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Module 2: American Renaissance II - Coggle Diagram
Module 2: American Renaissance II
The search for a common vision: from the revolution throught the 1830s
"usable past" (Van Wyck Brooks (1918) / Henry Steele Commager (1967)
create the notion of community in the present
created in retrospection
rhetoric <> "glorious contrast"
supported a positive image of America and american culture
American literature/culture
Specifically American culture, typical for America, not simply an imitation of another culture
Romanticizing
Innovation
Imagination
spontaneity, emotions
individuality
nature in an untamed state, the common man as a hero
human beings = good
infinity, unfinished states
disorder, extremes
transitoriness of life
beauty and harmony of creation
representations of Indians
wilderness preferred to tamed nature
towards nationalism
"The American Scholar,"
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1837)
cultural independence, new American intellectual / writer
original title: "An Oration Delivered before the PHI Beta Kappa Society at Cambridge, August 31, 1837"
American scholar should be a man thinking
Role model and a practical man
Action and actual life is better than books
programmatic statements (1809 - 1845)
focus on America, American nature, American History and so forth
reject notions that there is nothing worthwhile to write about in America
argue that American materials are well suited to illustrate true Americanness
America also offers horror, much wanted because gothic literature was still in vogue
criticize writers who follow or imitate english and european models
Wave of Historical Literature
Poetry of the American Revolution and the Early National Period
political
didactic
collective and public
-> American
problems?
In terms of form, poetry oftentimes remained imitative of english and European conventions (English neoclassicism)
interpreted and challenged as an aesthetic weakness
"The Rising Glory of America"
E.g. Philip Freneau / Henry H. Brackenridge: "The Rising Glory of America"
Translation imperii
Revolution and independence
three voices (Acasto, Eugenio, Leander)
Exceptionalism and glorious contrast
usable past
America as a biblical new Jerusalem
biblical rhetoric with political purposes
Puritan touch..
idea of creating a national unity
-> exclusive thinking
national consciousness
The Fireside Poets
NE cultural dominance
popular acceptance > American literature
Poets
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)
"Paul Revere's Ride,"
Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894)
James Russell Lowell (1819-1891)
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892)
attributes
reformatory impulse
traditional conventions
patriotic/nationalist/didactic
American materials
sentimental, emotional, nostalgic
American (Romantic) nature poetry of the late 18th and early 19th centuries
Romanticism
Freneau, Bryant, Schoolcraft
Bryant:
"The PRAIRIES"
Strategies: cultural nationalism
Depiction: America
Depiction: nature
Romantic elements
focuses on emotions, individuals and untamed nature
Further Platforms for the Cultural Work of American nationalism
Nationalist architecture in Washington DC
shortly after foundation of U.S.
plans for national capital
French architect Pierre L'Enfant
(Plan of the City of Washington)
Washington D.C. / National Mall
public national place, central representative of the ideas of the new republic
"sacred place"
paintings as expressions of national/patriotic sentiments and pride
nature paintings
history paintings
portraits
John James Audobon (1785-1851)
Delineations of American Scenery and Character (1826)
The Birds of America (1827-1828)
fusion
natural science
aesthetic sensibility
cultural nationalism
John Wanderlyn: *" The Landing of Columbus" as reference point of a shared American history
Hudson River School
expression of pride and power
national american power
unimaginable vastness of American landscapes
festive culture
two major festivities competed for the position of national holiday until civil war
Fourth of July
Forefathers' Day
particular european-american perspectives
beginnings of American history
focus only on certain parts of the nation
1780s - 1840s as a process of U.S.- American nationalization across all fields of cultural production