ralph Waldo Emerson, N 482-497, 514-519, 527-533, 539-544 (introduction & opening sections of Nature, The American Scholar, Divinity School Address, & Self-Reliance). (Each student should try to finish at least one of these essays.) Margaret Fuller, N 760-771.

selection reader / discussion leader: Bill Wolfe

poetry: Denise Levertov, "The Jacob's Ladder," N 2708

poetry reader / discussion leader: Cindy L. Goodson

1. Insofar as you understand Transcendentalism, how do Emerson's writings exemplify this movement or framework of thought? Compare, contrast Thoreau, Fuller.

2. How is Transcendentalism compatible with or distinct from Romanticism?

3. How does Fuller vary Emerson's Transcendentalism in a feminist direction?

Announcements

This Saturday, 4 Nov. 

"Lit Wit Jeopardy"

Tickets $3--supports Sigma Tau Delta, Literature Honor Society, & Literature Club

For those of you just starting a LITR degree, good chance to see other profs and meet other LITR students

For those finishing LITR degree, fun chance to see profs in goofy mode

This year, Hippie Theme

Bayou 3326, 7:00pm

Assignments

Organization of course:

model assignments

starting next week, begin transition out of American Renaissance and peak period of American Romanticism

Overview of remainder of course:

conflict in syllabus re due date of research project--13 or 20 November?

> within 72 hours of 20 November

Monday 6 November: Walt Whitman, N 985-989, 1061-1066 (“Crossing Brooklyn Ferry”), 1074-1080 (“When Lilacs . . . “); “There Was a Child Went Forth“ (handout). Carl Sandburg, N 1916-1919. Allen Ginsberg, N 2730-2740. Thomas Wolfe, “The Lost Boy” (handout).

selection reader / discussion leader: Kristen Bird

poetry: Whitman, “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer,” N 1070

poetry reader / discussion leader: Marion Carpenter

Monday 13 November: Henry James, N 1498-1539 (Daisy Miller: A Study)

selection reader / discussion leader: Sharon Lockett

poetry: Elizabeth Bishop, “The Fish,” N 2650

poetry reader / discussion leader: Ashley Christine Huff

web highlight (final exams or research projects): Gordon Lewis

Monday 20 November: Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), N 1237-1244 (“The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”). Sarah Orne Jewett, N 1586-1594. Charles W. Chesnutt, N 1630-1639 (“The Goophered Grapevine”). Wovoka, N 1789-92. Gertrude Simmons Bonnin (Zitkala Sa), N 1792-1807. Black Elk & John G. Neihardt, N 1823-1836. Research Project due (within 72 hours of class).

selection reader / discussion leader:  

poetry: Simon J. Ortiz, “Earth and Rain, the Plants & Sun,” N 2814-2815

poetry reader / discussion leader: George Otis

web highlight (final exams): Kristen Bird

Monday 27 November: Claude McKay, N 2082-2086. Zora Neal Hurston, N 2096-2109. Jean Toomer, N 2120-2126. Langston Hughes N 2225-2232. Countee Cullen, N 2245-2249; F. Scott Fitzgerald, N 2126-2143 (“Winter Dreams”).

selection reader / discussion leader: Brouke M. Rose-Carpenter

poetry: Gwendolyn Brooks, "kitchenette building," N 2698

poetry reader / discussion leader: Crystal Reppert

Monday 4 December: Final exam. Students may take final exam in-class or by email.

Whitman + a group of later writers whose work is either influenced by or otherwise resembles his

Monday 6 November: Walt Whitman, N 985-989, 1061-1066 (“Crossing Brooklyn Ferry”), 1074-1080 (“When Lilacs . . . “); “There Was a Child Went Forth“ (handout). Carl Sandburg, N 1916-1919. Allen Ginsberg, N 2730-2740. Thomas Wolfe, “The Lost Boy” (handout).

selection reader / discussion leader: Kristen Bird

poetry: Whitman, “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer,” N 1070

poetry reader / discussion leader: Marion Carpenter

Whitman breaks out during Romantic era, many Romantic tendencies; but also some Realistic tendencies.

