1.  Why do “desire and loss” re-appear so frequently in American Romantic texts, both as driving forces in the “romance” narrative and as indexes for Romantic values?

Describe the significance of this pattern for the romance narrative and its general significance in Romanticism, citing works by three or four writers.

Consider Columbus, Smith, Bradstreet, Rowlandson, Edwards, Poe, Hawthorne, Douglass, Jacobs, Stowe, Whitman, Jewett, Zitkala-Sa, Wolfe, Hurston, or Fitzgerald. Feel free to suggest others.

American Romantic texts follow the pattern of desire and loss frequently because the basic romantic impulse is a desire for something beyond the here and now . . . Once a desire has been given a voice it becomes the here and now . . . Authors of such romantic patterns as Poe, Hawthorne and Fitzgerald all take their own path on the road to desire, but the ultimate end is always loss.  These authors are brilliant at reviving what could be a very boring and repetitious pattern and making it not only believable but intriguing.  Necessary in all these texts is the object of desire, the description of the desire for it, and the loss of the desired object.

Each author describes a desire for a different object that the characters cannot do without.  This object can be a person, a time in the past, or a representation of a feeling that once lost is lost forever.  Poe describes in Ligeia the characters desire for a woman whom he loved more than anything. . . . Another desire often describes in Romanticism is the desire for innocence to never be lost.

Hawthorne describes just such a desire for the continuance of innocence in The May-Pole of Merry Mount.  Hawthorne describes the desire for the innocence of the couple in the story to continue forever.  The desire that the realities of life will not impinge on the innocence of their youth and their happiness . . . .  While desire for a woman and desire for a feeling or way of being are described in both Poe’s and Hawthorne’s stories it is Fitzgerald who combines these desires for a person and a feeling into the character of Judy Jones.  In Winter Dreams, Fitzgerald describes a woman who he desires but the desire for that woman is not purely physical.  The character’s desire for Judy is more about her representation of the love and youth lost to the past . . . .  Each of these desires is a driving force in the American Romantic Literature of the past and to a certain extent of the present literature.

Each of these authors use the idea of a journey either a physical one or an emotional one to connect to the desired object. . . . Hawthorne’s desire for innocence is described . . . using quite sublime descriptions of a war between the jollity of innocence and the gloom of reality. . . . The fact that the reader knows that innocence cannot be kept forever only adds to the significance of the author’s description of the loss of it.  Fitzgerald’s desire to keep the love he found in his youth as a measuring stick that he carries through his life is not an uncommon goal for many of the readers.  The romantic nature of the woman . . . who in herself represents all that the love of one’s youth can mean is something that cannot be kept forever . . . . It is the willingness to draw in the reader {& } to emotionally involve the reader in the narrative that romanticism is so good at and that leads to a level of enjoyment in the literature seldom found in anything else.

                . . . the loss may be through death, emotional upheaval, or adulthood. . . .  Hawthorne’s description of the loss of innocence is a classical tale one told since the loss of Eden.  Innocence once lost is never returned and this as well as Poe's loss through death are descriptions that all readers can relate to . . . . The universality of these forces is put into even greater perspective in Fitzgerald’s story of the loss not only of the girl but of the feeling that relates to the girl.  Loss and desire are concepts easily understood by readers. It is this universality of desire and loss in literature and in life that leads the reader to understand and enjoy the literature more. . . . [MB]

Another Author

. . . desire and loss is a recurring theme . . .because it demonstrates the unhappiness of the here and now, and gives hope of the ideal promise that the future will be better. They reappear in texts because both Romantic artists and post-Romantic artists are well aware that humans are in the process of becoming . . . .

Christopher Columbus demonstrates the desire and loss concept in the Letter to Luis de Santangel regarding the first voyage. Columbus described a new land as a beautiful paradise with lovely landscape. His description creates imagery that is similar to the mythical biblical story of the Garden of Eden. . . . When describing the islands called Espanola . . . Columbus writes "All are most beautiful, of a thousand shapes, and all are accessible and filled with trees of a thousand kinds and tall, and they seem to touch the sky" (27). . . . "The lands . . . are more extensive and richer than all other Christian lands" (28). ". . . the most prolific land in all the Indies. It produces three crops a year; the trees bear a great variety of fruit; and beautiful rivers and brimming springs abound throughout" (36).

