Danny Corrigan        

March 1, 2005

    American Romanticism and the Desire to Return to the Garden

         It can be argued that of all the nations in the world the United States is the most  unique as a result of its truly heterogeneous population. With cultures from every corner of the globe converging in this nation’s vast landscape, both in a physical and metaphorical sense, it was inevitable that these disparate influences would shape the country’s national consciousness and cultural mythology into the one that is most recognized even to this very day: America as the embodiment of the “New World”. America is a country formed from the dreams and desires of conquerors, explorers and immigrants, and regardless of their reason(s) for coming here, ultimately, they come here out of the desire for a better life, one free from the burdens of the past, and filled with bright prospects for the future. It is a universal human desire to start life over again and  return to a state of pure grace.

            This desire to return to a legendary “golden age”, a prelapsearian state of purity and grace before a corrupting “fall”, is inherent in almost all religions and mythologies, but it is probably most closely associated with the Hebrew/Christian story of the Garden of Eden. In her midterm from June 2002 Lynda Williams refers to the story of “the Fall”. She writes that Adam and Eve have a perfect life in the Garden, but then they lose it. The implication is that as a result of this expulsion, humans now have an innate desire to return to what was lost; we instinctively search for the “perfect world”, a path back to the Garden. Of all the attributes of the Romantic Spirit listed in Objective 1a. of the course objectives the themes of desire and loss and the sense of nostalgia are the most closely associated with American Romanticism, as evidenced by several texts from this class.

            Perhaps the earliest example of the Romantic theme of desire and loss can be seen in Christopher Columbus’ “Letter to Luis Letter to Luis de Santangel Regarding the First Voyage”, in which the hopeful promise of America is expressed in terms of the Eden narrative. Columbus writes that the land of the New World is "very fertile to a limitless degree" has "many rivers, good and large," "lofty mountains, beyond comparison," and green trees so tall that "they seem to touch the sky" (12). Columbus describes the new world as a paradise on Earth, filled with a plethora of fruit-bearing plants and singing birds. Columbus has a perception of America as the "land of milk and honey,” (13) thereby revealing in his letter a desire and hope for a flourishing Spanish colony in the New World.

         In her midterm from June 2002 Kayla Logan astutely points out that in addition to the reference to an Eden-like paradise, Columbus' responsibility to name the islands resembles Adam's responsibility to give names to the beasts in Eden. In addition to the right to name the islands, Columbus mentions an agreement to rule specific lands in his "Letter to Ferdinand and Isabella Regarding the Fourth Voyage" (Norton 13-14). Columbus reminds Ferdinand and

Isabella that he explored the region in hopes that they would allow him to rule. Of course, things do not work out that way, and Columbus loses not only his worldly goods, but also his freedom, reputation, and power. This theme of loss and bitter disillusionment can be seen as a parallel to the story of the expulsion from the Garden. By the second letter, ten years after his “discovery” of the New World, Columbus can only look back with nostalgia at a time that once seemed to be filled with infinite possibilities. He realizes that he gave the best years of his life to the Spanish crown, and now all is lost. These two letters reveal the Romantic theme of loss of desire by illustrating Columbus’ yearning for a physical earthly paradise, and when he saw the demise of that dream, he no longer wished to explore the Americas, but requested to go on a pilgrimage so that he could at least try to return his soul to a state of grace.

          The American Romantic theme of desire and loss can also found in Susanna Rowson’s novel Charlotte: A Tale of Truth. The novel’s narrator in Charlotte: A Tale of Truth utilizes images of the beautiful garden, the serpent, and the fall of mankind to illustrate the story of Charlotte's poor decision and eventual demise. Like Columbus, Rowson uses Garden of Eden imagery as she tells the tale of the “ruined poor Charlotte,” a tale of desire and loss and hope. Rowson places her heroine in the midst of the Garden of Eden to begin with, much like Adam and Eve in the Book of Genesis. Unlike Columbus who believes he has stumbled upon the lost Garden of Eden, Charlotte has grown up in the Garden. And like Adam and Eve, she has lived in a state of innocence.