Broad question: What Romantic and Realistic styles or subjects appear in Whitman, and how does he resolve these different impulses or interests?

Whitman most powerful influence on American poetry

In literary studies, Whitman is generally regarded as "America's greatest poet."

"greatest" doesn't necessarily mean "best" or "finest" but impact on literature 

If you're into the history of literature, Whitman is great because he's a "revolutionary" poet. The changes he makes in poetry are enormously influential on other writers.

Changes subject matter of poetry--instead of poetry just being about pretty flowers and heroes of the past and noble sentiments, poetry becomes more about everyday life, including the streets and farms of common American life, its common people, and the problems they face in terms of democracy, sexual identity, race, etc.

Changes style of poetry--instead of writing traditional poetic forms like sonnets and ballads, Whitman is the first major poet to write "free verse"--i. e., poetry without regular rhyme or fixed numbers of accents per line 

Attitude of students tends to be less excited about these changes because wide-open subject matter and free verse are now standard for poetry, taken for granted

opportunity to refresh: How is Whitman's poetry still poetry, despite absence of formal mechanisms? What formal mechanisms remain? How does an "American style" of poetry result?

Sandberg and Ginsberg: peruse briefly for sake of continuity, influence of Whitman

Wolfe: how may prose style reflect Whitman's poetic style? What other Romantic features?

Religious backgrounds of Transcendentalism

Experiment in discussing religion and literature together

Context:

Undergraduate curriculum developing in "Religious Studies"

Next semester Dr. Gorman offering a seminar on "Religious Expression in Literature"

General advice on religion and literature is to avoid discussion of religion except as it develops naturally from texts or student input

Risks: some, even most people may think religion is important, but some in class may regard any discussion in class as "imposing"

+ you'll usually put off believers too, if you have any kind of discussion that doesn't end up where they're used to

Counter-risks: Literature and religion share many forms, esp. symbols and narratives. Many Literature majors come from backgrounds and training in religious environments. Religion as source of deep meaning in people's lives. Therefore, if you exclude discussion of religion, you're limiting the power of literature?

+ another warning: saying "religion" but meaning the dominant culture's religion, in this case "Christianity."

American Romantic period a. k. a. "American Renaissance"

1820s-1860s

ends with U. S. Civil War, 1861-65

coincidence of American Renaissance with a number of historical movements

Manifest Destiny, expansion westward, Mexican War (mentioned by Thoreau)

Expansion of southern tier of states meant expansion of slavery, which meant that slavery wasn't dying but vital, growing

Abolition movements

Women's rights movements (Seneca Falls 1848, Margaret Fuller)

Utopian or communal  movements (Shakers, Brook Farm, Fruitlands, Oneida)

(Hawthorne lived at Brook Farm for a few months, Fuller and Emerson visited; Alcott family started Fruitlands)

millennial movements: Millerites ( > 7th Day Adventists, Jehovah's Witnesses), Latter-Day Saints, Shakers

Evangelical movements--"Second Great Awakening" ("Great Awakening"--i. e., the "First Great Awakening") was approximately a century earlier, following Jonathan Edwards
(Rise of Methodism: John Wesley, George Whitefield. Rise of Baptistry.)

All the Transcendentalists descended from the Unitarian Church, which emerged in the early 19c out of the liberal or progressive wing of the Congregational churches, themselves descended from Puritanism.

Stowe's family, the Beechers (Leigh Ann's presentation last week) out of more conservative or evangelical wing of Congregationalism

American churches always dividing to conservative and liberal camps

style, education levels, emotion vs. reason, political orientation, part of the country

"Cool" churches vs. "Hot" churches

What these Transcendentalists had in common:

Pastors, members, or children of members of the Unitarian Church, in which Transcendentalism may be seen as a movement.

Emerson is at the center of the movement: most Transcendentalists were his friends or professional acquaintances.