                Another writing that imparts the idea of desire and loss is Anne Bradstreet's poem "Upon the Burning of Our House". The poem begins by describing the tragic event of a fire that consumed her family's entire house and . . . possessions. As Anne walks by the remains of the devastation, she begins to reflect on previous happy moments that occurred . . . . Anne desires these happy times and all of the memories associated with her family. She recalls the table they sat at and enjoyed dinner as well as the marriage that took place in her home. While reflecting on these special events, she chided herself to stop thinking about them. They are all gone now, and her desires are now to reach heaven and God where her real treasure is.  [BH]

  Another approach

                . . .  other than fear and hunger, it is desire and loss that are the two most powerful forces that shape the human experience. It is our desires which drive us, both as individuals and nations, which have forged the rise of mighty empires, and it is desire, ultimately, which lies behind every human motivation towards action. This is especially true in the United States, a country either colonized or conquered, (depending upon your view) by poets, dreamers, explorers, and visionaries, with none of them content with merely living the status quo. With this questing spirit in our national consciousness to see what is beyond the horizon, is there any doubt that this desire would not also show up in our literature? This essay will attempt to examine some of the themes of desire and loss in Harriet Jacob’s "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl," Wolfe’s "The Lost Boy" and Fitzgerald’s "Winter Dreams".

                One of the more prominent and complex examples of desire and loss can be found in Harriet Jacobs’s "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl." In this slave narrative, Jacobs’s tale seems to avoid categorization. For Jacobs, her primary desire appears to be personal freedom for herself and her children from the cruel and inhumane institution of slavery; however, she does not have this desire for freedom until she first experiences loss. This loss comes in the form of the shattering of her childhood innocence; until Jacobs realizes that something has been taken from her, she apparently has little desire for freedom: "I was born a slave, but I never knew it till six years of happy childhood has passed away [...]. My mistress was so kind to me that I was always glad to do her bidding, and proud to labor for her as much as my young years would permit. I would sit by her side for hours, sewing diligently, with a heart as free from cares as that of any free-born white child." (Jacobs 813-815)

                Jacob’s desires are minimal in this Eden-like state of childhood innocence. After her realization (i.e., her loss of innocence) that she is a slave, she begins to desire her freedom. This desire is complex and can be explored on at least three levels, the first being the desire to love. Because Jacobs cannot choose a partner for herself, her very act of loving and being loved in return are controlled. Jacob’s laments, "why does a slave ever love?  . . . . Next, Jacobs has the desire to control her own body. On page 818, Dr. Flint begins his plans to move Jacobs to Louisiana with him as his mistress. . . ." Lastly, Jacobs has the desire to be respected as a person with "white" individual rights. According to Jacobs, "the more my mind had become enlightened, the more difficult it was for me to consider myself an article of property; and to pay money to those who had so grievously oppressed me seemed like taking from my sufferings the glory of triumph" (832). Jacob’s desires are a product of the loss she has suffered, but also her story seems triumphant at the end because she obtains the object of her desires. Though some elements of desire and loss such as wanting her mother to return, the death of her good mistress, and her romance with the free man come and go throughout her life, the desire for freedom permeates her life at every turn.

Although it is not classified as a typical "romance narrative," the theme of desire and loss is also evident in Thomas Wolfe’s short story "The Lost Boy." The desire and loss is represented as a cycle, with an emphasis on nostalgia and the loss of childhood innocence . . . . Thomas Wolfe weaves a narrative of physical desire and loss as well as psychological desire and loss. The very title gives the impression that what has been lost must be regained.  [DC]

2. How has American Romanticism continued or changed in post-Romantic American literature?—i. e., literature after the American Renaissance of the pre-Civil War generation?

Refer to at least three writers from our last four class meetings and to a contemporary poem {Ellipses continue in the following passages, but I have discontinued marking the locations}

            The period of Post-Romanticism began after the conclusion of the Civil War. America’s cultural and literary identity subsequently veered away from Romanticism, manifesting itself in Realism. This progression reflects changes such as, movement away from a rural based economy towards an urban one, the struggle for equal rights by minorities and women and the homogenization of the American culture. Cultural changes oftentimes brought about social situations that authors yearned to transcend in their writing. In this manner, the spirit of Romanticism remains evident in the Post-Romantic period.

