American Renaissance Notes

I. American Renaissance: A Literary Coming of Age

1) What time period constitutes the “American Renaissance?” What literary period does it
overlap with?

2) What was the “big” question during the first half of the nineteenth century?

II. Melville and Hawthorne: Opposites Attract

Complete the Venn diagram comparing the author’s Herman Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Melville Hawthorne

III. First Flowering: A Declaration of Literary Independence

1) How did Melville feel about the connection American’s had with Europe?

2) How did Melville feel that the American’s should treat their authors? Why might he
have felt this way?

3) How does the term “renaissance” apply to this time period, especially between the years
1849-1855?

IV. Intellectual and Social Life in New England

1) What were Lyceums? What are the goals of Lyceums?

2) What geographic area can the American Renaissance be traced to, and why?
 3) What social movements began during this time period?

4) What is a utopia?

V. The Transcendentalists: True Reality is Spiritual

1) What did the word “transcendental” mean, according to Emmanuel Kant?

2) What was transcendentalism according to Emerson?

3) What is idealism?

4) What did American transcendentalists believe?

VI. Emerson and Transcendentalism: The American Roots

1) Which authors and their works contributed to the development of what is considered the
American philosophy?

VII. Emerson’s Optimistic Outlook

1) Explain in your own words Emerson’s views.

2) What were some natural events that people believed could be explained spiritually?

3) What traits did Emerson possess that appealed so greatly to his audiences?

VIII. Melville, Hawthorne, and Poe: A Challenge to the Dark Romantics

1) Who were three of the most famous ‘anti-transcendentalists” an why is the term “dark
romantic” more accurate than ‘anti-transcendentalist?’

2) What literary technique did the dark romantics heavily employ in their works?

3) In what ways are the dark romantics similar to and different from the transcendentalists?

IX.: Copy the Box on page 212

A Transcendentalist’s View of the World