            Initially, young Charlotte Temple personifies hope and promise because she is innocent, pretty, intelligent and respectful. That is, until her desire to court a British soldier is awakened. The soldier, Montraville, spies Charlotte through "the gate which led to the pleasure grounds" and with the encouragement of her teacher, Mademoiselle La Rue, Charlotte succumbs to her desires, meeting Montraville in the absence of parental consent.

            Rowson continues the allusion to Eden as she stresses the importance of loyalty to one’s parents in Chapter VIII as Mr. and Mrs. Temple are "walking together in the garden." As they plan Charlotte's birthday surprise, they discuss that Charlotte "will never lose sight of the duty she owes her parents" (378).

However, Charlotte's temporary elopement with Montraville results in the loss of her material possessions, family, promising future, reputation and eventually her life. Like Adam, Charlotte seems to be a "hapless victim of impudence and evil counselors" (392); the narrative ends with justice as Mademoiselle La Rue, dies after admitting that she was "the viper that stung [Charlotte's parents'] peace" and corrupted Charlotte's "fair bud of innocence" with her "vile arts" (407).

            In her desire for worldly experiences and to explore the unknown, Charlotte loses her Garden of Eden, her innocence, and the love of her parents. Rowson concludes the novel with the element of hope. In the end, as Charlotte lies on her deathbed, her father comes to her, just in time for the forgiveness as he embraces “his long lost child” (404). Like God, Mr. Temple forgives, and as a silent blessing flows from him to her, a “sudden beam of joy [passes] across her languid features, she raise[s] her eyes to heaven—and then close[s] them forever” (405). In essence, Charlotte receives salvation, and hope continues as Mr. Temple takes Charlotte’s newborn baby girl home with him, back to the Garden of Eden. 

             The reoccurring themes of desire, loss, and nostalgia in American Romantic literature can also be seen Washington Irving’s classic comic masterpiece, “Rip Van Winkle.” In many ways this tale can be regarded as being the quintessential story of the American experience. “Rip Van Winkle” has been described as being the story of America, as it discusses the issue of being born into one world and then growing up in another (class lecture February 7, 2005). 

            Rip Van Winkle is depicted as a man whose only desire is to remain is a state of perfect idleness, a state that will allow him to enjoy the world to the fullest extent possible without actually having to work. Yet, his wife is constantly nagging him to break his “habits of idleness,” (432) so much so that his whole persona is destroyed. Rip Van Winkle becomes “at last reduced to despair; and his only alternative to escape from the labour of the farm and the clamour of his wife, [is] to take gun in hand, and stroll away into the woods” (432). His desire now becomes the hope of getting away for a little while, a desire that he attains, to his utmost horror.

            While in the woods Rip Van Winkle encounters a group of “supernatural” men, and after a few draughts of their ale, falls into a deep sleep.  He awakens from twenty years of slumber to discover a world that is vastly different from the one he knew. “As he approached the village, he met a number of people, but none that he knew, which somewhat surprised him, for he had thought himself acquainted with every one in the country round. Their dress, too, was of a different fashion from that to which he was accustomed” ( 435). At this point, Rip Van Winkle realizes that the physical aspects of the world have changed, and even the dress of the people indicate the progression of time. Yet, it is not until later that he understands the full extent to which the world has changed. This realization is described  in the text when the narrator comments, “There was, as usual, a crowd of folk about the door, but none that Rip recollected. The very character of the people seemed changed. There was a busy, bustling, disputatious tone about it, instead of the accustomed phlegm and drowsy tranquility” ( 436). Rip Van Winkle, the personification of leisure and idleness, comprehends that he does not belong in this fast-paced world of change.