The search for an African-American identity is one of the core aspects of the literary movement known as the Harlem Renaissance. African-American authors struggled to reconcile their collective history with their former masters, European-Americans. Authors such as Zora Neal Hurston and Langston Hughes disagreed over the manner in which “a black writer’s chief concern should be how blacks are being portrayed to the white reader” (N 2097).

                The short story “How it Feels to Be a Colored Me,” reflects the darkly Romantic crossing of the borders of racial separation. Hurston experienced a childhood “protected from racism”, but after her mother’s death, her “initiation into American racism began” (2096). Also reflecting the Romantic is the individualistic pride and determination to persevere that is alit within Hughes as a result of prejudice:

                This opposition frequently is described in Romantic fashion through the Gothic. Writers in the heart of Romanticism, such as Hawthorne, wove images of shadowy forests and dark graveyards to evoke affectations of horror, and fear of damnation. The African-American writers of the Harlem Renaissance reversed this scheme, and took pride in their unavoidable accordance with the Gothic dark. Hurston articulates this opposition, “I feel most colored when I am thrown against a sharp white background…I am a dark rock surged upon, and overswept, but through it all, I remain myself. When covered by the waters, I am; and the ebb reveals me again” (2099). In this passage, Hurston examines her otherness, taking pride in the fact that she is different, while voicing her inherent inclusion within the fabric of America. 

                Hughes gives voice to the African-American identity in the poem “I, Too.” Romantic elements of the Gothic portray the characteristics of the African-American. Hughes wrote, “I, too, sing America. / I am the darker brother…

                Race was not the only social divider in the Post-Romantic era. Class also separated groups of individuals. F. Scott Fitzgerald discusses these class divisions in “Winter Dreams.” Fitzgerald has been called the “last blossom of European-American Romanticism” (Lecture).

                However, Romantic ideology still sifts into the modern period. Themes that preserve the past and pass along cultural transitions exhibit characteristics of Romanticism. Simon J. Ortiz, a modern American Indian poet recalls the realization of his tradition through a Romantically sublime landscape

                Ortiz strove to prove that, “the native American way of life is continuous, despite all the forces that attempt to eradicate it” (2813). In “Earth and Rain, the Plants and Sun” the young protagonist Raho recalls a family trip “near San Ysidro” (2814). En route, Raho catches sight of a free flying hawk over a sublime landscape (2814). His father then relates to him the ritual of the Kachina, a dance of the shaman designed to bring rain, and a continuance of the Indian way of life. This poem reflects Romantic notions of transcendentalism, and oneness with nature.

                Thus, the Post-Romantic period can be tied into an ongoing process of Americanization, and homogenization. The mystical notion that we are all somehow connected, and that this connection is most evident when enveloped by nature, also continues, The traces of Romanticism that remain in the Post-Romantic suggest that the movement of Romanticism was an inherently humanist genre, and that bits and pieces of its principle ideologies will always be woven in with the fabric of American identity. [MM]

Characteristics of romanticism continue to flourish in the post-Romantic era. Writers, such as Sandburg, James, Hurston, and Plath, reach to Romanticism for many of the features that both enchanted and challenged readers of Cooper, Irving, Hawthorne, and others. Cultural shifts in attitude, presented in these works, shed new light on, modify, and even eliminate some of Romanticism’s traits.

Carl Sandburg’s poetry combines elements of Realism and Romanticism

                Henry James, in “Daisy Miller,” also includes aspects of Romanticism, though some are variations. This realistic story, with Realism’s inner musings and reflections, includes romantic features, including the desire and loss, rebellion, and the quest.

Sylvia Plath’s poem, “Blackberrying,” sounds much more romantic than the meaning reveals. Romantic images envelop stark Realism. The elements of romanticism contrast sharply with the image of overwhelming despair revealed at the end of her poem, and the contrasting images heighten the level of feeling, of passion. Hence, the romantic context is used more as a comparison than as a foundation.