History of the Unitarian Church:

17^th century: Puritanism (Congregational Church) >

late 18^th century, early 19^th century: Congregationalism (Trinitarian) + Unitarian

1830s-1850s: Unitarianism > Transcendentalism

  [This doesn't imply that all former Puritans became Unitarians. Many remained "Trinitarians" in the Congregational Church (now the United Church of Christ). Many others drifted off to become Baptists, Mormons, Episcopalians, etc.

Question: Familiarity with Unitarianism?

(Downtown church is Emerson Unitarian Church. Bay Area Unitarian Meeting House is off El Camino Real b/w NASA Pkwy & Bay Area Blvd. Unitarian-Universalism is much better represented in New England and California than in Texas or other parts of the Old Confederacy.)

How do we get from Puritanism to Transcendentalism?

“Puritanism” is generally a bad word in modern discourse, and “hip” literary people usually shun Puritanism reflexively. But students of American literature and culture have to build a respectful relationship with the Puritans for the following reasons:

1. Puritans were highly literate people. If you’re a student of early American literature and culture, New England has far more records and texts to study than any other part of the USA. New England has continued to produce the most important writers to American literature. (Beyond the American Renaissance, think Robert Frost, e e cummings, Sylvia Plath, Elizabeth Bishop, Thomas Pynchon.)

2. If most literary people are less than gung-ho about America’s possible image as an aggressively capitalist, imperialist nation, New England is among the only parts of the country founded for reasons other than economic opportunity. New England becomes a consistent home for movements involving Abolition of slavery, Women’s Rights, Pacifism, religious tolerance, and environmentalism.

How did the Puritans turn into “Yankee Liberals?”

Puritanism in New England. A “hot” church or religious movement “cools off.”

17^th century: Puritanism as part of Protestant Reformation. Boston as the “City on a Hill,” the “City of God” > Salem Witch Trials

18^th century: Enlightenment, Age of Reason. 

As education spreads, the western world opens to increasing knowledge of other religions besides Christianity and regret over excesses of religious behavior (e. g., Inquisition, religious wars, Salem Witch Trials). “Unitarianism” appears as an attempt to recognize the “unity” of God throughout nature and the world and to “rationalize” religious behavior (e. g., to improve ethics and social justice rather than prepare for the hereafter).

Historical Note: Unitarianism is never a large, mass movement. Its influence derives from social prestige and intellectual depth. At the same time that Unitarianism is emerging as a “cool” religion, “hot” religions such as Methodism, Baptistry, Latter-Day Saints, the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Seventh-Day Adventists are starting to bubble up all over the country.

(“Hot” religions tend to emphasize individual salvation and the wellbeing of their religious community; “cool” religions tend to emphasize social justice on a larger scale.)

Peak period of Unitarianism: late 1700s, early 1800s.

Emergence of Transcendentalism: 1830s-50s.

Is Transcendentalism a religion? Obviously some religious themes, but never organized enough institutionally to become a religion of its own. You could call it a religious movement, but not a religion.

Why can public schools study Transcendentalism and not Baptistry or Mormonism?

*literary prestige--more great writers come out of Transcendentalism than out of Evangelical movement

(Exceptions: Stowe; Elizabeth Warner, The Wide, Wide World 1850)

*”universality” of religious themes and images—its range of reference isn’t restricted to one religion

*no conversion motive: rather than draw a person to a particular way of thinking, Transcendentalism seeks for each individual to come to terms with whatever’s at work inside.

*Why religious conservatives can still gripe: Transcendentalism can sound like “New Age” thinking in its imagery of self-liberation and its diverse religious traditions—though New Age writing tends to be much lazier. Also, Unitarianism and Transcendentalism can be said to resemble “secular humanism” in terms of de-emphasizing a supreme divine authority beyond the human realm.

Genres: mostly non-fiction and poetry. Non-fiction may extend from Emerson’s essays to Thoreau’s intellectual memoirs to Fuller’s blend of essay and autobiography to sermons by Transcendentalist pastors.

note on religion

Question: Is it possible or desirable to discuss religion relative to literature, or is the issue simply too divisive and proliferating? Better to engage or avoid?