            The once happy-hearted Rip Van Winkle has now lost the very world that he had once taken for granted. He begins looking for people he is acquainted with and soon becomes nostalgic for all that he has lost. The pain of Rip Van Winkle’s loss is described in detail, as the narrator states, “Rip’s heart died away, at the hearing of these sad changes in his home and friends, and finding himself thus alone in the world [ . . . ] he had no courage to ask after anymore friends, but cried out in despair, ‘does anybody here know Rip Van Winkle?’” ( 437). Further along in the text, Rip Van Winkle appears to be suffering from a loss of his own identity, or even his humanity. Upon being questioned about who he is, at his wit’s end,  he replies, “I’m not myself- I’m somebody else- that’s me yonder- no that’s somebody else, got into my shoes- I was myself last night, but I fell asleep on the mountain, and they’ve changed my gun, and every thing’s changed, and I’m changed, and I can’t tell what’s my name, or who I am!” ( 437). The reader cannot help but feel a sense of pity for Rip Van Winkle, hoping that something or someone will rescue him from his earth shattering loss.

            The story of Rip Van Winkle is a classic, rare example of comic elements utilized in Romanticism. Washington Irving takes the tenants of romantic desire and loss and puts a comic spin on the style. Irving uses an old folk tale about lost time to tell a allegorical tale of generational  loss and the subsequent desire to try to reclaim what has been lost. It is a common theme repeated in every  American’s life as one generation passes on and a new one takes its place. Irving captures a universal emotion; everyone feels a tremendous sense of loss when something has passed, and we feel a strong desire to have it back, however impractical  that may be. It is this uniquely human emotion that is the    basis for nostalgia. The story of Rip Van Winkle is ultimately one of desire for a past that is simpler, slower paced with fewer problems than the contemporary world. It is a yearning to escape from the here and now.

            In many ways, despite the fact that the world has drastically changed around him, Rip remains unchanged.  This fairy-tale happy ending may be read as the epitome of nostalgia. As readers we logically understand that individuals, much like America as a nation, must evolve and grow or they (it) will die, yet there is something inside us that wishes time could be frozen forever. Perhaps it is the country’s own collective consciousness mourning our lost innocence and trying to catch a glimpse of our own irreversibly departed childhood, those foregone days when the world was fresh and new, and the Garden was seemed to be so tantalizingly within our reach.

            Another example of the desire and loss motif present in American Romanticism can be seen in the work of Edgar Allan Poe, specifically his short story “Ligeia.” At first glance this story may seem to have little in common with the writings of Columbus, Rowson, or Irving, but when read in the context of American writing, one can see that although Poe’s work has obvious differences, he still works in the same realm of desire and loss as his predecessors. “Ligeia” deals with the attainment and then the loss of a most desirable woman, the narrator’s wife Ligeia. In Poe’s uniquely recognizable style, the narrator goes to great lengths to explain to the reader his feelings as to the reasons why he sees Ligeia as the most desirable woman in the world.

            The narrator’s desire for his dead wife is so intense that upon describing Ligeia, the narrator exclaims, “I examined the contour of the lofty and pale forehead-it was faultless-how cold indeed that word when applied to a majesty so divine!” (709). Similarly intense descriptions are used throughout the story, with each description of Ligeia becoming more fervid, as if the simple task of talking about her is causing the narrator to recall his desire for Ligeia even more. This is demonstrated when the narrator is attempting to define his sentiment for Ligeia, and though he cannot seem to define what he feels for her, the narrator explains, “I recognized it [the sentiment], let me repeat, sometimes in the commonest objects of the universe. It has flashed upon me in the survey of a rapidly-growing vine- in the contemplation of a moth, a butterfly, a chrysalis, a stream of running water. I have felt it in the ocean, in the falling of a meteor” ( 710). It is as if words are unable to describe his longing for Ligeia, and only acts of nature seem to suffice. Her character is one of an “idealized nature,” (712) in that the narrator sees her as a living fulfillment of his every desire.