The romantic images, from the title through much of the first stanza, set up the reader to expect a pleasant outcome. Along the path to a “heaving” sea, she finds berries “fat / With blue-red juices” of such abundance that they fill the “milkbottle, flattening their sides” (2783).  But ultimately, the reader’s expectations of what will happen on the “blackberrying” adventure are thwarted by the disturbing hollow uselessness she ultimately discovers at the end of her journey, rendering the poem much closer to Realism than Romanticism.

Ideas and images of desire and loss permeate the poem. [JT]

3. Historically, Romanticism is associated primarily with European literary traditions and cultural values, and the American writers most typically associated with this literary movement (e. g., Cooper, Poe, Emerson, Whitman, Fitzgerald) are of European descent. In America and especially the United States, however, Romanticism must adapt to a multi-racial nation. In turn, writers from non-European races must consider Romantic themes and genres as options for their own compositions.

            Write an essay involving three writers representing the three major early American races: American Indian, European, African.

                Consider how race either complicates or absorbs the formulas of Romanticism. Reflect how such investigations transform our conception of Romanticism. Is it a style based on universal truths, or a set of historical and cultural conventions, or a shifting set of features that reflect the desire and perspective of the observer? How does the usefulness of the term “Romanticism” change?

·        For a European-American writer, choose a writer who represents race more or less directly, like Stowe or Cooper, but if it suits your purposes, you might choose a writer who treats the issue less directly or even apparently ignores it (e.g., Irving, Whitman, or Fitzgerald).

·        For African American writers, choose among Douglass, Jacobs, McKay, Hurston, Toomer, Cullen, or Hughes.

·        For Native American writers or texts, consider Zitkala-Sa, Black Elk, William Apess, “Iroquois Creation Story,” “The Cherokee Memorials,” or Simon J. Ortiz.

·        If these lists leave out someone from our reading, use your judgment to add appropriate names as necessary.

·        You may discuss more than three writers, but many more might dilute productive cross-racial tension you might achieve by comparing fewer writers from different racial contexts.

            The universality of Romanticism leads itself easily to the possibility of adaptation by many different cultures.  Nowhere is this more evident than in American Romanticism.  The evolution of American Romanticism has led to complications in depictions of race, transformation in the depictions of romanticism, and a reliance on the historical and cultural norms of the time period of the work.  This adaptation of Romanticism represents a new and different type of American Romanticism that can be a useful change or a detrimental change depending on your perspective.

                . . . first question that arises is whether  or not the text is romanticism because of the readers perception of the race involved or the authors intent.  Authors such as James F. Cooper created stories that relied on the romanticism of the Indians as a whole by the reader.  Indians as noble and nature loving people is a romantic vision held exclusively by the European Americans and not representative of the Indians themselves.  The creation of a romantic myth around a race must be avoided and it is this complication that leads to the misinterpretation of some otherwise realistic literature into romantic literature.  Other authors such as Jacobs and Zitkala-Sa who are of different races can also be drawn into the trap of romanticizing their race instead of presenting a romantic idea that is more representative of romanticism in general.

                The ability of Jacobs and Zitkala-Sa to transform American Romanticism by the inclusion of real race and culture differences is what makes American Romanticism unique in the world of literature.  The ability of the authors to represent their culture and their race as romantic without going to the standard stereotypical European versions of their race is what separates our multi-racial nation from Europe.  This transformation is not without its difficulties that alter almost to the point of unrecognizable the ideal of Romanticism.  Each of these races be it European, Native American, or African American brings to story telling a little of their past and their deep rooted culture.  It is the fact that so much of the African American and Native American peoples have been subject to so much suffering that the inclusion of realism into romanticism in their writings has become normal.

                Each author brings their culture and their experiences to their writings.  In some cases the tales they write are universal and their race has no bearing on the text that they produce.  Harriet Jacobs is another author whose African American heritage influences the depiction of Romanticism.  The significance of her culture cannot be overlooked in the telling of her story.  While the basic romantic themes of desire, loss, transcendence still exist in her tale the cultural references alter its depiction of American Romanticism.  Only in an African American tale written by an African American can the level of detail and realism of the culture be depicted.  The realistic nature of the hardships endured by both the characters in Jacobs and Zikala-Sa stories irrevocably alter American Romanticism.  Literature written by the culture it is depicted grasps inherently at the hardships and settings that have left an indelible mark on their culture.  Theses realistic themes change Romanticism in a manner that cannot be easily passed over.