What worked in this review? How much can such a review work?

How do Emerson and Stowe fit the profiles of Cool and Hot forms of Christianity?

introduce Emerson

482 "the American writer" . . . "persistent influence"

Only 1 class! But if you keep studying American literature, you'll keep encountering Emerson

Influence on other writers

Revolutionary but steeped in traditions of learning

Classical learning esp. Platonism & Judeochristianity's adaptations of Platonic mysticism (mystical strain of Platonism often referred to as "Neo-Platonism," influential on early church leaders like St. Augustine)

Never underestimate or dismiss, keep returning to measure contribution, how he remains fresh and "originary" (i. e., present at the "origins" of American classic literature but still "an original")

Like Cooper, always been in print, always in libraries, schools

International in influences

Classic writer, highly learned, both synthetic and original, high level of seriousness

Not always sure what he's talking about, but can be sure it matters

plus among first to define and explore central American issues such as individualism, nature, living religion--

Nature: Why should we not also enjoy an original relation to the universe?

still a somewhat radical thinker, the more you read the more you see

If you want to think well, you need to know what's been thought before; but to think really well, you need to be ready to think fresh

("You have to know the rules to break them.")

somewhat popular writer in his own time

Essays as lectures (background as sermonizer)

Atheneum "lecture circuit" (tried out his essays as lectures, refined and edited according to audience reaction)

Inspirational writing

Epigrams still appear on calendars, collections of wise sayings

"essential center" for Transcendentalist movement--many writers were inspired by Emerson and circulated around him; others reacted against him, most famously Melville

compare "central figure" for other periods of writing:

Colonial American Literature: Benjamin Franklin (Founder + printer, publisher, on committee for Declaration with Jefferson and Adams, also at Constitutional Convention)

Transcendentalism: Emerson

Realism: William Dean Howells (later 19c; novelist and editor of Atlantic Monthly; friend and associate with Twain, Wharton, James, local color writers)

Modernism: Ezra Pound (early 20c poet, worked with William Carlos Williams, W. B. Yeats, T. S. Eliot, H. D., many others)

"Wise man"--quotable sayings

proverb, epigram, maxim, motto, byword, adage, axiom

Quotations page--Emerson

 488, 490, 491

epigram as figure of speech?

cf. Franklin, Twain, Will Rogers

epigrams > sound bites?

1. Insofar as you understand Transcendentalism, how do Emerson's writings exemplify this movement or framework of thought? Compare, contrast Thoreau, Fuller.

2. How is Transcendentalism compatible with or distinct from Romanticism?

3. How does Fuller vary Emerson's Transcendentalism in a feminist direction?

Emerson, Transcendentalism, and Fuller

 The Web of American Transcendentalism (Virginia Commonwealth University)

Project in American Literature on Transcendentalism

1. Insofar as you understand Transcendentalism, how do Emerson's writings exemplify this movement or framework of thought? Compare, contrast Thoreau, Fuller.

Literature: are we studying society or language? > how does language become meaningful?

technique for literary study of culture: trace development, variations of figures of speech

Transcendentalism: upward orientation >

Thoreau

847 they only can force me who obey a higher law than I

851 point of view a little higher (Transcendnetalism)

852 individual as a higher and independent power

Emerson

488 higher thought

491 high and divine

497 higher laws

540 highest mind the same transcendent destiny

Fuller

763 spread wider and risen higher

764 find their way at last to purer air

765 stair to heaven

3. How does Fuller vary Emerson's Transcendentalism in a feminist direction?

763 household partnership, companionship, marriage of friendship

764 she would not care whether she were brother or sister

768 Male and female represent the two sides of the great radical dualism

Luce Irigaray, This Sex Which is Not One (1985)

Emerson

487 "man," "men"

491 high and divine beauty which can be loved without effeminacy

540 the nonchalance of boys who are sure of a dinner

764 in breaking bonds they become outlaws