            As is common in many of Poe’s stories, a character desires so much and never attains it. This is the case with the narrator in “Ligeia” and his desire for a long and fulfilling life with Ligeia by his side. After describing Ligeia to the reader, the narrator reveals that, “She died-and [he], crushed into the very dust with sorrow, could no longer endure the lonely desolation of [his] dwelling in the dim and decaying city by the Rhine” (712). In these lines, the degree of his loss is apparent. Yet, just as the language of desire in his descriptions of Ligeia became more noticeable with time, so too does the language of despair and loss in his discussing her death.

            When the narrator remarries, his memory of the perfect wife keeps him from having a normal relationship with his new wife as he cannot erase the memory of Ligeia; in fact, “[he] revel[s] in recollections of her purity, of her wisdom, of her lofty, her ethereal nature, of her passionate, her idolatrous love” (714). Although no medical explanation is given for the cause of her death, one may interpret Lady Rowena’s death as being caused by a broken spirit; she realized that she could never live up to her predecessor.  Essentially, the narrator has lost his Garden of Eden (his perfect wife), and although he continues to search for her, he cannot find her again. Poe’s description of Rowena’s deaths and revivals certainly plays out the theme of desire and loss, condensing what most people will experience in a lifetime into one night of horror. In the end, when he sees the eyes of Ligeia looking out at him from Rowena, one can only assume that the lost Ligeia will haunt him for the rest of his life. In contrast to Columbus and Rowson, Poe leaves the reader with no reassuring image of hope. In an ironic variation of the desire/loss theme, the narrator’s ultimate desire has been fulfilled; Ligeia has come back to him, but in the most disturbing way possible. The final impression with which the story leaves the reader is one of ultimate loss and unfulfilled desire.

            In James Fenimore Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans, the American Romantic concept of desire and loss is the foundation of the story. Even the book’s title indicates the novel’s central theme; the loss of a race of Indians and Cooper’s lament concerning that tragedy. The concept of desire manifests itself in several ways throughout the novel, with the most obvious use being the European encroachment and destruction of the native population and land. The story of a vanishing race is an obvious example of the concept of loss and nostalgia.

            Cooper wrestles with an important issue of American/European colonization and expansion into the New England Frontier. As in the early Columbus letters, Cooper sees the American wilderness in terms of its grandeur and wonder. And also he struggles, as did Columbus, with the fact that European colonist were destroying the native land and its indigenous people. Cooper is using the same tragic loss motif for his theme of vanishing Indians and encroaching European settlements as the direct cause. Cooper describes the Mohican tribe as being a once a proud and flourishing nation, with territory that once stretched far out to the Atlantic Ocean. As European settlers invaded and settled this area, the Mohicans were forced to leave and try and find a peaceful coexistence with other neighboring tribes. Eventually, they were absorbed and then lost in other Indian Tribes with Chingachgook and  Uncas as the last surviving members. As did Columbus, Cooper sees this as a European problem and that continued white settlement will eventually lead to more devastation. Early desire of white Europeans for the richness and wealth of the new world eventually leads us to loss and nostalgia for a better time, which Cooper demonstrates when he reflects to Mohican life before European colonization of New England. Cooper also bestows upon the early Mohicans a sense of nobility (the noble savage) and nostalgically looks back to a better time of the noble Mohicans, taking care of the natural world which to Cooper was "holy".

            Although Romanticism represents many important ideals, the most prominent ones seem to be defined by an inherent pattern of desire and loss. Though a text does not have to exhibit this pattern in order to be considered to be Romantic, it is extremely difficult to find a Romantic work that does not address the issue of desire and loss on some level. When examining the texts of Christopher Columbus’ letters concerning the New World, Charlotte: A Tale of  ruth, “Rip Van Winkle,”  “Ligeia,” The Last of the Mohicans  the patterns and crucial roles that desire and loss play in American Romanticism are quite evident.