                As April Davis states “…romantic ideals can be adapted across lines of color, race, and culture”.  But these depictions of romantic characters will always be based on the perspective of the author writing the text.  Even authors who are of the culture or race being depicted may be influenced by the standard European American perspective. Their texts may not in the end reflect the true culture of their people.  One must remember in all these many stories that they are just that they are stories.  They are representations that are imprisoned by the historical and cultural perspectives of their time.  They cannot be expected to be true and unarguable representatives of anything but the author’s perspective. [MB]

4. Citing at least three authors, review and evaluate some varieties of the Gothic encountered this semester. Why does the Gothic recur so frequently in American literature or beyond? Why is it so adaptable to different environments, and what different purposes may it serve? What are some possible theological, intellectual, and cultural sources, limitations, and biases?

            Default organization: Identify or define the Gothic as a literary genre or mode. Review in detail the backgrounds and sub-categories of the Gothic encountered across the semester with examples from selected authors and texts. Evaluate the appeal and limits of the Gothic.

Possible authors: Rowlandson, Edwards, Irving, Cooper, Poe, Hawthorne, Douglass, Jacobs, Wolfe, McKay, Cullen, Plath, films noir

The Gothic literary tradition utilizes familiar tropes such as haunted physical and mental spaces, the threatening shadow of death, and images of dark and light in physical, psychological and moral manifestations. Three variations of the gothic style, distinctly Romantic in nature, are depicted in Jonathan Edwards’ "Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God," Edgar Allan Poe’s "Fall of the House of Usher," and William Faulkner’s "A Rose for Emily." These three works represent pre-Romantic, Romantic and post-Romantic time periods and demonstrate the adaptation of the gothic in order to meet each author’s specific goal.

Edwards uses a Biblical or Apocalyptic form of the gothic to literally scare his parishioners into repentance. Passages like, "There are black clouds of God’s wrath now hanging directly over your heads, full of the dreadful storm, and big with thunder…(205)" and "God…sees how your poor soul is crushed, and sinks down, as it were, into an infinite gloom (207)" reveal the dark, foreboding tone of Edward’s sermon. In addition, Edward’s gothic style pulls from the stark images of hell and damnation. The fiery pits, the dancing demons, are all part of the intimidating message that Edwards hopes to convey to his parishioners.

. . . reveal the dark, haunted mental aspects of the human psyche. Poe’s gothic style is not distinctly American in the sense that he freely borrows from several European traditions. The environments that Poe creates in his nightmarish tales are geographically ambiguous. That is, there is nothing about Poe’s settings that conjure images of the American landscape. In fact, Poe’s settings seem more obviously European in location and ambiance. The European-style Gothic relies on imposing exterior facades, such as the "mansion of gloom" (718) or claustrophobic interior spaces such as the tomb of Madeline Usher to create a setting conducive to exploring the dark qualities of the human mind. The character, Roderick Usher, is a prime example of the darkness of mind Poe creates. The narrator-visitor

The most striking aspect of Poe’s gothic is his attention to setting, usually depicted as dark, threatening, and uncertain. He effectively terrorizes us with the suspense that evil is looming in the darkness that surrounds and envelopes his stories, thereby presenting haunted physical and mental spaces in a new light. As Kayla Logan wrote in her exam from summer of 2002, Poe aims "to reveal the dark, haunted mental aspects of the human psyche." Poe’s choice of descriptive language is, in itself, Gothic. Words like, "dull," "dark," and "decayed" are used to characterize not only the house, but also Roderick Usher himself. Poe emphasizes the lack of color to create a bleak world. It is through this convention that we begin to uncover how disturbed Roderick actually is. "The Haunted Palace," a poem symbolizing the fall from glory, is full of connections to questionable mental states. Poe constructs a story dealing with death, insanity, and inevitably the fall of a family by utilizing abnormal descriptions of the characters and setting. [DC]